"European current affairs are, to say the least, surprising", says Pampos Kaskanis with irony. "Thus, Ankara, via a well-programmed communicational ambush, has decided to turn around the negative climate that has been casting its shadow over Turkey because of its refusal to apply the Ankara protocol that implies the recognition of the 25 EU Member States. ... The European Union has given a warm welcome to the news. A few days before the Brussels meeting, such a reaction was to be expected. But can we let Turkey decide whether or not to respect its obligation to recognise an EU member? Should we accept to take up negotiations again and not freeze certain chapters as a result of this marketing 'gesture'?" (08/12/2006)

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The daily salutes Ankara's gesture. "Even if the Finnish EU presidency has welcome the Turkish proposition with some prudence, only the unshakeable opponents of the opening of EU doors to a large Muslim country can allow themselves to ignore the great suppleness demonstrated by the Erdogan government [of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip]. None of the previous Turkish governments showed itself to be as open to Brussels and its demands. No other government has found itself in better conditions to neutralise pressure in matters of foreign policy and the voices that refuse to see Turkey bow before Europe. And it should be remembered that another delicate subject has yet to be dealt with in depth, the Kurdish conflict." (08/12/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Turkey

Turkey's offer to open one harbour and one airport for Cyprus sounds tempting, says Björn Mansson. But a closer look prompts objections: "The offer is anything but unconditional. In return, Turkey is demanding that the EU authorize a harbour and an airport in northern Cyprus for international traffic. At first it sounds like a reasonable solution, but it is insufficient. One look at the map says it all. Northern Cyprus needs only one airport and makes do with one harbour for international traffic. So Turkey is demanding full concessions from the EU in return for a marginal accommodation on their part. And most importantly, they are demanding de facto international recognition for the part of Cyprus that they occupy, as the price for their indirect recognition of Cyprus." (08/12/2006)

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Martin Winter finds the recent conduct of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan "politically unwise" if not downright "embarrassing". First, he demonstratively rejects all EU offers. Now he is signalling concessions. "That can only arouse suspicions in the European Union that Turkey is not at all interested in a serious solution to the problem, but uses empty concessions to prevent the EU from concluding that certain segments of the accession talks have to be frozen... To open a seaport and an airport for Cyprian transporters, and only for one year, cannot be called a first step to fulfilling their contractual duties. And the EU must remain firm, or risk more than just losing face. Its citizens will justifiably wonder whether the Union's eastward geo-strategic visions and its desire for a cultural bridge to the Muslim world set it up for blackmail." (08/12/2006)

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In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, Turkish author Orhan Pamuk stressed his love for his father and his home city of Istanbul. At one point, however, he also explained the differences between Orient and Occident: "We have often witnessed peoples, societies and nations outside the Western world – and I can identify with them easily – succumbing to fears that sometimes lead them to commit stupidities, all because of their fears of humiliation and their sensitivities. I also know that in the West – a world with which I can identify with the same ease – nations and peoples taking an excessive pride in their wealth, and in their having brought us the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and Modernism, have from time to time succumbed to a self-satisfaction that is almost as stupid." (08/12/2006)

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In an interview with Elisabeth Lévy, the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk explains how the phenomenon of globalisation was initiated by the great discoveries at the end of the 15th century. "The essential contents of the first wave of 'Modern Times', is the networking of the planet set off by the expansion of Europeans. They started to take the world seriously - first of all as an object of navigation and exploration, but at the same time as an object of domination and exploitation. Europe was thus the starting point for this 'seizing of the world' that ended up, through the inter-play of action and reaction, as today's world: a universe where the law of long-distance action reigns - telecommunication, teleconflict, televiolence, teleobscenity, teleaid, telegenerosity. Only a telerealist form of thinking can interpret, form and reform such a world." (08/12/2006)

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Czech journalist Lubos Palata comments on the expulsion of Germans at the end of World War II, which in his view had negative effects for Czechoslovakia: "Yes, National Socialism destroyed Jewish life in Central Europe, and gravely damaged Czech and Polish Central Europe. It also led to the end of the culture of central European, Baltic and Hungarian Germans. The expulsion was a punishment, a justified punishment, the cruelty of which was far less than what the Nazis perpetrated. But without realizing it, we have also punished ourselves, as well as the regions where we now live. Without the Germans." (07/12/2006)

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"At the start of the year, Kosovo's Albanians were confident of being independent by the end of it. Now they are nervous. A week ago, thousands marked the Albanians' national day by protesting in Pristina, Kosovo's capital Paint and rocks were thrown at United Nations buildings", notes the weekly. "Kosovo is part of Serbia, although since the war of 1999 it has been under UN jurisdiction. Some 90% of its two million people are ethnic Albanians who want independence, which Serbia's leaders refuse to concede. In February the UN asked Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president, to preside over talks on Kosovo's future ... After Mr Ahtisaari presents his plan in early February, there will be weeks of bargaining inside the UN Security Council, most of whose members favour independence, though Russia does not. With luck a new resolution might be passed in March—but Russia's ambassador to Belgrade says his country is ready to veto Kosovo's independence." (07/12/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » South East Europe, » Serbia

Following charges of sexual abuse, the Polish federal prosecutor has initiated an inquiry against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Andrzej Lepper and another legislator from the farmers protest party Samoobrona. Malgorzata Solecka is furious: "For days, Poland has been mired in muck. On the streets, in shops, in the streetcars, there is a mix of laughter and utter revulsion over our political sex scandals. This party is fundamentally different from all the important political groups that we know from the Sejm (the lower house of Parliament) or the extra-parliamentary opposition... Are most members from other parties up to their necks in debt? Is there or was there ever such a collection of scandals in another party?... And this is the coalition party of the governing 'Law and Justice Party.' A party that is supposed to help Poland renew its morality." (08/12/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Poland

The editorialist Miriam Mafai is delighted by the Italian government's decision to propose a law on civil partnerships that would stretch to include homosexuals. "This is finally good news. The decision taken yesterday to present a bill before January 31st to regulate the life of couples living in civil union, is good news on a general political level ... . But is also good news on the concrete level of civil rights. Men and women are asking with ever-increasing urgency, for absolute freedom of choice and respect of this choice. And at the same time, they want us to recognise their new freedom and their new rights". (08/12/2006)

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Manuel Queiroz, Assistant Chief Editor of the daily, comments on Ségolène Royal's participation in the 7th Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) on Thursday, December 7th in Porto. "Yesterday, Ségolène Royal was received like a star, although there was nothing especially brilliant about her speech. She criticised the Central European Bank [which has just increased its interest rates] and made a plea for this institution to be subjected to political decisions, despite the fact that treaties stipulate the contrary. But her smile is captivating and her being a woman is very useful for whoever is banking on her difference. ... Nonetheless, Ségolène Royal lacks substance, as we were able to observe with the Socialist Party primary elections. ... The fight against Nicolas Sarkozy in France will be interesting. The most complicated country in Europe is used to being a model, but is confronted today with economic, political and social problems." (08/12/2006)

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"The increase of interest rates, that the Central European Bank [CEB] has just introduced, has not provoked the usual polemics", notes the editorialist François-Xavier Pietri. "We know the tune, though: if economic growth in Europe is low, it is the fault of the Central Bank's rigidity. The institution is all the easier to target for being European, thus a sort of irresponsible magma, with the accusation exonerating national actors of their responsibility, be they from the left or the right. ... It has evidently become more difficult to react. What indeed is being announced to us by Jean-Claude Trichet [president of the CEB]? That inflation should go down in Europe in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and that growth should increase over the same period. What more could one wish for? ... Jean-Claude is making the CEB less and less attackable". (08/12/2006)

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All available articles from » François-Xavier Pietri

In about three weeks, Slovenia will adopt the euro. Damjan Virsek believes the Slovenian finance minister is too optimistic about this step. "From now on, the Slovenian economy will have to accept the same rate of interest as, say, the Germans, despite the fact that Slovenia expects greater economic growth and endures higher inflation. We haven't yet heard from the Slovenian government how they will deal with the interest policy of the European Central Bank." (08/12/2006)

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Award-winning French photographer Patrick Chauvel, who works primarily in crisis zones, laments in an interview with Milan Rokos about the changing relationship between newspaper editors and representatives of his genre. "Newspapers today are less ambitious and no longer need great photographs. It's become much easier for them to get photos nowadays. Editorial departments receive huge numbers of images from photographers on the scene. So editors wonder whether it is financially responsible to send their own photographer to Palestine when they receive photos in other ways." Chauvel adds that increasingly, photos are manipulated. "There was the case of the Lebanese photographer who added columns of smoke to images of bombed Beirut. That was a man who was worried about his country and acted on his emotion. But only our trustworthiness will save our profession... If we start playing games like that, our profession is dead." (08/12/2006)

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In several cities within multi-ethnic Transylvania, demonstrators have pushed for multilingualism at the University Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg, Kolozsvár). Several Hungarian members of the European Parliament, including Csaba Tabajdi, Kinga Gal and Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, have written a non-partisan, open letter of protest against the university's restrictive language policy: "It is hypocritical of Leonard Orban, designated EU commissioner for multilingualism, to have stated in the European Parliament that his homeland of Romania has made major steps toward protecting the rights of minorities, while at the same time all signs in Hungarian are being removed from the University Babes-Bolyai ... We demand the immediate rehiring of two fired instructors, concrete measures to implement trilingualism in daily university life, and the reestablishment of independent Hungarian faculty! These goals are not only in the interest of Romania's Hungarian minority, but of the entire country: only in this way will Romania establish its credibility within Europe and the European Union." (07/12/2006)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Minorities, » Romania

"On a rainy Tuesday morning [December 5th], in a packed hall on a council estate [in London], children rapped and rhymed and sang of their disgust for a culture of violence that's blighting their lives", writes journalist Christina Pattern. "The event was the culmination of Dividing Lines, a project organised by Subtext, a community arts organisation working with young people in the inner city. Two performance poets, Joelle Taylor and the British Nigerian rapper and hip-hop artist, Breis, have been working with Raj Bhari, a 'community cohesion expert', to run workshops exploring creative approaches to conflict. Judging by Tuesday's exuberant performance, and the high-decibel enthusiasm of the participants in the interval, it has been a great success. ... 'It's a mental battle out there' Breis told me after the event on Tuesday. ... Unlike other wars we could mention, this is a battle that we just have to fight." (08/12/2006)

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All available articles from » Christina Patterson

David Signer tries to sum up the peculiarities of Switzerland: "Where else do you see crash barriers decorated with baskets of geraniums? Where else do you see traffic roundabouts adorned with colourful frogs? Or braided manure heaps? There is a tendency to play the 'modern' tune with one hand, while with the other they trivialize and disclaim, by covering concrete with folk murals or giving their harvesting machine a name, like 'Pfnüserli.' It's not that they want to get back to nature; maybe back in the 1970s, but that was just a phase. We want the conveniences of urban civilization, but at the same time we feel like the ultimate Swiss. A barnyard with an exit to the autobahn." (08/12/2006)

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All available articles from » David Signer