The sudden resignation of the first nominee for the Prime Minister office is the main event in all newspapers. Rumors say that Theodor Stolojan decided to quit the job because of the ministers he was supposed to gather in his cabinet. Meanwhile, the crisis goes on.

"Why did Stolojan flee again?" is the question in Gandul, where sources in the Democrat Liberal Party (PDL) comment that "He is old and tired. He couldn't have pulled it off through the entire mandate anyhow". Stolojan's decision to retire was already taken on Friday night, sources say. The only problem he invoked, according to the newspaper, was "the consistency of the system" created after the PDL - Social Democrat (PSD) alliance. Same sources say that Stolojan had a very rough time accepting an alliance with PSD and only the fact that president Basescu insisted on forming the alliance made Stolojan accept the compromise.

"Stolojan quit because of the ministers PDL and PSD imposed", Cotidianul reads, explaining in basic terms the unexpected gesture. According to the newspaper, Stolojan was not only unhappy with the fact that he had little to say in naming the minister, but he also accused PDL of quitting too early the negotiations with the Liberals (PNL).

Same Cotidianul takes notice on another issue, less discussed on Monday: after the PDL leader Emil Boc accepted the Prime Minister seat, the city of Cluj was left without a mayor. Several politicians already show interest in the office, including the former senator, Peter Eckstein-Kovacs, former PSD Information Minister Vasile Dancu, far-right leader Gheorghe Funar (who was mayor in Cluj for eight long years) and the PDL vice mayor, Sorin Apostu.

In the economic news, the VAT level for new apartments was reduced from 19 to 5% for real estate properties under 100,000 Euros (VAT not included) and under 100 square meters, Gandul reads. Authorities believe that the measure will give an impulse to the stuck real estate market, but developers say this measure is just one of many that should be adopted in order to re-launch the market.

Media also suffers because of the crisis, Evenimentul Zilei reads, claiming that the Romanian media giant MediaPro may soon lay off a significant number of employees, move some of its publications exclusively online and rebrand and shut down a few others.

The MediaPro boss, Adrian Sarbu, has no reason to take this too hard, since he was named COO (Chief Operating Officer) in the Central European Media Enterprises (CME) group, as the same Evenimentul Zilei informs.

But, beyond that, the market is generally doing worse than usual. Moody's warns once again that Romania is among the "more vulnerable" economies in the region, Gandul reads, indicating that a recent report of the agency places Romania in the same spot with South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria from the point of view of potential pressure on the country's rating.