The EU accession brings important popularity points for the governing authorities in Romania, according to a new poll. Still, the EU accession is not all milk and honey, as new calculi and Western statements show. A medieval ruler has been declared Romania’s most important representative at the end of a public TV campaign trying to identify the values of a confused nation.
The story of two Romanian heroes in Rome has a dark and spectacular side. And shady deals have had an important contribution to Romania’s energy privatization. All in today’s newspapers.
A new poll published by the Insomar institute on Sunday shows that Romanians trust incumbent authorities and political leaders most as the country has reported a strong economic climate and is preparing to join the EU on January 1 next year, according to Evenimentul Zilei.
The poll shows President Traian Basescu and the governing D.A. Alliance of Liberals and Democrats would win the elections if they took place today. And it also show sthat the popularity of many ministers is higher than the government as a whole.
Cotidianul also notes that the popularity of the government, of the prime minister and of the President has been growing for months while the percentage of the population who say their life is “better or much better” grew 5% in the last half a year, compared to the same period last year.
This comes despite a series of events showing that the EU accession is not all milk and honey as some have hoped. According to the same Cotidianul, Romania is due to contribute 1.1 billion euro to the EU budget but is able to absorb only 55% of the 1.9 billion it is due to receive from the Union as accession assistance.
That means Romania will pay slightly more than it will cash in in terms of European funding.
Gandul quotes British media reports on Sunday that says Britain will not receive skilled Romanian and Bulgarian workers starting next year and will only allow unskilled workers
The story is also tackled in Adevarul, which points out that the Blair government plan to put an end to its open doors policy towards Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants has already sparked complaints from the Romanian community in the country.
Meanwhile, Cotidianul reports that Romanian medieval ruler Stephen the Great has become “the Greatest” as he was named the country’s greatest representative in a campaign run by the national TV station TVR that concluded on Saturday.
The media campaign, aimed at clearing the spirits of Romanians after a long period of losing values and post-communist cultural confusion, has also boosted a WWII strongman among the historic rulers and modern/contemporary sports and cultural representatives in the top ten of Greatest Romanians.
Two other “great Romanians” have another story to tell, according to Evenimentul Zilei. They are considered “heroes” in Italy for helping many of the victims in the recent subway crash in Rome.
But the two are nowhere to be found - because they, illegal workers in Italy, are hiding from authorities in fear they’d be sent back home to Romania.
A third of the group, 26-year old Ramona Ianus, was the only one to abandon anonymity. According to Italian media, she’s been working as a baby-sitter and staying illegally in Italy since 2004.
Meanwhile, the same Evenimentul Zilei reports that several influential officials in Romania including ex-presidential aide Theodor Stolojan and a US citizen have been involved in an investment fund that privatizes half of the energy industry in Romania as well as the only state-owned bank left for privatization, the Savings House-CEC.
The story brings together faces of the current authority structures and the opposition, united by interests that may raise many eyebrows.
And Jurnalul National reports that a group of Las Vegas casinos are negotiating the acquisition of two parcels on the Romanian Black Sea coast and preparing to invest up to 35 million USD in the gambling industry here as Romania still offers important opportunities of development, compared to the already developed Croatia and Greece.
