What the Newspapers Say: September 21, 2006

Scheele Fooled the European Commission, trusting too much the management talents of the local authorities, forgetting about co-financing and accepting too daring deadlines and targets, says Adevarul.

As a result, Brussels officials are quite unhappy with Jonathan Scheele’s activity in Romania, days before the official country report is issued.

In Budapest, hundreds were injured last night, after the confrontations between the Police and the protesters, Evenimentul Zilei says. It must be contagious, since during a football game last night, the Bucharest Police had to use water cannons and tear gas to calm down Steaua’ supporters.

Mike “the Bribe”, a.k.a the Social Democrat deputy Serban Mihailescu is the subject in a new scandal, being found in the records before 1989 as active officer in the Foreign Information Service, Cotidianul informs.

He even worked undercover for a few years, but the following amnesia seems to be long-lasting: Mike says a confusion is possible.
And, since we’re in the Intelligence area, we should tell you that Gandul found an impressive figure: 8,000 BILLION (!) ROL were spent fighting the spies and the “groups of interests”, only in 2005. No wonder utilities get more and more expensive.

Also in Gandul, and also in Intelligence, we find that the Romanian Information Service (SRI) lost a general and a colonel, both detained for the moment at the Anti Corruption Prosecution Office, accused of taking and offering bribe.

Last, but not least, the price for natural gas stirs a lot of discontent, for both the populace and the reporters at Cotidianul. Recently privatized Petrom established for it’s own operations a price for the natural gas 15-20 $ higher than the average on the market. A long and freezing winter is to be expected.

Sep 21, 2006