"Like two men climbing towards a summit with their legs strapped together, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams are being forced to walk in step towards the return of devolved government in Northern Ireland", observes the daily. "Hesitation or a stumble on the part of either man could prove fatal to the whole expedition. Nor can one afford to get too far ahead of the other; progress has to be balanced. Yesterday, Sinn Féin scaled a crucial interim peak when the party endorsed the leadership's plan to work with the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Today the Democratic Unionist party must make a move of its own, by declaring its readiness to work with Sinn Féin in power. Assuming it does, Northern Ireland will vote in elections on March 7 that should make Mr Paisley first minister and Martin McGuiness his deputy, an extraordinary and, not long ago, unimaginable outcome. Once and if this occurs, new challenges will arise, throwing up worries of their own." (29/01/2007)

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"Sinn Féin supports the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland]. Not so long ago no journalist would anticipate writing such a line, no republican would have considered it possible", comments the Irish daily. "Time will also be required to establish what the motion means on the ground. There is an element of conditionality about the motion in that the final paragraph says that it will 'only be implemented by the ardchomhairle [Sinn Féin's executive committee] when powersharing is established and when there is agreement on transferring policing powers to a restored Northern executive, or alternatively when 'Plan B' is in place - ie the strengthening of British-Irish 'partnership arrangements'.The bottom line though is that Sinn Féin supports the police. The conditionality only applies to when and in what circumstances it endorses the PSNI." (29/01/2007)

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"The clear acceptance of the Northern Ireland police force by Sinn Féin, the political branch of the IRA, marks the beginning of an unseen period carrying hope into this divided and tortured territory that had lost all of its self-confidence", considers the daily. "To understand the historical importance of the assembly held yesterday in Dublin, one need only be reminded that the police force with whom Gerry Adams's party is about to cooperate is the very same one that, under the name of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, fought the terrorist group and assassinated many of its members over more than a century. It will be able to recruit Catholics without transforming them into targets for elimination and it will allow more efficient fighting of the Republican and Protestant mafias who extort, terrorise and deal drugs in the counties under their control." (29/01/2007)

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Ireland correspondent Martin Alioth examines the political implications of Sinn Féin's decision: "In view of recent developments, the British government must now decide whether it will dissolve the current Northern Ireland parliament on January 30 and call new elections for March 7. Everything indicates that it will, even though Ian Paisley, who leads the most important party in Northern Ireland, has not yet made a clear promise to build a coalition. On the 26 March, a local Northern Irish government will replace British direct rule. Meanwhile, Sinn Féin is looking over the border – elections will be held in the Republic of Ireland in either May or June. In its new status as a law-abiding political party, Sinn Féin is a potential coalition partner in the new government in Dublin. The strategic and political skills of the experienced leaders of this party should not be underestimated." (29/01/2007)

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Barbara Cassin, the French philosopher and director of research at the CNRS, has just published a book entitled 'Google-me: America's second mission'. In an interview conducted by William Bourton, she criticises the democracy that Google claims to practice with its research engine. "When we 'click' on links leading to something, these links and the 'clicks' count as votes. This is what Google calls democracy. As far as I am concerned, this rids the notion of democracy of any political impact. I am sorry, but for me a 'click' is not a vote. The world produced on the Web is not a common world of the political domain. It is simply the world of opinions which is 'squared', that is to say the world of quantity (the number of 'clicks') producing the quality, that is the rank of the page, averaging the complex algorithm which is the secret of the Google's complex fabrication.” (29/01/2007)

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Larry Siedentop, an American historian who teaches at Oxford University, speaks out in favour of references to God in the European constitution. He points to the danger of Europeans becoming separated from their roots owing to misunderstood secularism. "This is Europe's undeclared 'civil war'. It is as tragic as it is unnecessary. Tragic because equating European secularism with lack of faith and materialism robs Europe of its moral authority – and therefore plays right into the hands of those who portray Europe as decadent and lacking faith. Unnecessary because it is based on a misconception of the nature of secularism... Secularism by no means lacks moral substance. It is not a neutral or 'value-free' framework, to use the language of modern social sciences. Instead, it demonstrates the conditions under which true belief should be formed and defended. It makes a faith that is worthy of the name possible. Secularism creates the conditions for separating inner belief from external conformity." (29/01/2007)

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Bertel Haarder, Denmark's Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, spoke out in an interview against including Christian references in the preamble to the European constitution. Angela Merkel, who currently holds the EU presidency, recently called for the inclusion of such references. The newspaper agrees with Haarder: "Poland and certain other new EU member states with a strong Church want to influence issues like abortion policy. If the EU doesn't want to end up becoming an exclusive club closed to new members, it shouldn't mix Christianity and politics. The European Union is a historical experiment, but at the same time it is headed forwards. Religious views should also be be expressed in political discussion, but only according to the rules of politics. Europe's Catholics, in particular, have a strong interest in influencing certain issues. It would therefore be an important symbolic gesture to keep God 'for Heaven's sake' out of the constitution." (29/01/2007)

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In a joint initiative, the Polish daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" and the Dutch paper "De Volkskrant" have begun a debate about Europe. Readers can make their comments on related articles published by the two media in the Internet. Jacek Pawlicki calls for Ukraine to be allowed to join the EU for historical reasons: " As far as Poland is concerned, Ukrainians can be sure. They are welcome. We Poles are in favour of EU enlargement to the East. Not only because we see it as an opportunity. The political advantages of being in the EU are obvious. Joining the EU gave us a political orientation that took us out of the shadow of Moscow. We would like to share this opportunity with others. Solidarity is the key. We see enlargement as a historic process of reconciliation. The West owes something to the East. Yalta is for us not only a tourist resort on Crimea peninsula. It is a symbol of political treason. More than 50 years ago West bought prosperity and security form Kremlin selling us to the Soviets. Now is pay back time." (27/01/2007)

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Last Friday in Prague, German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried without much success to convince the Eurosceptic Czechs of the benefits of reviving the paralysed EU constitution project. Nonetheless, she wasn't given the blunt refusal everyone had expected. Commentator Luboš Palata praises the way new Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek handled the matter. "Topolanek behaved like a gentleman who doesn't want the first meeting to be the last. By doing so he managed to leave the door open. Merkel's request was refused, but there are different ways of refusing a request. Topolanek's refusal was more a 'not now' or a 'not that way'... He has made his first step in the transition from Czech politician to European politician." (29/01/2007)

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The editorialist Pierre Haski salutes the transparency practiced by the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who are uniting in Paris this week to publish what is expected to be an alarming report on global warming. "It is not often, in the world of international frameworks, that a report is published in a first draught as well as in a final version revised by politicians, so that everyone can judge the quality of the scientific community's information and the eventual 'intervention' of governments. This approach is aimed to short-circuit polemics that will inevitably follow the publication of this report, intended to set the environmental agenda beyond 2012. ... It is vital, literally, that what is at stake with the climate be understood and integrated by citizens of all the countries of the world so that their governments are not able to run away from their responsibilities." (29/01/2007)

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A school in the southern Swedish city of Landskrona recently banned pupils from speaking languages other than Swedish on the school grounds. The school management decided to introduce the measure after a gang of pupils with a foreign background systematically bullied and abused other pupils and staff at the school. The ban has now been confined to lessons. The newspaper examines the introduction of such rules: "The fact that Swedish is Sweden's official language doesn't mean that people are not to use other languages. It simply means that they need and have the right to be able to speak Swedish. Experience has shown that people learn a foreign language more easily if they have a good command of their own language. Bilingualism does not lead to half-lingualism... People learn a language by listening to it and reading it, talking it and writing in it – with effort and discipline, but also with enthusiasm and ease. The more we use it, the easier it becomes. One thing's for sure: bans won't make anyone learn another language quicker, but they can make someone silent – regardless of the language." (26/01/2007)

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On Sunday, January 28th, several thousands of people in Lisbon took part in a "March for life", two weeks before a referendum where the Portuguese are due to express themselves on the right to abortion. Antonio José Teixeira, the daily's chief editor, regrets the turn that the debate has taken in Portugal. "We need to overcome the Manichaeism aimed to prevent thinking with one's head. It is important not to succumb to terrorist propaganda. The choice that we are presented with is not a duel between defenders of life and death worshippers. That is not the issue here. Predictably, the political and religious campaign has been dramatised and radicalised, giving into irrational simplification. ... Faced with what is both a question of individual conscience and of civilisation, we should demand a real debate that does not give way to simplification." (29/01/2007)

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Norman Blackwell, chairman of the think tank Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), considers Britain's relationship with the EU. "As one of the world's largest trading nations with particular strengths in international services, Britain's future prosperity lies in competing as a global free trader. In this context a project aimed at tying us more closely into a slow-growth European economic block seems not just outdated, but increasingly at risk of holding us back. ... We have already opted out of the eurozone to no ill effect. In a more flexible Europe there is no reason we cannot similarly opt out of other aspects of continued political and economic integration that constrain our interests. ... Britain should not turn its back on Europe, but we urgently need to define a different, looser relationship within Europe that more adequately serves our future global interests. (29/01/2007)

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The French journalist Jean-Michel Dumay is worried by our over-exposure to news, resulting from new information technology. "The time is long passed when we sat down by the old radio set to listen to the news after dinner. The previously rigid links between daily activities (eating, working, etc.) and daily contexts (the living room, the office) have been stretched. We are informed everywhere, all of the time, endlessly, in the office, on public transport, in the kitchen, on foot, in the car, or on a bike. And all of this for almost nothing. There seems to vibrate in every informed person a frenetic though routine need for information, a need to be connected. And this is where frustration often lies, because the information-for-all wall create something like a uniform collective thought, a big stereotypical buzz, mainly based on the emotional." (29/01/2007)

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Cristi Puiu, a Romanian film director who has been very successful in the West, has accused the Cinema association CNC of allocating funding according to outdated criteria. He complains that mainly directors who made a reputation for themselves under communist rule and whose films are hardly watched outside Romania receive the bulk of the funding. Mark Percival takes this as an opportunity to speak out in favour of revising the principles for allocating cultural funding: "This biased attitude prevalent in public funding of cultural projects should not be allowed to continue. Romania has many talented artists who produce valuable artworks – despite the difficult financial situation, in which salaries are so low that they can't keep up with inflation. And it's not only financial problems that artists are confronting, but also the cynicism of a materialistic culture and a media scene whose aesthetic values are threatened by extinction. Art and culture are the very essence of a nation." (29/01/2007)

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"Last weekend, the smell of garlic and marjoram was even stronger than usual in many Slovak villages," Renata Havranova reports. This was the result of mass slaughtering all over the country in view of the stricter slaughtering and meat hygiene laws due to enter force on February 1. "All butchers must now inform a veterinarian before each slaughtering feast and present a piece of meat for inspection afterwards. The measure, which the minister of agriculture claims is aimed solely at protecting the health of Slovak citizens, has triggered a storm of protest. One former minister was so incensed he described the measure as harassment. Gusto Achberger, a hobby butcher, takes a more relaxed view of the affair. He explains that he always invites a veterinarian to his slaughtering feasts (where freshly slaughtered meat is consumed), not because the feasts are something forbidden, but so that the veterinarian can join in the celebration and enjoy a good slivovitz. 'I've never been afraid of the vet so why should I be now?'" (29/01/2007)

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On Sunday, January 28th, the first European data protection day was celebrated for the protection of personal data. Jacques Hillion, Chief Editor of the daily, welcomes the European Council's initiative. "This is indeed yet another day to tick off on the calendar of all kinds of celebrations. But this no time to be a fussy detractor, for this is above all a symptomatic of the ills that are gnawing away at our democracies without us citizens necessarily realising it. ... Without being excessively paranoid, it is clear that we are transmitting, intentionally or not, a whole load of personal data to multiple organisations without being able to control what becomes of this information. And this the sore point, because personal data is an integral part of private life and, as such, is as sacrosanct as one's home, confidential correspondence and the freedom of conscience and opinion." (25/01/2007)

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All available articles from » Jacques Hillion