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Wandler, Reiner
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5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Conflict over state model
The preliminary election results for Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly show a clear victory for the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. The major bone of contention will no doubt be the state model, writes the left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung, fearing an Islamist president: "The Islamists and a small, radical-left group are for a purely parliamentary system. That is the lesson they draw from the presidential system that has imprisoned Tunisia since its independence. The rest of the parties want a head of state who acts under the eyes of parliament. But these parties don't seem to have considered what could happen if Ennahda gets its hands on the presidency."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Tunisia
A scandal
The left-wing daily die tageszeitung voices surprise at the Spanish state prosecutors' failure to support Garzón's investigation, "considering that the number of victims amounted to tens of thousands. What is at issue here is a systematic wave of purges against all those who remained loyal to the democracy Franco toppled. Even international human rights organisations have accused Spain of not wanting to face its past. The bereaved are not the only ones to be shocked that a government that by law claims to champion the cause of remembering the past refuses to do this. It's a scandal. But once again it seems [Spain's Prime Minister] Zapatero is above all concerned with passing packages of legislation that look good in the headlines. Once things get concrete he does the same as all his predecessors did before him. He lifts the carpet then sweeps all the dirt under it."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Spain
Setting up memorials
The daily die tageszeitung ponders the options for addressing the past. "Even though many of those responsible have been dead for a long time, Garzón's investigation into these 'crimes against humanity' is nonetheless important. Those left behind have been waiting far too long for justice. But addressing the past is complex. While there are many who hope that the mass graves scattered across the country will at last be opened and the remains of those who were murdered transferred to a cemetery, others do not feel comfortable with this idea. ... There is another, far more symbolic solution to keeping the memory of the terrible years of the civil war and the dictatorship alive. Instead of transferring the remains of all the victims to family graves, the mass grave of [Federico] García Lorca could serve as an example. Why don't the authorities take the initiative and set up memorials and parks wherever there are graves? This would make the terrible past much more tangible."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Spain
In search of a second wind for the Constitution in Madrid
In an interview with Reiner Wandler, Spanish political scientist José Ignacio Torreblanca expresses his fears that the German EU presidency may be tempted to "find a quick solution by simply trying to bring all the EU members down to a common denominator." Torreblanca has high hopes for the meeting in Madrid: "In this new attempt to revive the Constitution we're not starting from scratch with 27 different positions. There are 18 countries that have expressed their clear support for the current draft. Then there's Portugal and Ireland, whose stance is very close to that of these 18 countries. That leaves five: France, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Great Britain. This camp is not united. The meeting of the 18 countries who support the Constitution could make people in France and the Netherlands start thinking about on whose side they want to be: with the eighteen countries that want more Europe or with those that want less. In Spain, many wanted more: in a referendum 72 percent of the Spanish voted in favour of the European constitution."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Europe
All available articles from » José Ignacio Torreblanca
Catalan's Statute of Autonomy
Reiner Wandler sums up the excitement about Catalan's Statute of Autonomy, describing it as "basically about the concept of democracy in Spain." "This debate has consumed the country since the constitution of 1978. According to the Spanish Carta Magna, Spain is a federal state and yet at the same, it isn't. Following the end of the dictatorship in 1975, the supporters of the old regime tried to save what they could of the centralist policy whereas the nationalists – and in particular the Basque and Catalan nationalists – tried to achieve as much autonomy as possible. Even today, nobody is really satisfied with the result. Although the rest of the country was also divided into autonomous regions, federalism has remained 'asymmetrical', as Spain likes to call it. Some regions have many rights, others only a few. And this is exactly the problem – even if in the end Catalonia ends up with no more autonomy than a German federal state or a Swiss canton."
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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Spain
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