As presidential candidate, François Hollande wanted to prescribe growth for the entire EU. But now he will only be able to bring the economic situation in his own country under control by applying stringent austerity, the liberal daily Dagens Nyheter contends: "Compared with other EU countries, the tax burden in France is particularly heavy. Furthermore, the Socialist government wants to tighten the laws governing protection from dismissal and maintain the 35-hour-week. Hollande's figures aren't compatible with the goal of boosting competitiveness. ... The labour costs will effectively increase, and this after already a decade of France lagging behind the Germans. For far too long the French have heard that reform is not necessary. Reconciling sweet election campaign promises and the budgetary constraints will be a delicate balancing act, particularly if the idea is to keep Germany happy at the same time. And there is the risk that the financial markets will lose their faith in France before Hollande has managed to create growth." (04/07/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Labour market, » France
All available articles from » Gunnar Jonsson

The French government slashed its growth prognosis for 2012 from 0.7 to 0.3 percent on Tuesday. At the same time the country needs to make massive cuts to achieve the new debt target prescribed by the Stability Pact. This is the beginning of the end for the entire EU, writes Andrzej Talaga in the blog of the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita: "The ESM European bailout mechanism simply doesn't work and the EU is going to have to split up. The collapse of the German-French motor for integration is just a matter of time. Greece and perhaps even Spain will have to leave the Eurozone. The UK will exit the EU of its own volition. And the Germans will form a coalition with those who share their views. And in the end everyone will breathe a sigh of relief, even if this 'revolution' causes great pain initially." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Andrzej Talaga

Yesterday's first government declaration by the new Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has left the French none the wiser, writes the conservative daily Le Figaro: "Regarding all of the policy areas addressed yesterday by Jean-marc Ayrault there is to be discussion, consultation, negotiation. All but one, that is: tax increases. That is the only concrete aspect of the policies announced by the prime minister. The government is not willing to negotiate with the taxpayers on this, we already knew that. ... In this case a maximum of consultation risks bringing about a minimum of decision making. But can France afford that? The French are hardly any better informed after this general policy speech than they were before it. They know that tax hikes will be the cornerstone of the next five years, but what about all the rest? Nothing is clear." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Paul-Henri du Limbert

The French police searched the private residence and offices of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday. The raid is part of an investigation into allegations that L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt gave illegal funding to Sarkozy's conservative UMP party in the 2007 election campaign. According to the liberal daily La Vanguardia, Spain should follow the example of the French judiciary: "Whatever the outcome of the pending trial against Sarkozy, it's clear that the judges have been unusually quick to launch proceedings against him considering that it's just a month since he lost the immunity conferred by his presidency. This speaks volumes about the separation of political and judicial powers in France, and we should learn from this. All of us can remember cases in our country that went on for so long that we can no longer remember when they began. Not to mention those that began with a huge media circus only to come to nothing in the end." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » José Antich

Just a few days after the EU summit German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti are meeting again this Wednesday to discuss solutions to the debt crisis. Italy should finally stop moaning, diplomat Antonio Puri Purini urges in the liberal-conservative daily Corriere della Sera: "Italy must stop blaming the German chancellor for the debt crisis hitting Europe. It is in our national interest to discontinue this stance that has taken on unbearable proportions as quickly as possible. It only reinforces the impression that we are a country that suffers from inferiority complexes, provincialism, ignorance and memory loss. ... Italy's politicians, regardless of their leanings, must stop seeking scapegoats to pay for their own weaknesses and cowardice. ... The German-Italian summit offers the opportunity to make clear that in the EU every country must do its bit for the common good. It's a waste of time to blackmail Germany into making concessions on euro bonds." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Antonio Puri Purini

Following the resignation of Heinz Fromm, the former president of the German intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, over failures to properly investigate the neo-Nazi cell NSU, it was announced on Tuesday that Thomas Sippel, head of the corresponding body in the German state of Thuringia, will be sent into early retirement. The agency must be reformed, writes the liberal daily Der Tagesspiegel, but not abolished: "Dismantling the Office for the Protection of the Constitution would mean relinquishing insights into the murky milieus of extremists and spies. Neo-Nazis, Islamists, autonomous dissidents and the thieves of intellectual property sent here from China, Russia and other states would rub their hands in glee. ... One interesting proposal has been tabled, by a former intelligence officer, of all people. ... He calls for the use of informers and other intelligence resources to be coupled with a court order, complementing parliamentary supervision. A judicial caveat could reduce the danger of the agency running into a legal grey area with risky operations." (02/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Frank Jansen

The Austrian parliament votes this Wednesday on the ESM European bailout mechanism and the fiscal compact. Although the coalition government made up of the social democratic SPÖ and the conservative ÖVP will be able to pass the package with the help of the Greens, the SPÖ should have put up a little more resistance to Chancellor Werner Faymann, the left-liberal daily Der Standard writes: "Faymann talks of more democracy but is happy to rule without regard for anyone else's views. Not just regarding the fiscal compact were facts created at an EU level before voters and parliaments were even aware of what this entailed. ... These are no mere bagatelles. Many of the rules hidden in these countless paragraphs transfer power over financial policy to the EU Commission. ... The vital goal of a common EU economic policy doesn't justify all the means to achieving that end. The disenfranchising of the representatives of the people in favour of a poorly controlled executive is a deal the parliamentarians should fiercely oppose." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Gerald John

In a report published on Tuesday the organisation Human Rights Watch has accused Syria's leadership under President Bashar al-Assad of systematic torture. Europe's sanctions will be ineffectual as long as Russia and China refuse to turn their back on Assad, writes the left-liberal daily De Morgen: "As Europeans we could accuse ourselves of taking little interest in the Syrians' fate. And to a certain extent that's correct. ... On the other hand it's also true that the EU has exhausted practically all the means at its disposal for exerting pressure on the Assad regime. Europe's many sanctions have been in place for months, and preclude any military, financial or economic support. If Europe had its way the regime would already be out of alternatives. The problem remains China and Russia. Above all Moscow continues to act like an ally to Assad. Two weeks ago the Russians were still trying to transport combat helicopters to Syria. ... The time has yet to come when Putin et al take a shocking human rights report seriously and act accordingly." (03/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Koen Vidal
Who's saying what » Civil war raging in Syria

Both Europe and the US need to change their economic policies in tackling the debt crisis, writes political scientist Jeffry Frieden in the blog of the London School of Economics: "If we are to stave off another lost decade, and to prepare for a better future, we need macroeconomic policies to restore acceptable levels of economic activity, and public investment to power sustained and productive growth. All dimensions require balance - balancing macroeconomic expansion with prudence, long-term growth with fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility with social responsibility. The balancing act is not simple, and the opposition is powerful, but the stakes are very high." (04/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Jeffry Frieden

The Barclays bank scandal over attempts to fix the Libor global inter-bank interest rate demonstrates that the financial sector has learned nothing from the crisis, the liberal daily Público remonstrates: "The British government plans to investigate the whole affair right down to the last detail and push through new rules for the entire sector. However there are problems with this approach. Because on the one hand it's not exactly easy to find out what exactly banks get up to and on the other hand one must really ask why the rules still haven't been changed since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Four years later the separation of investment and commercial banks still hasn't been completed. ... The whole affair casts new doubts on the credibility of the banking sector and clearly shows that the banks still haven't changed their practices after being rescued with taxpayers' money." (04/07/2012)

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The EU task force that is meant to help Greece implement the reforms prescribed by the troika on Tuesday called on Athens to pay outstanding bills amounting to several billion euros. The government won't be able to wring the money required to do this out of its citizens, the conservative daily Kathimerini predicts: "The troika made up of the ECB, the EU Commission and the IMF will discover that the state's revenues don't tally with the rigid and far too optimistic forecasts - not just because the taxpayers can't pay any more but also because the collection of taxes is deliberately being delayed to avoid a negative impact on the voters ahead of the parliamentary elections. ... This foolish tactic of delaying tax returns until after the elections simply means postponing an explosion. ... The people won't pay their taxes - not because they are disobedient but because they simply don't have the money. ... Athens has set targets that are out of reach and by foolishly attempting to achieve them regardless the state is 'destroying' the citizens and subjecting them to international humiliation. A destroyed state and defenceless citizens: this is the definition of a failed state." (03/07/2012)

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All available articles from » Nikos Xidakis
Who's saying what » Greece puts the Eurozone to the test

The number of Romanian companies doing business in Bulgaria rose by 50 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year, the Bulgarian tax office announced at the end of June. The daily Novinar warns of unscrupulous employers: "That there is cheap labour in Bulgaria is nothing new. And the Romanians aren't the first to come to Bulgaria to take advantage of that. Add to that the low tax burden. Together these are two very good reasons for preferring Bulgaria over other countries. Many Greek firms have also moved to Bulgaria, which has no doubt had a positive impact on the Bulgarian economy. But there are also many cases in which foreign employers shamelessly exploit Bulgarian workers without fearing any consequences. So we shouldn't rejoice too quickly about the investors because they come here to make a profit, not friends. Nevertheless it would be nice if we could jointly benefit and if Bulgaria really were a paradise, not just for investors." (03/07/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Labour market, » Economy, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Lilia Gyurova

Workers from Eastern Europe are currently harvesting Danish strawberries because most unemployed Danes refuse to do the work. The current discussion over raising unemployment benefits is inappropriate in such a situation, writes the liberal-conservative daily Jyllands-Posten: "Unemployment is an awkward issue because it makes people feel inept and unwanted. ... For that reason society must continually strive to keep employment high and to offer the unemployed the means to make a living. The political debate shows that those in government and parliament have not understood the connection between giving and receiving, because they do not see why Danish strawberries should be picked by some of the 162,500 unemployed Danes. Denmark has no real unemployment problem as long as foreign workers have to be brought into the country to do a strikingly high number of jobs because the unemployed Danes literally would not stoop to doing them." (04/07/2012)

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According to a survey published in mid-July, the majority of Finns are in favour of lowering the alcohol limit for hobby boaters from 1.0 to 0.5 promille. The step is long overdue, writes the liberal daily Helsingin Sanomat: "For the Finns, boating is a typical summer and leisure time activity. These are precisely the times when people are not exactly at their soberest. ... It would only be consistent for the same alcohol limits to apply for boaters as for drivers. Even if there is plenty of room out on the water, on summer weekends the most popular routes have so much boat traffic that they hardly differ from motorways. When you're drunk you have no control over your vehicle - and at 1.0 promille you're pretty drunk. ... A responsible boater shows respect for other boaters and his own passengers. It's a matter of attitude." (04/07/2012)

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