Romanian newspapers on Monday preview possible moves on the tense political stage this week and tackle background issues such as the relationship between the current president and his predecessor and the prime-minister’s schemes to improve his image.
They also discuss a referendum in the Romanian territories with a Hungarian majority, investigate how easy it is to dodge British restrictions on Romanian workers and herald Romania’s representative to this year’s Eurovision contest.
The opposition Social Democrats (PSD) may call officially on Monday for the suspension of President Traian Basescu, Cotidianul writes.
But PSD’s arguments for their move would apply very well to what Basescu’s predecessor, PSD’s own Ion Iliescu, did when he was in power: ignoring the role of the president as a political mediator, interference with the Justice system, and traffic of influence.
Romania libera delivers a nice conspiracy read according to which the relationship between Basescu and Iliescu is a key aspect in the political crisis that lead to the possibility of PSD launching the suspension procedure against the President.
The newspaper insinuates Basescu would be somehow of a former crony of Iliescu’s who left the path of his master in a strange swap of support from the United States to Romanian leaders old and new.
For its part, Evenimentul Zilei focuses on PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who’s been running a major campaign to change his image as a weak leader to one of an authoritarian, determined politician.
In an exhaustive analysis, EVZ considers the prime minister has taken over the role of political mediator from President Basescu and opted to apparently drop his support for opposition moves to suspend the head of state.
Gandul is interested in another political event - an unofficial referendum organized in several Hungarian-dominated counties in Central Romania, to evaluate the support of Hungarians there for regional autonomy.
The paper reports that even some ethnic Romanians were persuaded to vote in the referendum, despite it is opposed by local authorities and NGOs.
Elsewhere in the papers, Jurnalul National publishes an investigation pursued in Britain by a reporter of Antena 1, a TV station that belongs to the same media group as Jurnalul. The reporter tried to get employed in Britain, a country that applies a series of restrictions for Romanian workers, and succeeded by means of self-employment.
But he says it is not easy to get to work legally there, as living costs in England are many times higher than in Romania and, while possible, it is difficult to obtain working documents by legal means.
The same Jurnalul National also tells the story of some 1,650 minor Romanians who spend their youth behind bars in Italy by describing the lives of six juveniles who must share their fear and gratitude for local NGOs who deal with foreigners in penitentiaries and reeducation centres.
Speaking of Romanians abroad, Gandul reports that a US doctor bron in Romania, Joshua Arie Perper, was named to decide the cause of death for ex-Playboy star Anna Nicole Smith, who died in Florida last Thursday.
The newspaper reports that there’ve been some differences between the conditions of Smith’s death in Perper’s view and those presented by police quoted in the American media.
Also in Gandul, Romania has elected its representative to this year’s edition of the European song contest Eurovision, due to take place in Helsinki in May.
A vote on Saturday, which put an end to weeks of Eurovision-related scandals, decided that Romania would be represented by “Liubi, Liubi, I Love You”, a sort of kazachok by Locomondo.
The band that compensates the lack of “voice quality” with a European message and who brings together characters as diverse as a former Italian carabiniere and a reformed “music hooligan”, according to the paper.
