Romania steals from its own people

Romania's government on Tuesday survived a vote of no confidence tabled by the Romanian opposition. Its package of drastic austerity measures will thus come into force in order to secure further installments of IMF emergency credits. The daily Gândul describes the planned cuts as tantamount to stealing from the population: "To pretend that the cuts are courageous, that they represent a reform and will be useful in the long term is an insult to Romania's citizens. The government [of Prime Minister] Boc has not outlined a plan to get the economy going. Moreover, after having lied to the population about Romania's true situation for at least a year it has not come up with either concrete reform steps or a timetable. The money Romania has borrowed from the IMF, the EU and private banks has in the meantime found its way into the pockets of the [the government Liberal Democratic party] PDL's clientele. This is a case of theft: because no-one is lending it any more money the PDL has resorted to stealing, now from pensioners, like thieves who break into a house at night."

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