The Romanian Government doubled the tax for luxurious cars, and owners of several homes are going to be overtaxed for being rich. Elsewhere in the news, PM was booed by pensioners in one of his visits to flooded areas. Further in the news, alleged lover of ex-Romanian president comes clean: it was a fraud meant to make her a star. Last but not least, Romanian reporter wins Freedom House award.
Evenimentul Zilei focuses on the fact that the Romanian Government doubled the tax for luxurious cars, and owners of several homes are going to be overtaxed for being rich. The owner of more households will pay 65% more tax for the first additional flat or house, 150% more for the second, 300% for the fourth. The money will go to the local authorities' budget, not the solidarity fund, as planned. The tax for luxurious cars has been more than doubled.
Gandul informs that several Romanian politicians visited flooded areas: PM Emil Boc, , Interior minister Vasile Blaga, Environment minister Laszlo Borbely, Regional Development and Tourism minister Udrea, Transport minister Berceanu and Defence minister Gabriel Oprea. The PM was booed by pensioners in Galati. Udrea admitted that the Government does not have a fund for floods, but the law allows for taxpayers' money to be allocated from the budget for such crisis. In the absence of further investments in the affected regions, the visit remains an attempt to make up for the loss of popularity over the austerity measures.
Adevarul discloses that Rona Hartner, the alleged lover of ex-President Emil Constantinescu, admits the story was a fraud set up by the secretary of Corneliu Vadim Tudor, leader of Romania Mare Party. The secretary promised the actress she was going to become a star. On January 8, 1999, Rona learnt from TV news she had kept a private diary, where she mentions she was the President's lover. She admits this story was made-up. Hartner remembered that she only exchanges a few words with the ex-president, but that they did dance together. Emil Constantinescu said he knew it had been Tudor all this time, who used undercover [intelligence] officers to recreate the Romanian version of the Clinton - Lewinsky scandal.
Romania Libera announces that one of its reporters, Vlad Ursulean, received the Freedom House award for the internal news section. Ursulean competed against other 35 journalists with three articles in Romanian: "Self-denouncement: I harassed online Crin Antonescu's opponents for two weeks", "Photographers are our 'terrorists'" and "The Government spent one million Euros for a ghost-village". The reporter was appreciated for his investigations, humour, observation and impact.
