The Mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, plans to have an earthquake risk map drawn up for his city. However the map is to remain secret so as to avoid creating a panic. PR expert Raluca Petrescu condemns this as absurd on the blog portal of the daily paper Adevărul: "Mr Oprescu probably believes that publishing the map would cause a generalised hysteria as a result of which the inhabitants of Bucharest will abandon their homes and take to living in tents. Or he thinks people will demand that their apartments are made earthquake-proof. … Even without the map we know that many houses would be flattened in the event of a strong earthquake. … There is already a public list of 380 multi-storey buildings that would most likely collapse. … For my part I would certainly sleep better in my apartment block if the mayor were to declare the renovation of endangered buildings a priority instead of keeping secret information that is of public interest." (14/06/2013)

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The Lithuanian Interior Minister Dailis Barakauskas promised on Monday that the construction of the national stadium in Vilnius, which was begun in 1987, will be completed by 2016. The liberal daily Lietuvos rytas comments satirically: "So far no hero has managed to end this millennium project, whose skeleton that rises up to the heavens symbolises a disgrace for the state. But Barakauskas talks about the fight against this dragon as if for him it were as easy as a child's magic trick is for an experienced magician. Roughly 270 million litas [77 million euros] are still needed for this monument to corruption and disorder. Where are they to come from? Europe! And after that the sun will rise not only for Lithuanian football and singers, but also for local governments and ministries who will hold their official celebrations in this 30,000-seat stadium." (21/05/2013)

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