Suspended president Basescu makes another shock statement, threatening to quit the political life in case the referendum result are in favor of his suspension.
His main opponent, Social Democrat head Mircea Geoana, makes the headlines with two different news: first, the party he threw on May 1st meant a lot of cash to spend in one day and second, his sense of history is lame.
"I quit politics if I lose" said the suspended president Traian Basescu on Wednesday, while meeting foreign journalists. "The referendum is a key-moment that will force Romanians chose the country they want to live in.
If I lose, it means Romanians want to leave things the way they are, but I honestly doubt that", said Basescu, as quoted in Evenimentul Zilei.
The same newspaper shows that Mircea Geoana, the head of the main Opposition party, Social Democrats (PSD), in his rush to make a metaphor sound right, compared possibility of Basescu's return to the presidential palace on May 20, one day after the referendum, with Hitler's birth on the same day.
Not only was Hitler born on April 20, not May, but Geoana made the same mistake in a PSD conference at one moment and was corrected by a party colleague, Evenimentul Zilei notes.
Returning to the referendum problems: the Foreign Ministry failed to offer any solutions to enable the vote of all Romanians working abroad, Evenimentul Zilei.
Democrats, the party supporting president Basescu, ask for no less than 180 voting urns, at least to meet the demands of over 1,2 million Romanians officially employed in EU states, Gandul adds.
Back to our usual businesses: the National Integrity Agency (ANI) will exist, but only under the Parliament's control, Gandul reads. The institution so loudly demanded by the European Union will be formed and will have its budget established by Parliamentarians, a new amendment voted for on Wednesday says.
Another case of sheep controlling the wolves is unveiled in Cotidianul. The Transylvania highway, built under the most controversial infrastructure contract in Romania, will have the first segment of construction surveyed by two French companies in business with the main contractor, Bechtel.
Speaking of money: the PSD party with beer and meat roll grills on Labor Day meant a bill for 100,000 euros. Even more, the money comes through the accounts of controversial mayor Marian Vanghelie, chief of the 5th district in Bucharest, Cotidianul reads.
About the same amount, 110,000 euros, was the bill for the "Fabulospirit" brand for Romania's promotion abroad. The new Foreign Minister, Adrian Cioroianu, finds the sum too large and wants to re-negotiate the contract with GAV Scholz&Friends, same Cotidianul reads.
In other news:
Gandul: Three quarters of the farmers entitled to subsidies opened bank accounts and the May 15 deadline seems plausible now. When it was first decided that peasants may receive funds only through bank accounts, many feared the deadline is too close.
Gandul: The presidential administration buys medals worth 3,6 million euros.
Maybe an 100,000 euros scandal is less than nothing for the new big spender, interim president Nicolae Vacaroiu.
