Romanian press discusses whether or not incumbent president Basescu will run for the next presidential elections, as revealed by an internal Austrian Embassy report. Elsewhere in the news: Eurovision debates lead to Romanian contestant to be accused of playback in the British press. Last but not least, Romania’s economy sees a 6.4% contraction and contradictory predictions.
Romania’s incumbent president Traian Basescu told diplomats he would take until September to decide if he was going to run for the second presidential mandate. The message is supposed to have been launched during the EU diplomats’ lunch in Bucharest, according to one Austrian Embassy internal report quoted by NewsIn press agency, Evenimentul Zilei informs. Traian Basescu could be replaced by Prime-Minister Emil Boc in the run for presidency. This might be just a manoeuvre to strengthen Liberal Democratic Party’s (PDL) position before the EU Parliamentary elections, the newspaper adds.
The Austrian diplomatic letter, addressed to the Austrian Foreign Affairs Ministry and signed by Ambassador Martin Eichtinger, goes on to say that Traian Basescu will run for the next elections if Romania will come out of the crises with "a minimum damage for the people". The Austrian Embassy from Bucharest denies that the document represents an official position, Adevarul reads.
President Traian Basescu neither confirmed nor denied the discussion. He declared in an interview for Romanian TV channel Realitatea TV that he would not run in the next presidential elections if, in case of a severe economic downfall, the unemployment recorded a two figures number, and if he considered the tones of offences addressed to him over the last four years. „The crisis is my opponent”, he said.
Cotidianul informs that the „Austrian Embassy profoundly regrets the fact that a document a