Romanian newspapers on Monday discuss what has become of the traditional May 1 holiday in Romania as the International Workers’ Day is used in the political campaign for the upcoming referendum on the suspension of the President, while many average workers drop all interest in domestic affairs and take refuge in trips abroad.
One newspaper heralds a major attack against President Basescu by an established oil mogul, while another goes to the Far East to investigate the fate of a Romanian victim of the Pyongyang regime.
As authorities in Bucharest decided to make Monday a day off for Romanian employees, linking the weekend with May Day, thousands of Romanians opted to spend their short holiday abroad, especially Bulgaria at the expense of Romanian seaside resorts, the usual venue for Romanian holiday makers at the beginning of the pre-summer season, Evenimentul Zilei.
That didn’t prevent politicians to plan heavy campaigns during the period, as Romania is preparing for a referendum where it will be decided whether suspended President Traian Basescu keeps is office or is removed.
According to Cotidianul, Basescu himself eyed youth in the Black Sea village resort Vama Veche for his May 1 campaign, while his rival at the head of the government, Liberal PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, spent the weekend at various events in and around Bucharest.
That comes after the leader of the opposition Social Democrats (PSD), Mircea Geoana, another rival of President Basescu, campaigned in south Romania and his people promised to throw a Balkan-style street party in the capital on May 1, with free meat-rolls and beer for everybody.
Jurnalul National recalls what May 1 meant for Romanians under the communist regime and tells the story of the May Day propaganda since its first-time celebration in 1945 to the mass celebrations of the communist rulers.
Speaking of Romanians’ habit to spend holidays in Bulgaria, Adevarul reports that the neighboring country is luring Romania with another economic ace - cheaper prices that lure Romanian citizens to hit the road and go shopping for food and clothes in stores just south of the border.
Meanwhile, Evenimentul Zilei reports that some 200 people protested on the Trocadero esplanade in Paris against the suspension of Romanian President Traian Basescu on Sunday.
According to the paper, the demonstration eyed “successive abuses by Romanian parliamentarians” in an effort to “warn about the danger of an oligarchic dictatorship in Romania”.
The same Evenimentul Zilei also announces a campaign to investigate the death of a Romanian woman, Doina Bumbea, who had become the victim of the Pyongyang regime.
An Evenimentul Zilei reporter traveled to Japan and South Korea to tell the story of Bumbea, who married a US deserter, Charles Jenkins, and fell from the hell of Romania’s own communist regime to that of North Korea in 1978. Recently she was confirmed to have died in the late nineties.
Elsewhere in the papers, Cotidianul announces it will publish an interview on Wednesday with Liberal businessman Dinu Patriciu, head of the Rompetrol group, friend of PM Tariceanu and rival of President Traian Basescu.
According to the announcement, Patriciu calls Basescu a “perturbing factor” for the Romanian society and supports the idea of a private judicial system.
Gandul reports that the son of a top Social Democratic (PSD) official in the county of Timis, who works as a policeman in the city of Timisoara, was arrested for card cloning and stealing money from the accounts of foreign visitors. Official charges include financial fraud, organized crime and money laundering.
Jurnalul National quotes a Greenpeace Romania report that blasts Romania as a country where the situation of genetically modified organisms is out of control as the country still lacks key legislation on GMO crops.
Cotidianul writes that the country’s controversial Fiscal Code introduced January 1 this year may once again be changed after an Economy Ministry review of the VAT legislation concludes on May 15, according to an announcement made by Economy and Finance minister Varujan Vosganian.
And Gandul reports that a scientific communication session of the National Defense University included for the first time last week a section dedicated to “energy-informational action”, described by the newspaper as “paranormal combat techniques” using telekinesis, “transpersonal experiences” and Qi Gong.
HotNews.ro, Apr 30, 2007
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