The USA's loss of power in the wake of the Iraq war debacle is clear to Michael Prüller. The question is, who will succeed the United States as leading superpower? Prüller fears that only Russia and China are realistic candidates - not Europe. The EU is "administratively overtaxed following the rushed accession of Romania and Bulgaria, and, what is much worse, it has no concept of its own values, tasks and goals. Gripped in a deep identity crisis, the leaders of 'united' Europe tack back and forth between snobbery and tired populism. The days of strong visions for the future being developed in dialogue with the people are over. Yet they are desperately needed today. But in a continent that counts Angela Merkel among its most prominent statesmen, we can't expect much world-political leadership." (05/01/2007)

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The editorialist Jacques Hillion considers that "without a constitution or a treaty to give it back some impetus, the European Union will continue to hobble along on three legs. We are being given a chance with the German presidency that has just commenced and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel's desire to restart the machine, despite the French electoral agenda's preventing any major decisions from being taken. The euro, cherry on the bitter European cake, is under the scrutiny of Europeans although it is a technical success. Otherwise said, Europe still has a lot on its plate and had better tuck in if it is going to get back some strength and prove wrong whatever the most pessimistic and Euro-sceptic might say against its capacity for integration, which is real, now and in the future, for its own good and for ours." (04/01/2007)

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"The constitutional treaty was a dog's dinner, and its rejection created a precious second chance to go back and get it right", considers the weekly. "A proper constitution would have distributed power between the different branches and levels of government ... And it would have tried to make those who exercise power more accountable. Instead the document that emerged in 2004 did something rather different ... The Laeken declaration of 2001, which began the drafting process, laid down three aims for the drafters: to distribute power to the lowest level ... ; to bring the union closer to its citizens; and to make the institutions work more efficiently. So far, constitution-builders have paid mainly lip service to the first two and focused instead on the third. The danger is that the German presidency will entrench this lop-sided approach. One reason for this is the German government's desire for speed. ... " (04/01/2007)

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European politician Péter Gottfried of Hungary defends the EU against critics. Ultimately, the EU is a success. All the goals of its founders have been met. Even their boldest dream, the reunification of Europe is a reality today. This success story must continue. "It strengthens the competitive ability of the union when the less-developed member states gradually accept the central agreement. The policy of cohesion should at the same time remain flexible, so EU member-states that want to take additional steps toward integration don't have to wait for the other states. The euro and the Schengen Agreement were both brought into existence by a pioneering group of EU countries. It is very important that all the member states view the central agreement as provisional so that the union does not break apart. It is in the interest of both Hungary and Europe that Hungary adopt the core agreement as quickly as possible." (05/01/2007)

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"There is no longer any need to prove the strategic importance of the Black Sea, a means of access to the Mediterranean via the detroits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles where gas and petrol transit from the Caspian Sea. This explains why the zone has been coveted for so long", notes the chronicler Thomas Ferenczi following the EU accession of two states situated on the coast of the Black Sea, Romania and Bulgaria. "And yet the European Union lacks a clear strategy regarding the region's countries. In fact it has three of them, as has been pointed out by Marius Vahl, researcher for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels institute: accession for Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, the neighbouring policy for the Ukraine and Georgia, a new partnership for Russia. While Europe is striving to develop both a 'Northern dimension' and a 'Euro-Mediterranean dimension' along its borders, it has yet to acquire a 'Black Sea dimension', regrets this specialist." (05/01/2007)

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The journalist Hugh Pope, a specialist on Turkey, makes a plea in favour of another EU enlargement. "In the same way that Turkey diligently changed in order to adapt to Europe, a new manner of conceiving the European character would be to welcome the Euro-Muslim pragmatism that reigns in Turkey. This is impossible for those Europeans who upbraid the 'Islam' of their new neighbours for bad manners, oppression of women and sartorial tradition. These problems, which are real, have less to do with religion than with education, wealth and experience in an urban environment. There was a time when Northern Europeans also treated Spain and Italy with condescension, considering that those countries were not European. But today nobody would ever question the advantages of the modification of Europe's self-image or the distribution of its wealth, advantages that allowed the integration of these two countries." (03/01/2007)

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The Moroccan writer Fouad Laraoui teaches French literature and Arab culture in the Netherlands. In an interview with Gerald Papy, he considers relations between Christians and Muslims. "I am, of course, in favour of dialogue between religions and generally between all men of good will. But I remain realistic. By definition every religion rests on the postulate that other religions are wrong. We can tickle one another all day long, but there will ways be ulterior motives on both sides. ... This is why I clearly lay down in my book ['Islamism, a personal refutation of religious totalitarianism'] the distinction between faith, individual faith that does not bother anyone, and religion. Religion, because it presumes a group and excludes all those who are not part of this group. This is potentially dangerous." (04/01/2007)

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Romanian philospher Catalin Avramescu complains in an essay that many Romanians still misuse public property, as in the days of communism: "We all believe the state interfered in private life, and destroyed healthy individualism. We believe that the state was the enemy and that its reform is the key to a civilized coexistence. I am in complete agreement with the concept that the state, particularly in its Stalinist version - perpetrated terrible crimes against the Romanians. But it is also true that in Romania, the individual constantly misused public property. Our collective state basically functioned as if it was the personal property of the Ceausescu family. Consequently, the farmer stole horses' harnesses from the collective farm, the workers topped up their wages with spare parts produced in the factories. Builders plastered our houses with material stolen from construction sites, and the doctor at the public clinic considered his medicine cabinet to be his private property." (05/01/2007)

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On Sunday, Stanislaw Wielgus is to take over the position of Archbishop of Warsaw from Józef Cardinal Glemp. This week, numerous media outlets have published the old secret service files on Wielgus that are housed at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). It turns out that for years, Wielgus spied on his fellow clergy as an informant for the communist secret service. Wielgus, until now Bishop of Plock, has denied the charges. The newspaper's editor in chief Robert Krasowski comments: "It will be a moral scandal if Wiegus becomes Archbishop... And to hold the inauguration at this moment in time, just a few days after his past has been revealed, will look like a special award for his lies and his services as informant. This is not about lustration. It is about principles." (05/01/2007)

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Almost every Romanian home has an icon, an expression of Orthodox faith. Now, a new law is about to be passed in Romania that will boost the influence of the Orthodox Church, protecting it from protestant sects which have been strengthening their foothold in rural areas through charitable works. The daily paper criticizes the new law, which makes punishable all expression of hostility and defamation as well as the abuse of religious symbols. "This religion law is a bow by President Traian Basescu to the Orthodox church and the Patriarch Teoctist, after a series of actions which provoked their wrath, such as allowing homosexuals to come out publicly, and permitting the release of classified security files, some of which concern priests. This law, with which Basescu strengthens both the financial power and public influence of the church, comes in blatant disregard of civil society criticism." (05/01/2007)

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All available articles from » Ioana Lupea

Thierry Meyer harshly criticises the French Member of Parliament Arnaud Montebourg, who has reproached Switzerland for favouring fiscal exodus. "Switzerland, says Montebourg, should be stopped from attracting the rich French as well as thousands of international businesses with fixed taxes, if necessary, by applying a blockade. Let us not dwell on the grotesqueness of the latter proposition. ... Still, is there not some truth in what Ségolène Royal's opportunistic spokesman is proposing? The answer is no. Switzerland offers less in the way of fiscal benefits than Great Britain or Ireland, members of the EU. The problem raised by Arnaud de Montebourg is a French one. It is one of a State that, on the left as much as on the right, does not always know how to fix the cursor between providence and competition. ... Should we, Arnaud de Montebourg, demand a blockade of the Channel? That would be somewhat less easy than taking aim at the 'Swiss Confederation'." (04/01/2007)

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Estonia originally planned to to introduce the euro on 1 January 2007, like Slovenia. But the launch has been postponed, probably to 2010. For Indrek Neivelt, this is too late: "Are we really ready to give up this important goal so quickly?... EU has been talking about a two-speed Europe for some time now, or a so-called core Europe. If it comes to this sort of fragmentation, it would make sense to have the states that have introduced the Euro on one side, and the others on the other side. Whatever else happens in Europe, we want Estonia to be part of the core group." (05/01/2007)

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Chalga, or turbo folk, is a kind of pop music with oriental elements. It also is called pop folk or Balkanpop. Among the stars are Azis, Desislava and Gergana. The melodies are rhythmic, and lyrics tend to be about feelings or love for the homeland. The performers are often entertaining themselves: female singers are usually dressed in sexy outfits and very attractive. Live performances, which tend to involve dancing on tables, are a big hit. Culture and literature expert Bojko Pentschew of Sofia describes Bulgaria's favourite music phenomenon: "Chalga is a celebration for the soul, it is the highest romantic good. Aggression and sex might appear, but that is only on the outside. It has nothing to do with the content... The content can also be underscored with a swing of the hip, with convincing sentimentality and soul. It is a soul with a right to exist beyond all rules and norms, beyond society, and ultimately also beyond reality." (05/01/2007)

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"In a paradox that he would have enjoyed, the Vatican is including epigrams of Oscar Wilde in a collection of 443 sacred apothegms to encourage the faithful. For example: 'I can resist everything except temptation'. Not all of Oscar's bons mots are equally inspiring", remarks the daily. "Oscar summed up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram. ... Oscar's paradox is that his contemporaries vilified him for degeneracy because of his homosexuality. His plays are light-hearted. But their subtexts attack a society whose code was intolerant, but whose intolerance was hypocritical. There is plenty of evidence that he was a brave man who made an emphatic protest against the vulgarity of his age. And yet, artistically, he was himself subject to vulgarity of an opposite kind. On the roundabout of history, Oscar and the Pope are no longer strange bedfellows." (05/01/2007)

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Irish became an official language of the EU on January 1st, but writer and travel documentary maker Manchán Magan was taken aback by reactions as he travelled the country speaking only its official native tongue. "In the last census a quarter of the population claimed they spoke it regularly. I've always suspected this figure, and to test its accuracy I decided to travel around the country speaking only Irish, to see how I'd get on. ... they [some people encountered] were willing to engage with me, to string together the few stray words of school Irish that arose from the darkest recesses of their minds ... I got given the wrong directions, and served the wrong food, and given the wrong haircut ... By the end of the trip I was feeling pretty battered, but I had seen some signs of hope. In parts of Northern Ireland, where Irish was effectively banned until the early 1990s, there was a tremendous resurgence taking place." (05/01/2007)

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