Europe has reached a crossroads with the Brussels summit, Wolfgang Münchau writes in the liberal business paper Financial Times Deutschland, fearing that the the lack of an economic union worth the name will be the euro's downfall: "I don't believe that Europe's political leadership really understands the crisis, not even Merkel. If she did she'd use other words to describe it. The bottom line is that this is not a crisis of bad budgeting, not even in Greece. Nor is it a crisis of poor economic policy decisions, as the Chancellor said recently in the Bundestag about Spain. ... The cause of this crisis is a monetary union without transfers or a common economic policy. ... If the euro fails, it will be solely because it was not embedded in a true economic union: its banks are supervised and recapitalised nationally and each country issues its own bonds. The clauses included in the Treaty of Maastricht and later in the Stability and Growth Pact are a fair weather construction that can never withstand a dangerous hurricane." (27/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU treaties, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Wolfgang Münchau
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The unbridgeable gap between Paris and Berlin could cause the EU summit to run aground, fears the liberal-conservative business paper Il Sole 24 Ore: "Those who want more solidarity from Berlin the day after tomorrow must be willing to transfer sovereignty in the areas of budget, taxation and bond policy to Brussels today. Too bad that Hollande has affirmed just the contrary: first solidarity, and the day after tomorrow we'll see about surrendering sovereignty. This antithesis is founded in the DNA of each country. Germany has always had a federal orientation, France has always been the defender of national sovereignty. Precisely the lack of clarity about what one will receive in exchange for such a major transfer of sovereignty feeds doubt in the other countries - including the northern ones. A profession of faith in an increasingly stringent discipline is being demanded today to secure Germany's goodwill tomorrow: is it really possible in our thoroughly secularised Europe to demand that countries convert to German beliefs without knowing what they will receive in return?" (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Germany, » France
All available articles from » Adriana Cerretelli
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The EU heads of state and government meet to discuss a reform of the Monetary Union in Brussels today. Merkel's unambiguous rejection of euro bonds in advance of the meeting is only logical, writes the liberal daily Sme: "Merkel is first and foremost a German, and then a European. She formulated her refusal in drastic terms: As long as she lives, there will be no euro bonds; Germany won't be harmed for the sake of rescuing Europe. … For Merkel, euro bonds are unconstitutional both in Germany and in Europe. This makes any discussion redundant. If the euro bonds do eventually come it would only be if Brussels has the national budgets under its control. Only then would the chancellor be happy." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Miriam Zsilleová
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The single currency threatens to collapse unless the EU summit sends a clear message that fiscal union is on the way, the conservative daily ABC warns: "Now there is no getting around the truth. The EU is facing an unavoidable decision. The governments must realise that they must sacrifice a part to save the whole. Otherwise a catastrophe could result. This is what is at stake at the EU summit in Brussels today. The euro is not just a currency. All over the world it has become a symbol for Europe. If the euro goes down, Europe will go down with it. … The politicians have all the instruments in their hands to set up a banking union that would be a first step towards a fiscal union, as demanded by Germany and other countries. It would be inexcusable if this two-day summit failed to give a clear signal to this effect." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

Europe's governments lack the will to find a long-term solution to the crisis, the liberal-conservative daily Jyllands-Posten complains, fearing that a two-speed Europe will be the result: "In essence the goal has always been to solve the crisis only in the moment. No EU summit to date has sought a long-term solution to the debt crisis. … Regardless of what is decided now in Brussels, it's clear that Europe will advance at different speeds in the coming year. Germany will define the agenda in the euro countries. And it no longer fears the consequences if one or several countries exit the Eurozone. The UK is growing more and more distanced from the EU, and here in Denmark the government and the pro-European parties in parliament have serious doubts about Denmark's future role within the EU." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis, » Europe's speed

Twenty years ago Slovenia struck around 26,000 ex-Yugoslavians off its population register, leaving them stateless and deprived of many rights. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on Tuesday that the Slovenian state must now pay six plaintiffs among those known as "the erased" 20,000 euros each in damages. The conservative daily Večer welcomes the decision: "It has become clear that Strasbourg has uncovered the huge stain on the sanctity of those who usurped Slovenia's independence and who had presented it as unsullied until now. Now all Europe knows that at the beginning of its existence the young state committed one of the worst human rights abuses, something the victorious political independent elite was never willing to admit. Now we, too, must understand this. … The Slovenian leadership can count itself lucky that the judgement has been handed down now, at a time when those parties are in power who in the past had done their utmost to prevent the issue of the 'erased' being resolved promptly and appropriately." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Human rights, » Justice, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Aleš Kocjan

The Romanian Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that it is the task of the head of state to represent Romania at the EU summit. Prime Minister Victor Ponta nevertheless promptly announced that he would travel to Brussels on Thursday. What his political adversary President Traian Băsescu will do has not been confirmed. Mihai Gotiu sees in the blog portal Voxpublica only one solution to the dispute: "I no longer entertain any illusions that there can be a reconciliation between our president and our prime minister. Now the only thing that can help is to cut the Gordian Knot. That would entail the suspension of Băsescu [by parliament] and a subsequent referendum [on the suspension]. The Romanians themselves should decide who they find more bearable. ... That wouldn't be the best solution, nevertheless involving the people as umpire could endow the whole situation with a minimum of legitimacy. ... Otherwise the battle will go on and destroy everything in its path - the damage is already visible in the parliament and the Constitutional Court." (28/06/2012)

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All available articles from » Mihai Gotiu

Despite various scandals, including the current illegal party funds affair, the liberal Reform Party led by Estonia's Prime Minister Andrus Ansip remains as popular as ever. Historian Margus Kiis argues in the news portal Delfi that this is due to the post-Soviet mentality still prevalent in the country: "The voters still want a divine parliamentary faction based on the former Communist Party model that never questions its own infallibility. According to this view the mistakes are made only by individual weaklings or inferior members who have somehow wormed their way into the faction, so the party sees no need to apologise. … The citizens want to be ruled with an iron fist. They see this infallibility as a strength. The politicians of the Reform Party are exploiting this; they know how to manipulate citizens who are too lazy to think for themselves." (27/06/2012)

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All available articles from » Margus Kiis

The German economists Hans-Werner Sinn of Munich's Ifo Institute for Economic Research and Albrecht Ritschl of the London School of Economics have been discussing for two weeks now to what extent the German-backed bailouts for Greece can be compared with the Marshall Plan implemented after World War II. Without a drastic waiving of debts Germany's successful model would hardly have been possible, Albrecht Ritschl explains in the Free Exchange blog of the liberal business magazine The Economist: "The figures for Greece are indeed horrific, exceeding 200 percent of GDP. What makes them so particularly depressing is that there seems to be no coherent plan, or one that is based on illusions. That was very different after World War II. The Marshall Plan hatched out in 1947 had a simple goal, to give top priority to self-sustained recovery in Europe, and to minimise further transfers from the US. That's why ERP deliveries were so small. Indeed, they were only designed as a palliative, and a red herring for the European public, until the deep political agenda of the Marshall plan had played out." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » History, » Economic Policy, » Economy, » Germany, » Greece, » Europe
Who's saying what » Greece puts the Eurozone to the test

The Cologne District Court ruled on Tuesday that the circumcision of boys for religious reasons is a criminal offence. The trial dealt with the case of a four-year-old boy who was circumcised at the will of his Muslim parents and later had to be admitted into hospital with secondary bleeding. Even though it may limit religious freedom the judgement sends the right message, the left-liberal daily Der Standard writes: "Once you put the freedom of religious practice and the associated rituals over the inviolability of the individual, nothing bars you from saying that killing for religious motives is also justified. Religious extremists demand just that. And the same goes for the Catholic Inquisition, for example. As painful as this judgement may be for Jews and Muslims, it should prompt people to reflect on whether circumcision as a conscious act on the part of those concerned - be it only in a symbolic form - wouldn't better serve the purposes of their religions than traditional practice. And the same goes for adult baptism among Christians, by the way." (28/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Minorities, » Health and Medicine, » Justice, » Germany
All available articles from » Josef Kirchengast

Spain's government has passed a series of drastic cuts in the healthcare sector. Among other measures, as of next week pensioners, too, will have to pay a certain amount towards the purchase of prescribed medication, and certain medications that alleviate only minor symptoms will no longer be reimbursed at all. The left-liberal daily El País fears that these hastily decided regulations will make little impact: "The government has introduced these austerity measures without presenting a report on the social impact and without consulting the doctors beforehand. This will be done soon, the government has said. Some experts have warned that the targeted savings won't be achieved, as has previously occurred when medications were struck from the list. There is the danger that in cases where symptoms persist, the doctors end up prescribing more powerful and expensive drugs that are covered by public health insurance." (28/06/2012)

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Five years ago, on 29 June 2007, Apple Computers sold the first iPhone in the US. Since then Apple has sold 250 million devices, according to analysts. Smartphones have changed the world and the people in it, writes columnist Bert Wagendorp in the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant: "Within just a few years the mini-computer and modern man have merged to become an indissoluble unit. Life on the street has changed radically. Everywhere you look you see people with their eyes glued to their tiny displays. Tell me, please, what was life like before the smartphone? What sort of communicative vacuum did we live in? How immeasurable the boredom must have been back then! ... And how did we survive it? No one has changed the way I spend my time more than [Apple co-founder] Steve Jobs has. I read less, I watch less television, I talk less, and I spend less time just staring into space. Everything I do now revolves around my smartphone." (28/06/2012)

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All available articles from » Bert Wagendorp

Germany plays Italy tonight in the second semi-final of Euro 2012. The patriotism of the German fans before the game is no cause for alarm, writes the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza, looking back to the Fifa World Cup in Germany in 2006: "The Nazi legacy and the crimes committed during the Second World War weigh heavily on German history. ... The Germans have based their postwar identity on their economic success, the trademark 'Made in Germany' and their own currency. However the deutsche mark hasn't existed for the last ten years. In the end all the Germans had left was football and the national team. Then in 2006 they took everyone by surprise with the masses of three-coloured flags and their relapse into patriotism. ... But there was no outbreak of xenophobia, and the extreme right was also claim the German flag as its own. After the wave of joy during the Fifa World Cup, life in Germany once again immediately subjected itself to the dictates of political correctness." (28/06/2012)

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All available articles from » Bartosz Wieliński
Who's saying what » Kick-off in Eastern Europe

The Euro 2012 football competition is coming to an end and soon there will be no way to forget the euro crisis at least for a few moments, the daily newspaper Público laments: "Once the Euro tents in Kiev have departed the single currency will once again be the only thing called the 'euro' and the veil of illusion will disappear. … Football has become international and combines a variety of traditions - also at the level of individual national teams. It's paradoxical that the decision makers on the playing field of EU policy continue to pursue their own goals and national interests - and the North is increasingly excluding the South. If Merkel were the coach of the German team it would give up its relaxed style and like the Greeks play in an aggressive, purely defensive mode. Merkel's crisis strategy has more to do with emotion than rationalism: she behaves like a coach in the stand. … Perhaps this is why the story of the EU summit [this Thursday and Friday] will be the story of a Germany that, without realising it, is condemning itself to the same insignificance to which it has condemned the South so far." (28/06/2012)

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All available articles from » Miguel Gaspar
Who's saying what » Kick-off in Eastern Europe