Not all political proposals for protecting the climate "really make sense", writes Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, adding that "some are even short-sighted and dangerous". According to Föderl-Schmid, the proposal to "spend your holiday on the balcony" instead of travelling by car or plane to distant destinations is simply "populist". "Without getting hysterical we should implement more realistic plans: a tax on air travel which  would be invested in climate protection measures, exchanging the car-related insurance tax for a consumption-related tax in Austria to take account of the actual quantity of emissions produced. We shouldn't do things for the sake of doing things, but measures that are taken by each individual on a daily basis - when shopping, heating or getting from A to B - are necessary. One thing to be said for the current debate is that at least it's raising awareness." (05/03/2007)

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Per Ericson warns against rash measures in climate policy. "The more concrete the discussion gets, the clearer we are seeing the negative repercussions that certain measures will have. The potential losses for our affluent society must be weighed against the potential advantages for the environment. The EU is concerned with distributing the burden equally among EU member states. Should Swedish industry be subject to the same regulations as Finnish industry? Probably. But then we must defend our own interests. For a long time climate policy has been regarded as schizophrenic: first the EU decides to reduce CO2 emissions and then the ministers travel to Brussels to negotiate special conditions for their countries." (07/03/2007)

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The daily considers that this week's EU spring summit in Brussels is likely to "make some brave decisions about reducing greenhouse gases, to slow down the pace of global warming. If Mrs Merkel can persuade her fellow leaders to do that, she will have made a very good start on the process of getting global agreement on a post-Kyoto accord in the Group of Eight industrialised nations, whose summit she also chairs in the summer. ... Some tough bargaining remains to be done to persuade all 27 EU members to agree on binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, backed up by a firm commitment to raise renewable energy production to 20 per cent of the total by the same date. Other difficult decisions, including energy market liberalisation, are being postponed. There are deep differences between EU members on the future role of nuclear energy: Mrs Merkel's own government is split down the middle on that score. But a clear decision on climate change will be an important signal." (07/03/2007)

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Austrian journalist and essayist Karl-Markus Gauß has made a name for himself with his travel reportage on Central and South-East Europe. In an interview with Harald Klauhs and Norbert Mayer he voices the opinion that Europe has grown together only from an economic point of view. "Unfortunately, world history is not taking the course I would like to see it take. That's the bad thing about it. Incidentally, I consider eastern expansion to be a misleading expression because what we are seeing is a western expansion in the sense that the West is gobbling up the East economically. As an Austrian I find it somewhat bizarre that we complain that Eastern Europeans are taking away our jobs. There are entire countries where virtually every petrol station is owned by Austrians and all the banks are at least partially in Austrian hands. We're buying up the East yet at the same time we're trying to keep workers from the East out. This inevitably generates resentment on both sides." (06/03/2007)

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German Minister of Education Annette Schavan has proposed the publication of a pan-European history textbook. Erkki Bahovski considers this to be a good but unrealistic idea. "The biggest problem is that old and new Europe have such different views of the Second World War. Western European history books maintain that the invasion of Normandy represented the turning point, but they overlook the fact that many more people were fighting on the Eastern Front at the time - and that there were many more victims there. ... Then there's the question of who's going to write the book. As long as there are such great differences of opinion it's likely to remain a dream that all 27 member states will approve a book. And the differences are not just between individual states; our own Russian minority has an entirely different view of history to the Estonians. And what about the Basques, Catalonians or the Hungarians who live outside Hungary?" (07/03/2007)

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In an interview conducted by Floriane Danguillaume and Guillaume Duval, Jacques Le Cacheux, member of the French Observatory of Economical Conjuncture (OFCE), ponders how to get Europe out of its crisis. "European institutions which, for the most part, were conceived for 6 or 12 members, have not, following enlargement, allowed necessary political choices to be formulated and made in order for the European market to function in a more satisfying manner. For the time being, we are not managing to boost macroeconomics that are favourable for growth in Europe. Neither, for that matter, are specific policies being offered to support fields such as research and development. ... In the book that I have just published with Jean-Paul Fitoussi ['The State of the Union 2007'], we propose a number of concrete projects. These notably include the creation of an European Energy Community, the environment and research (C3ER). At the beginning of the 21st century this will be the equivalent of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) at the beginning of the 1950s." (07/03/2007)

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The daily responds to the speech delivered on Tuesday, March 6th, by David Cameron, leader of the British Conservative Party at a conference of the Movement for European Reform (MER), an EU political party launched by the Tories last year. "This is intended to be a breakaway movement from the European People's Party, the main centre-right grouping in the European Parliament. ... Pan-European action on challenges such as climate change and economic competitiveness is the only feasible way forward. The consequences of global warming will not respect national borders. And Britain is part of the single market, however ardently some might wish it otherwise. Our long-term economic fortunes are increasingly dependent on a strong European economy. To his credit, Mr Cameron seems to be coming to terms with these European facts of life. The great question is whether he can persuade his party to do the same." (07/03/2007)

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"Political autism and frequent outbursts from within the Polish government and those parties that support them are trying the patience of their partners and EU institutions that, officially of not, are beginning to respond with increasingly harsh criticism and threats", notes Fernando Garcia, the daily's correspondent in Brussels. "And as if the genetic component were not blatant and grotesque enough in the executive authority presided over by Lech Kaczynski and directed by his brother Jaroslaw, it happens that the latest scandals to be provoked by Polish representatives in Brussels were caused by people carrying the same name. First of all Giertych senior, whose first name is Maciej and who is a MEP representing the ultra conservative movement, the League of Polish Families. He triggered the unanimous outrage in European parliament  when he used its logo on an anti-Semitic text." And his son Roman, Polish Education Minister, caused a stir last week calling for a Europe-wide ban against abortion and "homosexual propaganda". (07/03/2007)

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Following the example their Czech and Polish counterparts, leading Danish politicians have now spoken out in favour of their country participating in the US missile defence system in Europe. The daily expresses its doubts. "The plans for the missile defence shield could divide European NATO member countries. But that's the least of our worries. The missile defence system has three fundamental flaws: first, tests have shown that the technology is not yet fully developed. But even if the technical problems are solved problem, number two will still remain, namely that the threat is so negligible that the many hundreds of millions that the project will cost would be better invested in other measures. And last but not least, a missile defence system will only prompt major powers like Russia and China, as well as the new 'rogue states' like Iran and North Korea, to invest more in missile technology. In short, it will provoke a new arms race. The initial concern could soon become reality." (07/03/2007)

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Today, March 7th, Northern Irelanders will be voting to elect members of a devolved Assembly. The daily comments: "Large sections of the electorate in Northern Ireland are losing confidence in the ability of politicians to take responsibility for running their lives. Reports from constituencies suggest there is a growing level of apathy among voters, frustrated at the lack of progress, who aspire to a better quality of life. Nine years ago, an outline political settlement was agreed on both sides of the Border but the details are still being squabbled over. ... In spite of disagreements and difficulties between and within the various political parties, it is important for voters to remember that today's election can mark a turning point in the politics of Northern Ireland. It can bring about the formation of a devolved government, a newly-empowered police force for the whole community, a real opportunity to put the Troubles behind and chart a new course for the younger generation in a new dispensation." (07/03/2007)

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The French presidential candidate François Bayrou (UDF, centre-right) has secured, according to a survey carried out this week, 20 % of voting intentions for the first round of the elections. "Bayrou, prophet of national reconciliation, is now making a real breakthrough", considers Paul-Kleis Jager. "He is spreading the idea of a national government of reconciliation within which the centre-left and centre-right would together rule over the country. This would be a real revolution in a country that has not had a coalition since Henri IV and the governments of the national union under Charles De Gaulle. ... It is difficult to tell where Bayrou will end up landing. Those who say they will vote for him seem less convinced by the candidate than repelled by the duel between Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy. And on a sociological level, Bayrou is still supported too much by the higher strata of the class system and too little by the working class." (07/03/2007)

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The "Polish plumber" isn't the only threat from Eastern Europe. The latest danger for the French welfare state is Slovakia's flat tax, writes Peter Schutz, commenting ironically on the remarks of conservative presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy recently condemned the Slovak flat tax as "social dumping" and called for more protectionism within the EU to counter it. According to Schutz, this is a show of pure populism from the French candidate. "The main candidates are trying to divert voters' attention to avoid having to bite into the traditional dogmas of the welfare state. If they had to talk about making the job market more flexible, reducing social benefits or abolishing the incredible privileges of civil servants they would be signing their own death warrants before the first voters even went to the ballots. For its part, Slovakia need not fear the threat of [European] tax dictates. France, on the other hand, deserves to be showcased as a country which has become so entangled in the trap of the welfare state that its lethargy is completely blocking the path to reform." (07/03/2007)

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The editorialist Stéphane Marchand takes an interest in the economic gap between France and Germany. "Everything seems as if economies on each side of the Rhine were not in same century. After five years of reforms, launched by a socialist and pursued by a Christian-democrat, our neighbour has become a different country. ... Though brutal, the treatment was made politically possible by the fact that Gerhard Schröder followed by Angela Merkel had set themselves a clear target: to recast the German economy and switch it over from the industrial era to the information era. ... They are about to succeed, but this mutation can only operate on the scale of the euro zone and Germany needs another big, industrialised country. But France is not ready. ... [Germany] is furious about by being stood-up like this. Its motor is rearing to go and it is burning with eager energy to pick up European construction once again. But France is slowing it down." (07/03/2007)

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Johan Schloemann comments on the announcement that the Bavarian State Library (BSB) will be the first German library to participate in the Google Book Search project. This means another major non English-language library is joining the project, following the lead of the Spanish: "Between Bavaria and Catalonia the director of Paris' Bibliothèque Nationale, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, now stands isolated in his cultural battle against Google. For what will become of the 'dangerous cultural homogenisation' through Americanisation that the Frenchman warns of if in future we can simply download Old German studies from the 19th century, Asian rarities and virtually all non-copyrighted German literature, in addition to old Cervantes editions from Madrid? At any rate Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Copenhagen and Berlin are all blinking in astonishment at this bold step forwards by the staunchly traditional Bavaria." (07/03/2007)

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In his work, 'La littérature en péril' ('Literature in danger'), the Franco-Bulgarian philosopher Tzvetan Todorov evaluates the qualitative evolution of French literary production. "Let us be clear: I did not want a polemical book. I wanted above all to sound an alarm bell", explains Tzvetan Todorov to Serge Bressan. "I am just noting the fact that the French novel today has less impact around the world. For example, French literature of the past used to occupy a major place in the culture of all Eastern and Central Europe. Currently, the novel is thriving: look at what is going on in the United States and in Latin America, in Asia, and Eastern Europe, where the novel has real vitality. France is no longer a trend setter. ... If, over time, some books continue to be read, there is a strong indication of their importance and strength. Some books exist that one can lean upon in life, but I cannot see any in today's French literature." (01/03/2007)

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A new museum of contemporary art is to be built next to Warsaw's Culture Palace. In an international competition, a jury whose members included Daniel Libeskind, selected the design of Swiss architect Christian Kerez from 109 entries. However, the director of the museum project, Tadeusz Zielniewicz, was so appalled at the jury's choice that he resigned. Now the decision has been made not to use Kerez' plan. For Mariusz Cieslik, "the residents of Warsaw didn't like the plan for the museum building either. They said - not without reason - that it looked a radiator. Nevertheless, no one can tell me that things couldn't have been done better - sparing the city and country all the embarrassment. The Warsaw Rising Museum is one example of things being done properly. There are many indications that the then mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski, became president on the back of this successful project. The problem is that none of the politicians believe they can make their mark with contemporary art. This is why it's likely that nothing will come of it." (05/03/2007)

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