The return home of two Romanian workers retained and recently freed by the US forces in Iraq leads to extensive reports in Romanian dailies today. And so does an open letter on Afghanistan published by six ambassadors in an Italian newspaper, which sparked anger among top officials in Rome.
Domestic political conflicts could not be left apart as alliances in the Romanian Parliament are about to be rewritten. And the maverick Moldovan Republic turns its eye to Bulgaria - not Romania, for a little help in its EU accession efforts.
The two Romanian workers retained by US troops for taking pictures of a military base in Iraq return home today, several days after a huge scandal in Bucharest led to their release after months of custody, Evenimentul Zilei reports.
Their case - about which PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu was not informed - led to the resignation of Foreign minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu yesterday.
According to Evenimentul Zilei, the two were contacted by President Traian Basescu himself prior to their departure to Bucharest. And they’re quoted as saying they were surprised by the magnitude of their case and how their taking pictures for fun in the Iraqi base was tackled with most seriously by the US forces.
Romania libera also deals with the issue and reports that the families of Adrian Ganceanu and Nelu Ilie, who have become stars overningtht, are shocked with the political scandal they fired in Bucharest.
And Jurnalul National tries to redraw the timeline from their arrest to their release, based on the sole interview with them, broadcast by the Romanian public radio.
Also in Jurnalul National, a public call by six ambassadors to Rome, including the Romanian one, that the Italian people support the prolongation of Italian troups’ stay in Afghanistan created quite a fuss among Italian authorities yesterday.
According to the newspaper, authorities and the media in Rome consider the call “a gaffe”, a subject of “surprise” and a “rather unusual” gesture.
Gandul also deals with the issue and quotes a Romanian Foreign Ministry release according to which “the op/ed article” is in full line with the priorities of Romania and “fully reflects the spirit of messages sent by all head of state and government from allied countries at the NATO summit in November”.
Meanwhile, the newspapers keep watch on Romanian politics with Evenimentul Zilei reporting that the Democratic Party-PD, a member of the governing coalition, accused their coalition partners, the National Liberal Party-PNL, of planning to oust them from the government.
According to PD representatives, the change would come with the restructuring of the government, when Liberal PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu would likely name a minority PNL government.
Gandul also bets on a mono-color government but notes the warming ties between the Liberals and the opposition Social Democrats-PSD despite influential PSD members have been pressing party leader Mircea Geoana to stay away from such an alliance.
And Cotidianul describes what it calls PSD’s strategy on the issue, considering the party’s moves to suspend President Traian Basescu, Tariceanu’s rival: “Give us your votes to help us suspend the head of state, and the interim president will be one of yours”.
Last but not least, Gandul reports that the Moldovan Republic seems ready to take any offer of support in its move to strengthen ties with the European Union - except Romania’s offers, despite Bucharest authorities have included Moldova’s EU accession among ther stated foreign policy goals.
The paper writes that officials in Chisinau asked for Bulgaria’s support in this regard at talks between Bulgarian ForMin Ivailo Kalfin and his Moldovan counterpart Andrei Stratan yesterday.
HotNews.ro, Feb 6, 2007
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