Most newspapers on Monday read about the new union of the opposition, the Social Liberal Union but few newspapers note the great absentees or the shadow financial supporters. Romanian Parliamentarians doubled their businesses with the state in 2010 as businesses are given to the governing coalition and taken from the opposition. Elsewhere in the news, the recent arrests at the Siret customs in North Romania obliged smugglers to find alternatives. Romanian artist Ion Grigorescu will attend at the Tate Modern in London at the group exhibition Out of Place.

Evenimentul Zilei reveals the great absentees this weekend as the opposition announced its new union, the Social Liberal Union. The newspaper talks about people who have the financial and media possibilities to support the new union. They lurk in the shadows until the Union will takeover power, the newspaper reads.

The great absentee was Dan Voiculescu, former Conservative leader who even through was the promoter of the Union was asked not to attend. However, according to the protocol, Voiculescu will receive the position as Speaker of the Senate if the Union gets power.

Another supporter of the Union, the newspaper reads is businessman Dinu Patriciu. About Geoana, the newspaper notes that he was absent because he was excluded from the Union which he was also a great supporter. Geoana was excluded from the party for six months, is avoided by his party and will also lose his position as Speaker of the Senate if the Union comes to power.

Elsewhere in the news, Gandul reads that Parliamentarians doubled their businesses with the state in 2010, mostly the ruling coalition’s Parliamentarians. Official data from a statistics based on their wealth declarations reveals that business was booming while they were parliamentarians.

Social Democrats made businesses with the state worth 377 million euro before 2009, when they were supporting, by vote, the Tariceanu government but they dropped to 15 million euro in 2009. Liberals’ businesses dropped by 289 times in 2009 but increased in 2010 by 63 times due to some contracts of Liberal deputies.

Romania libera reads about the effects of the massive arrests at the Siret customs, North Romania last week. Unofficial information threatens smugglers by new massive operations of the judicial authorities in various customs across Romania. The newspaper reads that smuggles in Ukraine believe that the next period will be calmer, as the police already made its arrests.

However, smugglers from Moldova and Serbia are concerned because there is information that illegal businesses are monitored by the Romanian secret services and that arrests are scheduled. Other smugglers confess that they did not bribe customs officers as they always find ingenious methods to smuggle cigarettes across from Moldova to Romania.

Romanian artist Ion Grigorescu will exhibit for the first time, at the Tate Modern works from the Communist period. Romania libera reads that his works will be included in a group exhibition, together with artists from Turkey, Syria and Palestine.

The exhibition will take place on February 10, in the presence of the artist within Tate Modern. The works presented investigate abandoned architectures or areas due to some economic decisions or due to political conflicts in the region.