The economic austerity facing all Romanians will not be improved by an announcement that the cost of gasoline and diesel oil will increase by six to nine percent as of this Tuesday. As a result, it is envisaged that prices of milk and milk products will rise by between 2 and 5 percent and that other foodstuffs will see price increases of about 5 percent. Moniturul reported on Monday that the modest allocation of financial resources to the army in last year's budget meant that they were only able to complete four of their proposed 21 programmes. General Decebal Ilina reported that the Ministry of Defence had been allocated ROL 500 billion for the 21 programmes when the true cost had been estimated at around four times that sum. The Romanian army is seen as being run down and having the oldest equipment in the region.
Nothing seems to be being done to improve the situation.
Minority issues continue to pervade all aspects of Romanian life and are often to be found just beneath the surface of what seem to be normal everyday happenings - such as football. Supporters of Transylvanian teams such as Resita are demanding to play in the Hungarian league. Whether this call has more to do with Resita's position at the foot of the Romanian league is debatable. However, there are much more worrying calls from football fans . Jews and Roma have become targets of racial attacks not only on the grounds but in the media and on websites ostensibly linked to football clubs.