Italian newspaper: "Romanians - most violent and dangerous race"

“It is considered the most violent, dangerous race, capable of killing for a handful of coins”. That is Italian newspaper Il Tempo leads on Tuesday one of the most vitriolic articles on Romania published in Italian media ever.

The article, headlined “Un’etnia sempre in cronaca nera” (An ethnic group always present in crime section of newspapers), is a long list of names called on the Romanian people.

It says Romanians living in Italy have “prostitution, credit card cloning, clandestine immigration” among their “basic activities”. And the author believes Romanians “are not afraid of anything, despise even the life of children and women. They always operate in groups to fulfil their criminal activities”.

The article refers to Romania’s coming EU accession and notes the practice of many young Romanian women to marry rich Italians in order to receive Italian citizenship and maybe part of their wealth.

“They are the Romanians,. they are the citizens of Romania who for years terrorize the country”, the article concludes.

Unofficial statistics say there are some one million Romanians living and working in Italy. Officially, the number of legally settled Romanians there is 300,000, while some other 300,000 have submitted documentation in order to stay there legally.

Contacted by HotNews.ro, representatives of the Romanian Foreign Ministry said they would submit a reply to the Italian newspaper.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

Presidential car injures woman

A woman was slightly injured by a car running in front of the presidential convoy in Bucharest on Tuesday. The car was driving towards the Bucharest International Fair. President Basescu got off his vehicle to check the situation on spot.

The woman was carried urgently to a hospital by the same car that hit her. It belonged to Romania’s Guard and Protection Service.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

Presidential nominee "doesn't know much" of intelligence service

The presidential nominee for the top job at the Foreign Intelligence Service-SIE said on Tuesday he did not know much about the institution he was about to manage but said he had collaborated closely with it in the recent past.

Presidential aide Claudiu Saftoiu made the statement after receiving the validation for the job from the parliamentary commission overviewing SIE activities. His nomination as well as the one of opposition member George Maior are due to be approved by the Parliament today.

George Maior also received a validation before the parliamentary commission today.

Saftoiu said he collaborated with SIE in the case of three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Iraq last year and in debates over new security laws.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

Romanian President: EU a 5-star restaurant where one orders what one affords

Romanian President Traian Basescu has set a new target period for the organization of early elections in the country: March-April 2007, shortly after the country joins the EU. He said during a talk-show on the Realitatea TV news channel on Monday night that the poll may be organized simultaneously with the one due to name Romania’s future MEPs.

And he compared Europe with a five-star restaurant where Romania must only order what it can pay for.

Basescu also insisted that he cannot foresee a possible partnership with the opposition Social Democratic Party-PSD in its current form and before the current parliamentary term expires. He’s been speculated to favour a partnership between his Democrats (PD) and the PSD after he nominated a PSD member, George Maior, to run the Romanian Intelligence Service-SRI.

And he said he nominated Maior based on a resume received from PSD leader Mircea Geoana. He warned that the country’s intelligence services needed young, relatively experienced people and to move away from the current perception that they’re politically subordinated to whoever holds the power.

On the EU front, he hinted at recent events in Hungary by saying that if says the people’s living standards would rise immediately after joining the EU it would be a major lie.

And he insisted that despite he supports early elections, the current government in Bucharest, run by a Liberal, is “the best Romania had after 1990”.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

Romania trade deficit closes in slowly but steadily to new record high

Romania’s trade deficit grew to 8.43 billion euro in the first eight months of 2006 as a faster pace of imports upped it 2.6 billion euro compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Institute announced on Tuesday.

According to the Economy Ministry in Bucharest, the higher demand for imports was generated by growing industrial production, investment and consumption.

In the mentioned period, exports reached 16.8 billion euro, up 17.3% compared to the first eight months of 2005. But imports grew 25.2% in the same period, exceeding 25.3 billion euro.

Romania’s overall trade deficit reached a record 10 billion euro last year.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006

Multinationals in breach of Romanian tobacco ads law

The promotion of tobacco products in Romania often breaches the national legislation on this kind of advertising with a lack of specific warnings or the placement of ads in banned areas. Using slogans that are apparently unrelated to smoking, advertising banners are placed in the near vicinity or even in schools and faculties.

Law 148/2000, advertising is banned in Romania for alcoholic drinks and tobacco products within the areas of education institutions, medical assistance units and in their vicinity.

But as it can be seen within the compound of the Agronomy Faculty in Bucharest, two banners present the new offer from Kent, the British American Tobacco brand, which do not promote smoking but bear such slogans as “smooth transmission” and “true: performance”.

Close to the spot, another banner - for L&M, the Philip Morris brand: “Get Smooth&Get Going”, it says. Which may be read as: smoking helps you get smooth and win a scooter every day to get going to classes.

The same happens to other places across Bucharest, near schools and academic institutions. And they all may be explained simply: the existing legislation, while banning such advertising, does not provide concrete sanctions for those found to breach it.

Still, starting January 1, 2007, when Romania joins the European Union, any kind of tobacco advertising will be banned. Accoding to Law 147/2004, it will only be allowed in publications targeted to tobacco industry professionals or which are not targeted to Romanian or EU markets.

JTI and Philip Morris representatives could not be contacted by HotNews.ro to share their point of view on the issue.

But Adrian Popa, head for Corporate Affairs with the British American Tobacco Company, admitted the mistake of his company.

“Clearly there are posters that are not complying with the provisions of Law 148. They’re our responsibility eventually, but it is very hard to monitor all the locations”, he told HotNews.ro.

“Regarding the lack of warnings on promotional objects, we cannot say we’ve obeyed the law, but we surely followed the spirit of the law”, he said.

According to statistics from the European Study Program for Alcohol and Drugs (ESPAD), quoted by Fumat.ro, 65% of under-16 youth are smoking and 32% of pupils said they had their first cigarette before the age of 14.

Despite warnings, only 13% believe smoking “sometimes” is harmful, but 75% of them believe smoking 20-40 cigarettes a day poses major healh risks.

The same study shows some 72% of the Romanian population aged 14-60 admitted it received cigarette advertisement.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006

What the newspapers say: October 3, 2006

Corruption, graft and abuse in all of their forms - from revealed facts of the past to the palpable present to theories of the future - are present everywhere in the pages of today’s newspapers.

The press also discusses the fate of Romanian workers in Spain, the future of Romanian transportation and the aftermath of the summit of French-speaking leaders from around the world hosted by Bucharest last week.

Evenimentul Zilei continues a long series of revelations on people who exploited Bancorex, a state-owned bank that was sucked down into bankruptcy in the nineties with a series of abusive loans to various people who never returned the money back.

The newspaper adds new names on the list of Bancorex clients who are now facing trouble in court for various graft or organized crime charges. The list now includes the head of the Rompetrol oil group Dinu Patriciu and his brother Valeriu, newspaper manager Sorin Rosca Stanescu and controversial businessman Mihai Cuptor.

Dinu Patriciu’s current problems with anti-graft prosecutors tackling the so-called “Rompetrol case” continue. According to Gandul, US citizens placed under protected identity received the Department of State approval and submitted witness accounts against Patriciu.

The protected identity was claimed due to the “real possibility” of the three main businessmen involved in the case - Patriciu, Philip Stephenson and John Hamilton Works - to put pressure on at least one witness, the newspaper writes.

Meanwhile, Adevarul focuses on another businessman, Dan Voiculescu, and reports that a secret document dated 2000, compiled by a commission overviewing the Foreign Intelligence Service and prosecutor’s Office, which shows the two institutions suspected a company controlled by businessman-politician Dan Voiculescu of grabbing part of the wealth of ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

The newspaper says the Italian Mafia was involved in operations of transferring millions of dollars across the border in 1989, when the Ceausescu regime fell.

And Cotidianul focuses on grassroots corruption and reveals all the tips, bribes and traffic of influence one must deal with to enter the closed circles of “Middle Age-style guilds” such as Romania’s doctors, notaries, lawyers, professors and priests.

The newspaper reports that one must pay no less than 33,000 euro to even claim a job as a surgeon, 12,000 euro to become a lawyer’s apprentice and 15,000 euro for priesthood dreamers to get a good church.

And Adevarul notes an interesting fact: just prior to the September 26 EC report that recommended Romania’s EU accession on January 1 next year, the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) ordered the arrest of no less than 23 people on large-scale corruption charges. Now, none of them wears handcuffs anymore.

Elsewhere in the newspapers, Gandul reports it’s not easy any more to be a Romanian arriving in Spain, since the country introduced new rules to tackle immigration last year. Still, many Romanians manage to settle everywhere in the Peninsula and are making good money that they never dreamt of earning back home.

Evenimentul Zilei publishes a feature on how Spanish politicians are hunting the votes of Romanian immigrant workers as they will receive voting rights in their adoptive country once Romania joins the EU next year.

And Romanians are already negotiating their political support as hard as they can in order to receive as many promises and guarantees as possible.

Back on home turf, Jurnalul National describes a project of transportation development due to end in 2050 in Romania.

By then, the newspaper reports, the country will look like a Star Trek location compared to its current condition, as it would be crossed by two European corridors, 20 highways, high-speed trains and four brand new major airports.

But it’s a long way there. For now, as Gandul writes, authorities are quarreling over the bits and pieces left behind by the summit of the French-speaking world, hosted by Bucharest last week.

Plasma TVs, computers, other electronic devices and even furniture are due to be shared among the organizers of the Sommet de la Francophonie, which include the Foreign Ministry, two security services and the Parliament. The objects were bought specially for the event and are now seeking new owners.

HotNews.ro, Oct 3, 2006