French president Sarkozy wants France to participate in the Nabucco project - a natural gas pipeline to provide Caspian resources towards Europe, but would also provide Romania with nuclear technology, for a second plant. Meanwhile, the state budget for 2008 spells austerity, as prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu agreed on Tuesday. The Parliament is as busy as usual, trying to relocate the construction of the largest Cathedral in Bucharest, so that parliamentarians would keep their tennis courts. Just another day in Romania.
Gaz de France will involve in the construction of the Nabucco project, a pipeline designed to transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea towards Europe, in an attempt to avoid the Russian domination over the European market. At the same time, Nicolas Sarkozy asked about the possibility of having France sell nuclear technology to Romania, for the construction of a future nuclear plant, Cotidianul informs. At this moment, Romania has a nuclear plant at Cernavoda, with two working reactors, providing some 14% of the national energy requirements. Other 2.2 billion euro will be invested in the same plant, in order to launch in production other two reactors.
The Government and the Central Bank (BNR) agreed that 2008 should be an austerity year, despite the fact that it is an electoral year. A "compromise" was reached, with the Government promising to keep in a short leash the salaries growth and the "electoral presents", preferring to adopt a series of prudent policies, including severe limits to the budgetary spending and a firm rejection of the union demands for higher wages, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
Same Evenimentul Zilei quotes a TV intervention of former Justice Minister Monica Macovei, who pointed in a Realitatea TV interview that the only chance to have a functional Justice system is to have the Constitution modified. According to Macovei, the political decisions on who should be in the Constitutional Court and in the Superior Magistrature Council are the main problems of the Justice system. "It would take another 20 years to reform such a system", said Macovei, pointing at the fact that the chaos in the Romanian Justice system is similar to the situation in all former Communist states.
In Bucharest, an old problem returns to light: hunting and flaying of stray dogs is no longer possible, after a new la prevents the institutions from putting animals to sleep, unless they are in terminal stages of incurable diseases, Gandul reads.
And same Gandul also opens a "hot" subject: Parliamentarians are about to fight the Romanian Patriarchy over a piece of land which should be transformed in a parking lot of the future National Cathedral. Deputies and Senators are upset with the fact that the Church plans would lead to the shutting of some tennis courts where, parliamentarians say, some 200,000 euro were invested. In case the don't keep their tennis courts, some threaten to force the Patriarchy to build other courts in the neighboring areas.
