According to the polls the left-wing alliance Syriza led by Alexis Tsipras could emerge as the strongest force from the elections. But Syriza's slogans are unrealistic and change nothing as regards the necessary course of consolidation, writes the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "When the left-wing tribune declares that Greece can discontinue its austerity efforts and still remain in the Eurozone because the West is just bluffing it makes a huge mistake. The room to negotiate is by no means as ample as Tsipras is trying to tell people it is. He must also realise that the country can't go forward without belt-tightening and painful structural reforms, whether it remains in the Eurozone or reverts to the drachma. This would be an honest message. But if the Greeks want to believe Tsipras' seductive slogans their decision must be respected." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Cyrill Stieger

With an eye to the new elections in June, Greece's politicians and the troika must be willing to make concessions, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung comments: "To that end the leftist alliance Syriza must also be prepared to take off its blinkers. The party acts as if the debt crisis didn't exist. ... Syriza rejects the 'austerity dictates', citing the popular will as its justification. But that is only half of the truth. 80 percent reject the austerity package, however as confused as the Greeks are at the moment, 80 percent also want to remain in the euro. Syriza claims both are possible. Reality will teach it otherwise. Until then, the party must change from a protest movement into a party capable of executing policies. ... Regardless of who is elected in June: the EU and IMF will have to accommodate Athens to a certain extent, otherwise this new government won't last long either. In the long run you can't govern against the majority of the people. Unless you're ready to put democracy on the line." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Kai Strittmatter

The voters should see the new elections as a referendum on whether Greece should stay in the Eurozone, writes the conservative business paper Naftemporiki: "Only in this way can we prevent politicians from interpreting the results as they see fit. ... Both before and after the May 6 elections, everyone talked about the austerity package and not about the euro. And all the polls show that more than 80 percent of Greeks want to keep the euro. … Two years of harsh austerity, recession, Greek mistakes and European experiments weren't long enough to quell people's desire to stay in the Eurozone. … Because we know or suspect that without international creditors we won't receive any more money. And unfortunately we can't yet survive without loans." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Nikos Frantzis

The news that there will be no formation of a government of experts in Greece is a welcome development in the eyes of the socialist daily Duma: "The technocrats are never on the side of the man on the street because they are the guardians of big capital. Those responsible for the crisis are trying to conceal their guilt and avoid their responsibility by appointing these experts. ... The idea of putting technocrats in charge of politics is like putting the commander of a concentration camp in charge of a hospital. Thank God Europe still has healthy social and political instincts that have ensured that the Greeks opt for new elections instead of a cabinet of experts. … It's a good thing this is still possible today. In a different world shares in government would be traded on stock markets, stock traders would be political engineers and Goldman Sachs would be able to buy a stake even in the Vatican." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Alexander Simov

In his inaugural speech on Tuesday the new French President François Hollande clearly positioned himself on the Left. A mistake considering the tasks he faces, the conservative daily Le Figaro comments: "For those whose hearts beat on the left, it was a good day. It was all there: the men, the words, the symbols. And reading his first speech closely, it's clear François Hollande has every intention of being a leftist president. Alone against the world, if necessary. But the challenges the new head of state will face require cross-party responses, to say the least. Bearing in mind the difficulties ahead, François Hollande cannot afford to cast himself as the president of just one camp." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Paul-Henri du Limbert

Newly inaugurated French President François Hollande's first trip abroad led him to Berlin on Tuesday. It is vital that the two countries reach a compromise on overcoming the debt crisis, writes the conservative daily The Times: "Germany is right to demand that other countries make structural reforms to economies, pensions and labour markets. But it also needs to accept that austerity alone will not get the rest of Europe moving. Not every country's plight stems from profligacy: many are suffering from the credit crunch and the adverse effects of having to function in the straitjacket of a single currency that has boosted German exports but made their own economies less competitive. ... Both sides have room to manoeuvre. Both need to compromise in the weeks between now and the Greek election, not pander to electorates. The stakes are too high to do otherwise." (16/05/2012)

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Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

The Dutch interim minority government led by Prime Minister Rutte agreed on an austerity and reform package with three smaller parties on Tuesday night. But despite this pact the country may face a Southern European scenario after the early elections on September 12, the Christian-social daily Trouw warns: "With this agreement valuable time has been gained, but nothing more. The content of the agreement by no means signals that the five parties are willing to form a coalition after the election, much less that voters would make such a coalition possible. ... The Hollandes of this country are with the [social democratic] PvdA, and above all with the [socialist] SP and the [right-wing populist] PVV [which refused to sign the agreement]. Who's to say these three parties won't attain the majority in parliament on September 12? But if they do get a majority, unlike in France they won't appoint the government. So the uncertainty regarding the Netherlands' budget policy continues. It's not just in Southern Europe that big problems aren't addressed and countries become ungovernable." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Lex Oomkes

The Czech police arrested David Rath, a leading social democrat, on charges of corruption on Monday night. The former health minister was taken into custody on the scene of the crime after accepting seven million crowns (almost 300,000 euros) in a cardboard box. This is the biggest corruption case since the collapse of communism and shows how rotten the parties are, the liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes comments: "This is bad news and good news: The bad news is that it confirms the general opinion that politicians are corrupt and have no scruples whatsoever about stealing. The good news is that it will sow the seeds of fear among politicians, because the police is finally taking targeted, ruthless action. In itself, the Rath affair testifies to conditions similar to those in the Balkans. The politician's arrest, by contrast, is proof of a concerted effort to change this state of affairs. The question now is if the good news or the bad news will win out, and what direction the country will take. At present, rather than being the exception in politics, bribery and clientelism are the rule. And that right across the political spectrum." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Martin Komárek

After just a week in office the new Romanian education minister, Ioan Mang, resigned on Tuesday amidst allegations of serious plagiarism. In the preceding days the media had investigated the plagiarism and contacted the academics who had penned the original texts worldwide. Corina Dumitrescu, who was initially nominated to become education minister, has also been caught out cheating on her CV. Civil society has won another online victory, writes the news portal Hotnews: "Used to moving in closed societies, in perfectly controllable locations with hypocritical rules and distorted values where lies constantly bear fruit, Mang and Dumitrescu - once they left their universe - have become the butt of jokes. ... They failed to understand that lies always catch up with you, particularly in a world where secrets can be revealed extremely quickly thanks to the Internet. ... The whole story got started because readers intervened and wrote commentaries - there were revelations on news websites and online communication spread the news very quickly. Mang and Dumitrescu are the first well-known victims of a new force that die-hard politicians will never understand. It's the power of the Internet, the new model of a civil society that intervenes online." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Dan Tapalaga

Today's crisis of the EU is not just about economic interests, and just as much a crisis of democracy, the journalist Annika Ström Melin writes in the liberal daily Dagens Nyheter: "If the EU is to survive, the influence of the citizens must be strengthened at both the national and EU level. ... The Union will never be a completely democratic state structure with an elected government, common taxes and a joint security and defence policy. Nevertheless, despite its democratic weaknesses there is every reason to defend and develop the legacy of Robert Schuman [one of the founding fathers of the EU]. Ultimately it is a modern form of cooperation for independent democratic countries to join forces and seek solutions to common problems in a democratic way while continuing to exist as independent states. However the supranational rules must be strengthened regarding human rights. If you consider the extreme parties that are currently gaining ground with the EU crisis, it's good to know that the member states are not entirely free to do as they please." (15/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Annika Ström Melin

Rating agency Moody's has downgraded 26 Italian banks, citing the recession and the banks' sinking profits as the reason for its move on Monday, while politicians talked of a conspiracy against the country. But the outcry is uncalled for, according to the liberal daily La Stampa: "It's completely inappropriate to talk of a plot against Italy. The downgrade is nothing more than an assessment of the facts. ... Yet again all an agency has done is to follow up on what had already been assessed as a risk area - instead of warning the markets of danger zones and pitfalls from its vantage point. If the rating agencies are to be in any way useful and regain a minimum of credibility, they should make an effort to look ahead, not back. Meanwhile all the hue and cry of the politicians is pure demagoguery. It costs nothing to rant and rave against agencies, speculators and the financial world. On the contrary, it attracts votes." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » Francesco Manacorda

Despite the euro debt crisis Portugal's struggling economy has recovered somewhat, as the figures released by the national statistics agency on Tuesday reveal. But spoilsport Greece is putting a damper on the delight this news had caused, the business paper Jornal de Negócios laments: "If you expect a tornado in the end you generally get a hurricane. The latest figures on economic performance appear to be positive and a cause for relief. But we shouldn't indulge in illusions: even if economic performance shrunk less than expected in the first quarter of 2012, it may be that the worst is yet to come. ... The key lies in Greece, which is at a crossroads right now and turns out to be the fly in our ointment. … If there wasn't a crisis in Greece the current figures would be tentative indications of an economic recovery. But given the clouds that are coming from Athens and looming over the entire Eurozone they seem as fragile as porcelain in a shop that is being visited by an elephant." (16/05/2012)

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All available articles from » João Cândido da Silva

Investors made a beeline for the newly issued Finnish government bonds at the beginning of the week. In contrast to Southern Europe Finland is still a safe haven, writes the daily Aamulehti: "More than twice the number of bonds could have been sold. The lively demand caused the interest rate paid by the Finnish state to drop by more than half, from 1.58 to 0.87 percent. And the interest on bonds from Germany and the Netherlands, which like Finland benefit from the top triple-A rating, has also dropped to almost record lows. The reason is the investor flight from Southern European bonds, which are considered unsafe and whose yields are once more on the rise. Taking a self-interested viewpoint, countries like Finland could even hope the problems of others continue because that would keep the interest rates in countries considered to be safe havens low. But there's no reason to go that far because uneven economic growth is bad for everyone in the long term." (16/05/2012)

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The Danish centre-left government is considering axing one or two Christian holidays such as Common Prayer Day or Pentecost in a bid to stimulate the economy. This is an assault on Danish culture, the liberal-conservative daily Jyllands-Posten fumes: "With their attack on our public holidays the prime minister and her followers not only demonstrate a fundamental ignorance of Church holidays and the Christian cultural heritage. That would be bad enough in itself. They also show that their research logic lacks even the most basic understanding of the common holidays, common rhythm and common rituals that create our community and ultimately the Danish people and the Danish welfare society. Perhaps the goal is to make us richer. But what good is that when our culture is impoverished because of a blind historical ignorance?" (16/05/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Religion, » Denmark