While according to figures released by the European statistics agency Eurostat on Tuesday the Eurozone is approaching a recession, in France economic growth is merely at zero and Germany has registered moderate growth. But these exceptions are no cause for optimism, the liberal-conservative business paper Il Sole 24 Ore writes: "The gloomy prognoses have only in part proved to be right. Because in France and in Germany, the core of the strong countries, growth may have slowed down, but less than expected. … The quarterly figures reflect a two-speed Eurozone, or rather a Eurozone of two opposing directions. … While the debt countries, and surprisingly also Finland, are floundering, others are continuing to grow, albeit at a slower pace than before. … However this doesn't refute the theory that the crisis of the peripheral states will slowly but surely extend across the entire monetary union. The downward trend has been confirmed, particularly in Germany, where economic growth is based above all on the purely mathematical logic of the gross domestic product: as long as exports decline at a slower pace than imports, the curve goes upwards." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Economy, » Germany, » France, » Europe
All available articles from » Riccardo Sorrentino
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The risk of a prolonged recession above all comes from the countries of Southern Europe, which are in dire need of structural reform, the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung contends, praising the reform efforts in the Baltic region: "The Baltic states have done extraordinarily well in the last few quarters. This is the fruit of recent reforms. In the face of the latest financial crisis Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have had to make painful internal revisions, and thanks to falling salaries and prices - in combination with flexible labour markets - they have found their way back to the path of recovery. Such success stories should be borne in mind when complaints that the problem countries are crumbling under the pressure of enforced austerity programmes grow loud. Because the fact is there is no alternative to the austerity policy, which together with reform measures must boost the competitiveness of the individual economies in the long run." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Economy, » Europe, » Baltic States
All available articles from » Nicole Rütti
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The inflation policy of the European Central Bank is also to blame for the impending recession in the Eurozone, Ryan Avent argues in the blog of the liberal weekly The Economist: "The ECB has permitted this dangerous slowdown because it focuses obsessively on inflation, and consumer price inflation has been above 2% since late 2010. That's a potentially fatal error. Plummeting demand will eventually bring inflation down, at the cost, perhaps, of unsustainably painful contractions around the periphery. Meanwhile, the ECB's choice to preside over a steady slowdown in demand growth, and a consequent squeeze on the periphery, is exacerbating the financial crisis and putting great pressure on ECB officials to take all sorts of extraordinary action. The inflation obsession is leaving the central bank more involved in the economy and more politically overextended than it would be if it focused on maintaining stable growth in demand." (14/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economy, » Europe
All available articles from » Ryan Avent
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis, » Crisis countries pin their hopes on ECB

Portugal and other crisis countries in southern Europe are particularly hard hit by recession, and the German economy is no longer capable of curbing recession in the Eurozone, the liberal-conservative daily Diário de Notícias comments: "On the same day when the Portuguese statistics office announced that unemployment had reached the critical 15 percent mark in Portugal, the figures published by Eurostat also fuelled new concerns: the recession in the second quarter reached 3.3 percent, the highest level since 2009. Of the 17 single currency countries, only Greece is in a worse position than Portugal. Economic performance has sunk across the Eurozone. Even the German economy, the motor of Europe, grew by just 0.3 percent. Faced with these alarming figures Prime Minister Coelho tried to send a message of hope. However he chose his words very carefully: there was no promise of economic growth for 2013, only the promise that the recession would end." (15/08/2012)

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

Despite a new complaint filed by eurosceptics against the ESM bailout mechanism, Germany's Constitutional Court plans to stick to its current schedule and announce its decision on the conformity of the new rescue fund with the German constitution on September 12. This is good news but doesn't change the fact that the Constitutional Court is holding the Eurozone hostage, the left-liberal daily La Repubblica comments: "Once again the fate of the monetary union is in the hands of the German Constitutional Court. Karlsruhe [where the Court resides] is limiting the government's room for manoeuvre because every agreement Berlin signs with Brussels must previously have received the blessing of parliament. … Although as far as the legitimacy of the government of a democratic country is concerned, there's nothing to be said against this, it also means that on a regular basis Europe is being held hostage by a non-EU institution which it did not appoint and over which it has no jurisdiction. … Moreover this results in a contradiction. In the name of the German constitution the judges of Karlsruhe must preserve German sovereignty at the same time as Germany is calling on other EU countries to give up sovereignty in order to save the monetary union." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Andrea Bonanni
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis, » The row over debt mutualisation

Diplomatic relations between Sweden and Belarus are at a low point because of the so-called "teddy bear affair". Yet at the same time Sweden has no qualms about delivering weapons to the dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, the liberal daily Expressen complains: "Is Belarus a dictatorship? No one in the Swedish government would hesitate in answering this question. On the contrary: our foreign minister surpasses himself when it comes to talking in plain terms about the 'lout' in Minsk while the diplomatic crisis intensifies. But when it comes to Saudi Arabia things are very different. The ministers wriggle and twist like worms on the end of a fishing rod when they're asked questions about the dictatorship there. Only yesterday, the conservative Defence Minister Karin Engström refused to call Saudi Arabia by its proper name. … Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy where free elections, political parties and civil rights are unknown. The royal family wields all the power and draws its legitimacy from the strict Wahhabi clergy with which it has formed an alliance." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Trade, » Sweden, » Belarus

Sixteen police officers were wounded on Monday night during rioting between the security forces and youths in the northern French city of Amiens. Instead of just delivering fine speeches French President François Hollande should finally do something to fight crime, the conservative daily Le Figaro demands: "A repeat sexual offender in Ardèche, a bloody armed robbery in Grenoble, police officers attacked in Paris and Aix-en-Provence, scores settled between gangs in Toulouse. …The news flashes these past few days were not invented by Nicolas Sarkozy. A number of measures adopted by the former president seem more appropriate than ever. Instead of repealing them, as was his intention, François Hollande would be well advised to apply them. The head of state cannot be content to stride across the stage declaiming words that have the ring of authority but which essentially are simply meant to appease the bleeding hearts. By trying to make everyone happy he will end up satisfying no one." (14/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Unrest / Riots, » Crime, » France
All available articles from » Yves Thréard

The Romanian Constitutional Court announced on Tuesday that it will rule on the validity of the referendum on President Traian Băsescu's impeachment on August 21, ten days earlier than planned. The conflict over the referendum is first-class entertainment, writes the liberal conservative daily Adevărul: "There's no sign that the carnival will end any time soon. ... Many will wonder why the EU is still messing around with us. It's simple: The Germans make good cars, the French are experts with fois gras, the British put on great Olympic Games - and we take care of the entertainment. On the international stage we're the clowns, always on the receiving end of a kick in the butt. ... The circus artists do very well out of the deal and receive fat pay checks from the state, unlike the audiences in their shabby clothes. ... Can we not organise a referendum with which we reprehend all our country's incompetent politicians? Would that be constitutional? We should ask the Constitutional Court." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Justice, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Ion M. Ionita
Who's saying what » Power struggle in Romania

According to a forecast by the Ifo Institute published on Monday, Germany will register the world's biggest export surplus, at 210 billion dollars. But this is no cause for celebration, writes Jens Berger on his blog Nachdenkseiten, because in the long term the country is digging its own grave: "Above all within the Eurozone, Germany's foreign trade surpluses are seen as the main reason for the current euro crisis. ... If an economy continually exports more than it imports, currency evaluations or devaluations act as a corrective force and the countries that consistently import more than they export necessarily become indebted to those that export more than they import. ... Whereas the 'dysfunctional duo' comprising China and the US at least has the possibility of changing the exchange rate in compensation and to account for the constant wage hikes in China, the situation in Germany looks significantly bleaker. ... Wages there must rise faster than in the rest of Europe. Only then can Germany compensate for its world-class import deficit ... and stave off the threat of bankruptcy." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Trade, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Jens Berger
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

In Devecser, a town in western Hungary, right-wing extremist paramilitary groups staged a march on Sunday following a neighbourhood dispute in a bid to intimidate the Roma living in the area. The police looked on impassively. The left-liberal daily Népszabadság fears that the tensions between the Hungarian majority population and the Roma minority could take a dramatic turn: "For right-wing extremist groups, the dispute was a welcome opportunity to demonstrate their convictions and publicly label the Roma as parasites and genetic trash. … The Roma don't want to live in a society where the toxic atmosphere destroys families, where bi-ethnic marriages collapse, where Roma children have to receive therapy because they can no longer bear the bullying of right-wing extremists, where the police don't intervene, thus legitimising the lawlessness - and all this in the middle of Europe. … The Hungarian state has given up on the Roma. It is hardly surprising that they now want to defend themselves. This carries the real risk of open conflict." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Society, » Hungary
All available articles from » Ferenc Hajba

The Breivik report published in Norway on Monday takes the police severely to task. The liberal daily Savon Sanomat fears that even in the future it will be impossible to prevent all such attacks: "The worst mistake of the authorities was not to take reports by the population about a possible bomb attack seriously. As a result, the information remained sitting on a police desk for 20 minutes. Much of what happened in this time was unnecessary. ... Unfortunately, however, you can't turn back the clock. For many Norwegians the country was an ideal world before the bloodbath of 22 July 2011, where something like that couldn't happen. Now, like Finland after the shooting sprees in its schools, the country has become wiser and more careful. In recent years the Nordic countries have paid dearly for their naivety. However neither a tightening of the gun laws nor other stringent controls can prevent such bloody attacks from being repeated." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime, » Society, » Finland, » Norway
Who's saying what » Consequences of an attack

Polish rescue workers on Monday recovered the body of a miner who has been missing since Saturday from the shaft of Silesia coal mine in southern Poland. In the first six months of the year 20 mine workers have been killed in Poland. An alarming statistic, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita: "These figures are all the more condemning because these disasters weren't the result of a methane gas explosion or a rock slide, but of human error. ... It's also appalling that seven people died in the coal mines in the last month alone. As Jolanta Talarczyk, spokesperson of the state mining authority Wug, has stressed, human error was the cause of 16 deaths in the coal mines. ... True, one can say that happily in this year there have been no natural disasters. But there can be no rejoicing as long as people continue to die in the mines." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Catastrophe, » Poland
All available articles from » Karolina Baca

The Danish public broadcaster DR provided in-depth coverage of the celebrations marking the end of the Islamic fasting month Ramadan on Saturday. By contrast it reports less and less on Christianity, the Christian daily Kristelig Dagblad criticises: "DR's heightened coverage of Islam is influenced by a superficial fascination with all things foreign, and stands in stark contrast to the declining number of programmes on the cultural and religious background of most Danes. This development shows that DR is in the grips of a prejudiced, bigoted image of Christianity. Our times are influenced not least by a search for religious and existential meaning. It may be the case in Copenhagen that fewer people are going to church and that churches are being closed down. But seen globally, the Church is on the rise. Religion plays a growing role in politics. Christianity continues to have a decisive influence on Danish and European culture. Without understanding Christianity, you can never understand our society." (15/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Religion, » Denmark

The Czech Ministry of Transport plans to re-classify a number of dual carriageways as motorways. The measure would mean that the Czech motorway network would grow by roughly 300 kilometres overnight. The business paper Hospodářské makes fun of the plan: "We're not exaggerating when we say that this is an ingenious idea. In a matter of just a few minutes our motorways will become 300 kilometres longer - pushing the Czech Republic a few inches further towards adulthood. True, the new motorways will be created simply by virtue of reclassifying old dual carriageways. … The next logical step would be to re-classify some district roads as dual carriageways. And in a couple of years we could demand European funding for their maintenance. Then even the Germans will envy us our road network." (14/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Jindřich Šídlo