Romania: Press review - February 18
Feb 18, 2010

Romania: Press review - February 18.
Bucharest, Feb 18 /Agerpres/ - The Romanian dailies on Thursday give main coverage to the prospects of eliminating the intermediaries in the Russian giant Gazprom's gas supplies to Romania, the advantages posed by the fresh version of the governmental First Home programme and the discussions following the enforcement of the unified public pay law.

The Financial Investment Companies (SIF), in spite of the downturn, prove to be a gold mine that attracts an increasing number of ‘diggers'. The SIFs hold stakes in some of the most important banks and companies in the Romanian economy: BCR, BRD, Banca Transilvania, Property Fund, Aerostar Bacau, Antibiotice Iasi, Biofarm, Mechel Targoviste, Armax Gaz and Unirea Shopping Center. Moreover, they have sizeable bank deposits, Jurnalul National reports.

Russian giant Gazprom has agreed to supply Romania natural gas without any intermediaries starting 2012, when the current contracts expire. Romania currently purchases gas at 10 percent higher prices because of the suppliers approved by Gazprom, Thursday's print media reports. Officials of Russian gas producer Gazprom paid a whirlwind visit to Romania and Bulgaria on Wednesday to promote their projects. Visiting Bucharest was the group's Vice President Alexander Medvedev, who met Romanian Economy Minister Adriean Videanu and the executives of Romanian gas companies Romgaz and Transgaz. Sofia was visited by Gazprom Managing Director Alexey Miller, Evenimentul zilei announces.

The talks between Romania and Gazprom will continue in March, when the feasibility study on the storage facility at Margineni is completed. Officially anyway, Gazprom Vice President Medvedev's visit to Romania was of no use, since his talks with Videanu failed to produce a conclusion, Adevarul reports. 'Gazprom visit without any conclusions: the talks continue in March', headlines Ziarul financiar. Other headlines on this topic: 'Gazprom lures Romgaz with the promise of direct shipments' (Evenimentul zilei), 'We join the South Stream with gas storage facilities alone' (Adevarul), 'No more intermediaries between Gazprom and Romgaz' (Cotidianul), 'The Economy Ministry negotiates with Gazprom over building a gas depot in Romania' (Curierul National).

Eight countries, Romania included, are currently in talks over hosting a dump-site for the European Union's nuclear waste and over allowing such waste to cross their countries, Romania libera quotes London-based The Times as saying. The Romanian experts argue Bucharest would only stand to lose if it accepted. As much as 1,400 tonnes of radioactive waste is currently hosted by Romania, the daily adds.

The home-buyers who wish to build a house by the programme offered by the Government will get their money from the banks in instalments, depending on the phase in the building works, rather than when the house is completely built, as it has been up until now. Those who qualify for the First Home programme can now get guarantees for loans of up to 70,000 euros, if they wish to build a house from scratch, according the provisions adopted by the ruling coalition on Wednesday. So far the cap has been set at 60,000 euros, for any type of house - old, new or being build. The conditions in which the bank credit is given have also changed, Evenimentul zilei reports.

The big cheat of the unified public wage law is that it stipulates that the workers' incomes made in Dec. 2009, not in the full-2009 be conserved. So that the rulers can now safely assert, without lying, that the incomes do not drop, although their 2010 average will be smaller than last year, Gandul reports.

Many state employees were angry after seeing they got lower wages this year. The Labour Ministry reported at the Government's meeting on Wednesday that the public workers' hysteria after getting less money should allegedly be blamed on 'the accountants' mistakes'. Actually, the cut benefits are the main cause, Adevarul says.

Less than 3 percent of the disabled Romanians have a job, the Bucharest-based dailies report. This is due to the fact that they have difficulties in getting to their workplace, they lack access to education and most Romanian employers still consider them useless. Just 0.1 percent of the employed Romanians are persons with a disability. Therefore, it may come as no surprise that most of them believe they are excluded by the Romanian society, that is unable to overcome ingrained prejudice and discover their abilities, Evenimentul zilei writes.

The Culture Ministry is in talks on the extension of the renting contract relating the Peles Castle built by Romanian King Carol I between 1875-1883 in Sinaia (north of Bucharest), since the time by which the Romanian state remains the castle administrator expires on March 1. While Culture Minister Kelemen Hunor says the Royal Family wants to sell the castle, their lawyer denies such rumours, Jurnalul National reports. AGERPRES
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