Patrick Smyth analyses in the Irish Times the possibilities open to the Irish government after the referendum: "The Brussels EU summit ... clarified the options facing Taoiseach [head of government] Brian Cowen after the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. ... Brian Cowen was getting plenty of sympathy in Brussels on Thursday and Friday and the sort of breathing space that a grieving man needs to begin to put his life back together again. ... But Sarkozy and Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel sent out clear ... signals that they see Cowen's options as very limited. Eventually, and well before the European elections next June, the Irish people would again have to be asked to bring Lisbon's institutional reforms into force." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Ireland, » Europe
All available articles from » Patrick Smyth

For the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the results of the summit in Brussels are testimony to great confusion in the EU: "The EU wants to prevent Europe from coming to a standstill - and threatens to fail as a result. Although the plan is to achieve rapid ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the remaining countries despite the Irish No vote, the summit in Brussels proved that the crisis is by no means over yet. ... It is indeed important to send the message to the European public that the Reform Treaty is not dead. But this is bringing things down to the smallest possible common denominator. Neither has a schedule been decided nor have the next steps been announced. ... One reason for the EU Council's hesitant stance is that no one has a ready-made solution. But what is even more important is to avoid conveying the impression that the EU wants to impose its will on the Irish. Yet it is already clear that there are only two ways out of the crisis: either Ireland drops out of the EU, which is not a serious alternative, or the Irish must hold a second referendum - on an altered treaty which includes certain exemptions." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Ireland, » Europe
All available articles from » Carsten Volkery

For the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, greater civic participation offers a solution to the problems faced by the EU. "European unity requires universal respect for the morals and customs, beliefs and conventions, even the specific diets of each individual country. We do not need the state or a political class to decide what is good and what is bad. Fears and distrust can be overcome by asking the people to vote far more often than at present, in electing MEPs for example, and for all the problems that concern them directly which are now handled directly by the bureaucracy in Brussels. Just like in Switzerland, which manages to hold all its ethnic groups together by respecting their differences." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Switzerland, » Europe
All available articles from » Francesco Alberoni

The Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet expresses concern about the consequences of the present EU crisis for EU candidate Croatia and the EU's newest members: "Over the past few days the EU's leading politicians have come across as hysterical toddlers who have been deprived of their favourite toy: the EU constitution which now goes under the name of the 'Lisbon Treaty'. ... The spokespeople representing these toddlers even went as far as to warn that until we have a Reform Treaty there can be no further EU enlargement, or in other words, Croatia will not be allowed to join. This is a shameful, petty message addressed to those small EU countries that back Croatia's bid for membership. It is not the EU that is dying in the aftermath of the Irish referendum but rather its frequently trumpeted democratic principles. ... Faced with the chaos of Brussels one can only ask oneself: is this really the kind of EU we wanted to join? If this question were put to a pan-European referendum now I am afraid we would receive an 'Irish answer'." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Europe, » Croatia
All available articles from » István Pataky

The French news blog Rue89 comments on President Nicolas Sarkozy's official visit to Israel: "Sarkozy is popular in Israel. Since his election the perception of France in Israel has changed dramatically, and the Iraelis seem to be willing to forgive the man they call 'Sarko the Isreali' anything. Neither General Gadaffi's November visit nor the nuclear projects between France and Arab countries have been able to end the 'honeymoon between Israel and France'. ... To be popular in a country as sensitive as this is in itself an achievement. ... Being listened to is one thing, but wielding influence is quite another. Without doubt the Israelis respect the French stance at the moment because they see Paris as an important political partner. ... But beyond the great gestures that will be made during the 'Sarko tour' this visit will serve as a measure of France's true clout in a region in which warm words and empty actions are not enough. The risk is that France could alienate the Palestinians and yet remain only a second-rank partner for Israel, for whom relations with the United States still take priority." (22/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » France, » Israel
All available articles from » Samuel Ghiles

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung comments on Sunday's international summit of oil producers and consumers in Jeddah: "The many different approaches of those present were difficult to reconcile with each other. ... Certainly, the conference ... could prompt the major players to cooperate more closely in dealing with the many-sided problem. However the ideas voiced at the summit did not seem to match the seriousness of the problem. People in the industrialised and developing countries must adjust their budgets to accomodate higher energy bills. While the high energy prices are posing a clear threat of inflation, fears are also growing that they may have a dampening effect on the global economy as a whole." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Energy, » Global

The EU lifted the sanctions against Cuba at its Brussels summit. The British, the Swedes and the Czechs have expressed their concern about this step, which was mainly the result of a Spanish-led initiative. The liberal daily Sme joins the attack against the decision: "Lifting the sanctions debases the fundamental principles and the common values on which the EU is based. EU politicians love to talk about solidarity, justice and equality - but freedom is barely mentioned. This is at the root of the apathy towards a regime that still keeps up to three hundred people behind bars for their political convictions. Raul Castro has made no changes to the tyrannical system in Cuba, not even to its façade." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Latin Amerika
All available articles from » Peter Schutz

Gordon Brown has been British prime minister for almost one year. Janet Daley analyses the reasons for his dramatic decline in popularity: "It all began to fall apart at last year's Labour Party conference when the awful reality dawned on every journalist present (even those whose sympathies were with Brownism): neither Mr Brown nor his ministers had anything of interest to say. ... That was when it ended: the illusion that this was a man who had been reborn, as his followers had always promised that he would be, upon achieving his life's ambition. There was no New Gordon. ... What transformed the [Conservative] party's standing and turned the opinion polls on their heads was George Osborne's announcement at the last party conference that the next Conservative government would cut inheritance tax." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Daley Janet

"Where is Europe's Left?" asks El País newspaper in a leading article, commenting: "For the citizens of the Union, Europe no longer stands for a model of democracy and social welfare. Rather it serves governments as an alibi for restricting legal freedoms and labour and social standards. After the most recent meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, the heads of state and government returned home with new benchmarks set not above but below the current national standards. And as we saw with the Returns Directive, the European Parliament is being careful not to interfere with this change of direction. The rationale ... is almost as old as politics itself: a bad regulation is better than none at all. Or to put it the traditional way, injustice is better than chaos. ... Only in the case of the Returns Directive ... this chaos does not exist." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Social Policy / Employment, » Migration, » Europe

The business daily Cinco Dias sees little progress toward the liberalisation of the European energy sector: "Most consumers are still with their old suppliers and have little possibility of renegotiating the price. The gradual process of interconnecting the different networks has also done nothing to improve the security of supplies. And the EU is still divided into 27 mini-markets in which the main suppliers - led by Russia - are able to impose their obscure conditions. The solution to these problems ... could have drawn somewhat closer since last week. The European Parliament ruled that the power companies must renounce ownership of the networks once and for all. ... Unfortunately the countries that ... defend this anachronism (namely France and Germany) are preventing the EU from implementing this solution." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Energy, » Consumers, » Germany, » France, » Europe

Around twenty influential intellectuals have signed a manifesto demanding that the Spanish - or Castilian - language be protected. El Mundo comments: "The first thing that must be said is that it seems incredible that things have come this far. A country's official language, spoken by more than 400 million people around the world, is threatened at home and depends on civic initiatives for its survival. The [regional] nationalistic parties of the autonomous regions in which there are two languages have got us into this crazy situation. They try - sometimes using force - to win more speakers for the language they consider their own. The other culprit is the central government that sits back and does nothing." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Cultural Policy, » Spain

The ombudswoman of the national daily paper Le Monde analyses readers' worries about the decline of the French language: "Protecting the language, the neglected task of the French ombudsman, is misunderstood abroad. Our colleagues mock this 'craze', which they see as a symptom of our touchy nationalism. However the abundant mail we receive from readers shows no sign of this. What one finds, however, are major concerns about the relentless decline of the French language, replaced by English not only internationally but also in France, where fashion and a sort of childish snobbism result in the spread of 'Frenglish' both in the suburbs and in so-called intellectual circles. ... When more and more readers write in to call this trend to our attention, it means they are convinced that the press in general and Le Monde in particular bear responsibility for this decline." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Cultural Policy, » Print media, » France
All available articles from » Véronique Maurus

The ethics committee of a hospital in the northern Romanian city of Iasi has refused to allow an 11-year-old girl to have an abortion on the grounds that she is already 16 weeks pregnant. The newspaper Gandul comments: "But the penal code contains Article 45 which allows abortion in cases where it is considered necessary. Any lawyer could prove that it is necessary to protect the health of the mother, particularly when you take this to mean her mental and physical health. ... But to know this the parents of the girl would have had to consult certain experts, for instance the child protection authority. This authority woke up from its slumber yesterday and explained it would bring a case against the ethics committee in Iasi. But by the time a decision is reached so much time will have passed. ... In such a case the ethics committee in Iasi should allow parents the right to decide what burden they are willing to carry." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime and Law, » Health and Medicine, » Romania
All available articles from » Marius Nitu

A fierce debate has broken out in Poland over a 14-year-old girl who had an abortion after allegedly being raped. The ultra-right camp criticises Health Minister Ewa Kopacz for supporting the abortion. The Polish daily Dziennik defends the stance of the right-wing liberal minister. "The young ideology fighters of 'Fronda' [an extremist right-wing magazine] who are waving the cross for lack of other instruments have called for the removal of Minister Kopacz - for being a bad Catholic - from both the Church and the government. We can only hope the Church hierarchy does not listen to these calls, because this would leave [the former right-wing extremist education minister] Roman Giertych as the only regular Catholic in Polish politics, and in the end the Polish church would not be happy with that situation either. ... After 1989 Poland became part of a world in which the principle of separation of church and state is applied to ensure both social peace and individual freedom in matters of religion." (23/06/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Health Policy, » Religion, » Poland

Sports journalist Johann Skocek reflects in the daily Der Standard on the role of the European Football Association UEFA: "In EURO everyone can romp around without identity cards, without language skills and without criminal records. ... The UEFA is the government of a landless country which is everywhere where people gather in its name. ... The country is called EURO, UEFA or the Champions League. It provides food and drink through price and menu regulations and creates a sense of togetherness through VIP logos, fences and magnetic barriers. Its government is sovereign and negotiates with other governments on an equal footing, gets the host countries to foot the bill for security measures and seeks tax relief on its revenues. This country practices the free market economy to the hilt: the government can permit itself any freedom and everyone else makes sure it lacks for nothing." (23/06/2008)

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All available articles from » Johann Skocek