Sunday, October 22, 2006

What the newspapers say: October 20, 2006


Friday is not a good day for news. Rather for a bunch of scandals, since nobody would remember anything on Monday.

The former Foreign Minister illegally occupies a villa, a media mogul still hangs on to his compulsive dirty business and, since we all have our compulsions, the convicted fellow who lit the fuse in the case of the possible kidnapping of President Basescu’s daughter is, on his turn, a compulsive liar.

All newspapers jumped to spread the news that president Basescu’s younger daughter was about to be kidnapped in a conspiracy led by Omar Hayssam, the Houdini involved in the kidnapping of three journalists last year.

While some just copy / paste the agency news, others force their luck to get an exclusive interview, only Cotidianul finds that the surprise-witness is a professional crook, a compulsive liar who may very well made up the entire affair.

None of his information was confirmed since last year, when he first mentioned it.

It may have something to do with the owner of Cotidianul, Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, an extremely controversial businessman with a new touch of honorability after he became a media mogul. Still, Evenimentul Zilei tries to prove that old habits never die and Vantu is still up to some embezzlements.

No wonder that Cristina Dumitru, the gorgeous Romanian model that won the Miss Maxim award, would like to settle in the US, as Evenimentul Zilei reads. Maybe she knows that nothing is forever, except old habits.

Meanwhile, we deal with a lot less important stuff here. We need an European Commissioner and, of course, this is a new reason for a fight between Presidency and Government.

President Basescu supports Anca Boagiu, his former right-hand in the Transport Ministry, now Integration Minister, the Prime Minister wants his Liberal Foreign Minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, according to Evenimentul Zilei.

As for Romania, nothing changed. Europe demands a tough anti-corruption fighting, we produce a huge and powerful institution - the National Integrity Agency (ANI). Europe says ok and gives a green light for accession, we change the laws and render ANI impotent.

Romania Libera explained in four lines how this is done: instead of controlling the officials’ wealth, the ANI inspectors are now allowed to read the wealth statements. The verifications can take place only during the official mandate, or the crime goes unpunished. Inspectors are no longer granted access to any data they need. Romania rules.

Just as a joke, maybe it would be “cool” to mention that the Economy Minister, Codrut Seres, sworn to destroy the mob on the Energy market, as Gandul reads.
Well, here comes the third year of governing and no one wants to lead a ministry virtually without any activity.

Oct 20, 2006

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