If the G8 can set any developments in motion, it's in the area of tax avoidance, the liberal daily La Stampa contends: "At least in the battle against tax avoidance by large companies and above all financial companies, the summit could pave the way for concrete and important steps, aside from the official and traditionally laconic final declaration. Particularly since in the industrialised nations a change of mood is tangible, a rebellion against the multinationals that use 'creative tax systems' or in other words do a bunk. … An international system of rules could help stop them provided the eight leaders who have convened at the lake in Northern Ireland are sufficiently wary of new monsters. This would be an advantage for everyone." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Mario Deaglio
Who's saying what » Europe fights tax evasion

The concessions that Prime Minister David Cameron has secured from the British tax havens ahead of the G8 summit are not enough as far as the liberal daily Público is concerned: "To show that this time that he's got more than just good intentions, the British prime minister announced an agreement with the ten British overseas territories and Crown dependencies which are internationally considered to be tax havens. … This is certainly an important step but it is by no means enough to tackle the root of the problem. Because tax evasion is a practice that embezzles astronomic sums from public coffers, disregards all principles of fairness and undermines the authority of the state. … These territories that stimulate corruption and decimate the people's wealth must urgently be subjected to far tougher controls." (17/06/2013)

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Who's saying what » Europe fights tax evasion

An agreement on concrete measures against global tax avoidance is called for at the summit, the liberal business paper The Financial Times writes: "The best G8 outcome would be an international agreement on how to link tax bases to real economic activity and limit the creation of letterbox subsidiaries whose sole purpose is to locate the most profitable parts of businesses in low-tax jurisdictions - or in no jurisdiction at all..... The G8 should also advance the cause of the automatic exchange of tax information between governments, an essential tool for tax authorities to verify that democratically chosen tax structures are working." (17/06/2013)

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Who's saying what » Europe fights tax evasion

A concerted action against global tax avoidance could put Ireland in a tight spot, the liberal daily Irish Examiner warns: "The summit is also expected to trigger a process of global tax reform which could ultimately cost this country many jobs by diminishing our attractiveness as an industrial location. The problem is a growing perception of Ireland as a tax haven. With the focus on tax, trade and transparency, the spotlight will inevitably turn on Ireland, indirectly if not directly.... Despite strenuous denials by the Irish Government, and regardless of whether or not it is wrong to describe Ireland as a convenient tax-avoidance channel, that's the perception in America, Britain and elsewhere in Europe." (18/06/2013)

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Who's saying what » Europe fights tax evasion

Shortly before the latest G8 summit began in Northern Ireland, the daily newspaper The Guardian reported that the British intelligence service spied on delegates to the G20 summit in London in 2009. The paper cited whistle-blower Edward Snowden as its source. Such spying is only possible because nowadays summit participants are in permanent contact with their advisers behind the scenes, the conservative daily Večer complains: "These revelations expose the limitations of modern politics and high-ranking politicians who are no longer capable of sitting down at a table, making decisions and bearing responsibility using their own powers of reason; in accordance with the mandate they received from the voters. They're just overpaid pawns carrying out the instructions of others behind the scenes. … It's no secret in Brussels that during negotiations on important issues, for practically every comma in an agreement politicians make phone calls or send emails to people who analyse the proposals on the table and give out instructions for poor compromises." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Darja Kocbek

In the run-up to the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, Russia stressed that it would continue to supply weapons to the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. For the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, Russian President Vladimir Putin's power games are reminiscent of the regime in North Korea: "Putin wants to be respected by the American president, and to be met eye-to-eye. ... Of course at the beginning of the conflict there were many political opportunities to isolate Assad with a clear UN resolution that would force him to negotiate. But this resolution failed consistently because of Russia. Today it could well be that a big peace conference is no longer even possible. ... A year ago the words of the global community were still heeded. Russia is very much to blame for the escalation. But in fact it's Putin's pretensions that are the most worrying here. He's exacting recognition with methods that until now have only been used by the Kim school in North Korea." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Stefan Kornelius
Who's saying what » Civil war raging in Syria

The Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas stepped down on Monday, facing the consequences of a corruption and spying scandal which came to light last week. The liberal-conservative Neue Zürcher Zeitung doesn't however see Nečas as part of the Czech clientelist system: "Rather his mistake was that he failed to tame the forces in his party that funnelled public funds into private pockets and also party coffers through a network of contacts in politics and the economy. For this he must assume the political responsibility. … Cronyism and clientelism are forces that have proven hard to control. Because the system is practised not just by the conservatives but by all the parties to different extents, it's hard to reach a cross-party consensus in fighting it. At least Necas' government laid an important foundation for doing this by decoupling the justice system from politics in the last year. This is the good news among all the bad." (18/06/2013)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Corruption, » Czech Republic, » Eastern Europe
All available articles from » Rudolf Herrmann

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Petr Nečas on Monday, the Czech parties are looking for a way out of the government crisis that was sparked by a corruption and spying scandal. For the liberal business paper Hospodářské noviny, new elections are the order of the day: "We're not dealing with an individual failure here, but with a failure of the entire system. That calls for a new start. A quick agreement on fresh elections would also take the wind out of President Zeman's sails. Many things point to him wanting to dominate Czech politics for a year through a weak prime minister belonging to the Civic Democratic Party ODS or a caretaker government. But anyone who allows him to do that will be helping to dismantle parliamentary democracy with unforeseeable consequences. True, with early elections the Social Democrats would come to power, aided by the Communists. But that would also be the case after regular elections. And in any event they won't be able to introduce a radically different policy, if for no other reason than because of their dependence on the financial markets." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Petr Honzejk

Greece's highest administrative court on Monday ordered the state broadcaster ERT, which had been shut down by the government, to go back on air again. The web portal Protagon welcomes the decision: "This is one of the few times that a ruling thwarts the arrogance of a prime minister and gives him the possibility to correct a huge mistake. Now the third half-time is being played, and it will show whether ERT can be restructured objectively and reliably. The people charged with this task have a crucially important role. If they are suitable for it and are accepted by all the parties, no doubt something good will result. But if Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his team try to turn the ERT into a party organ again by giving the orders as the (temporary) majority, things will certainly get worse. And then Samaras will face far greater challenges than those of last night." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Giorgos Karelias

Two important elections will take place in Turkey in 2014: the nationwide regional elections in March, and the presidential election in the summer. With an eye to the protests in the country, the conservative daily Vatan calls to mind that the rise of political Islam started in 1994, and hopes "that today's opposition won't become divided, and is smart enough to back joint candidates in the regional as well as the presidential elections. In 1994 Turkey's political landscape was still dominated by two political camps. Today there are other players. In today's Turkey, where three camps divide the political terrain, everyone must join forces against the religious right. And there is no time to lose. Young, hard-working, honest candidates must be found, people who can inspire the masses." (18/06/2013)

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Who's saying what » Uprising against Erdoğan

The number of small street markets where people can buy cheap food and clothes is growing in Cyprus. The liberal daily Phileleftheros writes that such markets provide relief from the poverty many Cypriots are now subjected to: "Such markets have increasingly been springing up in recent times. They're organised outdoors and anyone who wants to can set up a stand and sell their goods at a low price. ... That's exactly what most people need. Even those who always wore brand name clothes and shoes now go to these markets. ... Of course the shop owners complain about this development in the retail trade, arguing that the bazaars are taking away their customers. But what are the poor people who can no longer afford to shop at established stores supposed to do?" (17/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Christos Charalambous

The Baltic is reported to be the most polluted sea in the world. According to official figures, up to 25 percent of the sea floor is biologically dead. Poland in particular is polluting the Baltic, the daily Kaleva points out, and calls on politicians to rethink their policy: "Because of the gypsum residues in a branch of the Vistula River, each year more than 200 tonnes of phosphorous flow into the river and from there into the sea. That's more that the environmental pollution in all the Finnish cities taken together. And another Finnish report puts that figure at more than 500 tonnes per year. … In any case the other Baltic Sea states certainly have the right to demand greater efforts. One should point out that the EU has given Poland around 67 billion euros in regional and agricultural subsidies between 2007 and 2013. … And beyond the financial perspective the real problems lie in the lack of environmental awareness and a wrong attitude." (18/06/2013)

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In Bulgaria dissatisfaction with the new government made up of the Socialists and the Turkish party is growing. Tens of thousands have gathered to protest outside the parliament and the party headquarters every evening since Friday. Even though the trigger was the appointment of the controversial politician Delyan Peevski as chief of the national intelligence service, who has now resigned, this time the issues are more fundamental than those in the winter prostests, the daily Sega observes: "The people taking part in these protests are different in that they have the necessary experience to provoke major social change. An MP once said that the nation's elite was sitting in parliament. Today this is no longer true, because the nation's elite is now on the streets. It is calling for new election laws, media freedom, new rules for the distribution of public funds and a functioning justice system. The elite is disgusted and this is why it must intervene in politics. Because politics is not a dirty business. It is the people who have turned it into such a thing that are dirty." (18/06/2013)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Unrest / Riots, » Eastern Europe, » Bulgaria

A court in the Netherlands on Monday sentenced six teenage amateur footballers and a father to prison sentences of up six years for beating a linesman to death. The conservative daily De Telegraaf would have preferred a harsher sentence: "After knocking linesman Nieuwenhuizen to the ground they kicked his head repeatedly in blind rage. The facts point to this having been a joint crime. Consequently the assailants are responsible not just for their own behaviour but also for that of the entire group, the court observed. There can be no doubt that this was the case. The court noted that the worst aspect of the suspects' crime was that there was no clear reason for this explosion of violence and that they had not assumed any responsibility for their attack. In such a context it leaves a very bitter aftertaste that in this trial too, the limitations of the law governing young offenders secured them a mild sentence." (18/06/2013)

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The state television station TVP1 broadcast the first part of the German miniseries Generation War on Monday. Edward Kabiesz of the national-religious portal Gość Niedzielny finds that a good thing: "The decision to show the film on the station with the highest viewer ratings sparked a veritable storm of protest. For my part, however, I don't share the view that TVP is engaging in anti-Polish propaganda or supporting Nazism. Are Polish viewers really dumber than for example journalists who've already seen the film? Why shouldn't Polish audiences be able to make up their own minds about why this German mini-series has sparked such a controversy? It's good that the television is broadcasting the series. In any event, with today's technological possibilities everyone will be able to see this 'forbidden fruit' sooner or later. ... That way we can see for ourselves how the Germans depict the war." (18/06/2013)

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All available articles from » Edward Kabiesz