The papers report that the final debate for the presidential election, which runoff is scheduled for December 6 between incumbent President Traian Basescu and chief of the Social Democratic Party Mircea Geoana, will be held this evening at the Parliament Palace. The two candidates will face off each other in a debate organised by the Institute for Public Policies and moderated by journalist Robert Turcescu, the same as the debate before the November 22 first round of the election.

Business Standard remarks that the runoff finalists, Geoana and Basescu, have conducted election campaigns of between 20 and 30 million euros according to its own reckonings confirmed by political analysts. Each of the two candidates won the vote of over 3 million Romanians, which makes the paper conclude that each vote cost them 10 euros.

The paper quotes chairman of the Pro Democratia NGO Cristian Parvulescu as saying the study conducted by his organisation in the election costs indicates that the 3-million-euro legal limit has been exceeded. He says that outdoor advertising made up almost one third of the total campaigning costs. Starting from this premise, the election might be said to have cost between 50 and 70 million euros, he says.

Jurnalul national remarks that the best slogan for Basescu's electioneering would have been 'I knew, but I kept silent; I promised, but I did not deliver.' It claims that after five years in office the President leaves behind a long series of unmet pledges and a mountain of so called revelations of corruption misdeeds and immorality of his political adversaries which he always made after fact and were left without criminal consequences, which proves that they were only meant to manipulate the public and the political context.

Gandul writes about the project of PSD candidate Mircea Geoana to appoint independent Sibiu Mayor Klaus Johannis the future prime minister of Romania. The paper says the political composition of the future Johannis Cabinet shows nine ministries for the Social Democratic Party (PSD), seven for the National Liberal Party (PNL), and two for the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR).

Geoana is quoted as saying that if he wins the election his party will work to configure the Government programme and amend some laws, including the public sector uniform pay law and the education law. Geoana says PSD believes education deserves 6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while healthcare, infrastructure and energy should become key points in the 2010 Budget.

Gardianul remarks that PSD regards the anti-communist and anti-Geoana protests staged on Tuesday in Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Constanta, Sibiu, Targoviste and Bucharest as a rehearsal for the election day prepared by the Democratic Liberal party (PD-L), the party endorsing Basescu.

Cotidianul claims that the 'laboratories' of the Cotroceni Presidential Palace and the PD-L headquarters are busy preparing 'spontaneous turbulence' to be used if Basescu is disfavoured by the exit polls.

The papers quote caretaker Prime Minister Emil Boc as saying the peak of the economic crisis is over in Romania and the best proof to his assertion is the November Government receipts. They are said to have reached RON 12.1 billion, more than November 2008's RON 11.9 billion. Boc says that the Government takes that as signifying that the worst of the economic crisis is over and the country is bracing up for economic recovery in 2010.

President Basescu on Wednesday promulgated a law under which the dismissed Government is empowered to submit to Parliament for approval a Budget, the social security fund and the law on fiscal accountability, Curierul National reports.

Gardianul notes that PSD and PNL want to convene Parliament in an extraordinary meeting to approve the Budget.

The papers report that Romania's international reserves (foreign currency plus gold) stood at 31.334 billion euros as of November 30, 2009, up from 28,737 billion euros a month before. The forex reserve was worth 28.737 billion euros, up from 28.402 billion one month before.

Financiarul remarks that Romanians will have shoestring budgets for this year's Christmas holidays. It carries the findings of a recent Mednet Marketing Resarch Center market survey indicating that more than 50 percent of the Romanians in urban areas will spend less this Christmas than the last one. The kinds of presents the respondents have in mind to purchase this year are clothing/footwear (54.5 percent); cosmetics/perfumes (37.4 percent); toys (30.6 percent); chocolate/coffee (20.43 percent); books (17.4 percent) and jewels/watches (14.8 percent). According to the same study, 6.1 percent of Romanian city dwellers intend to take out loans to cover their winter holidays expenses.

AGERPRES