The border treaty is a success for the government led by Aigars Kalvitis, writes Anita Daukste. Nonetheless, the fact that the town of Pytalovo (Latvian: Abrene) will now pass into Russian hands, she sees as a problem. Latvia's first attempt to reach a border treaty with Russia in 1997 failed because the country refused to cede the town to Russia. "Now we can breathe a sigh of relief because the border treaty problem has been solved. For years several governments tried to reach an agreement, and it took a lot of compromises to do it but now the step has been irrevocably taken. The loss of Abrene is a symbolic rather than a practical or physical issue. But symbolic issues often generate the most emotion, and here, too, this the case." (28/03/2007)

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Now that Latvia has signed a border treaty with Russia, Estonia is the only one of the three Baltic states that has yet to do so, the newspaper notes. "Yet Estonia has much in common with Latvia. Both became independent following the collapse of the Russian Empire; both were reoccupied in 1940 and both lost part of their territory to Russia after the war. But whose fault is it that Estonia is the only Baltic state that hasn't yet signed a border treaty? Is it really just Moscow, which continues to insist that Estonia willingly joined the Soviet Union and is ignoring the Treaty of Tartu? The Latvians were under greater pressure than we were, yet they still ratified the treaty. This is because they know that it won't really affect their everyday life but it will put them in a better position as far as foreign policy is concerned. It's difficult to say when Tallinn will finally comprehend this." (28/03/2007)

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Antoine Jacob, correspondent in Riga, explains why the border problem between Russia and the Baltic States is difficult to resolve. "Moscow reproached the Balts for being the first to leave the URSS. Their desire to be part of the EU and NATO was perceived as a potentially contagious example in the Russian sphere of influence. … The border negotiations have been complicated by a legal disagreement. Latvians and Estonians would like their state to be recognised in line with the border treaties signed in 1920 with the USSR. For Moscow, that would mean implicitly recognising the occupation of these countries, which it refuses to do for fear that it would lead to with issues of financial compensation and retrocession of pieces of territory. Latvians have finally given up on it. For them, it's better to take advantage of the current thaw than to postpone the border problem after Putin. Who knows if the future Russian president will be as well disposed? On the other hand, Estonia has stuck to its position." (28/03/2007)

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The Turkish-born German author, Zafer Senocak, contends that Muslim scholars take a purely scholastic approach to the Koran. "In all Islam there are no Muslims who take a critical approach to the Koran. It's obvious that without adopting a critical approach to the text of the Koran, Muslims won't be able to advance in modern societies. ... Their failure to address the challenges of modern life is having a pathological as well as a social effect - particularly for men, who are now being forced to step down from their pedestal. It also reinforces the image that Muslims are incapable of integration and even dangerous, which is exploited by those who have problems with anything foreign. The hermeneutic crisis of Muslims is creating a crisis within the open society and thwarting the efforts of multiculturalism, as if such a thing as cultural homogeneity still existed in our world. Mosques are suddenly springing up in German cities and the muezzins' calls to prayer are appearing in the same contexts as forced marriages and honour killings." (28/03/2007)

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Adam Michnik director of the Polish daily 'Gazeta Wyborcza', regrets that populist governments are in power in several East-European countries in the EU and calls on them to react. "For these countries recently integrated in to the Union, the EU is not just a provider of funds, it is also a model of democratic traditions and political culture founded on pluralism and tolerance. Its value system based on Christian traditions, the Enlightment and anti-totalitarian democratic thinking is well-known. It is up to the new member countries of the EU to make the most of these values and to bring to the Union the best of what they have. As Europe is an unfinished project and as Poland as well as other recent members can make a considerable contribution to its development, they should make up their minds to get on with the job." (28/03/2007)

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The Swiss columnist Jacques Pilet reviews the Polish law on lustration which came in to effect on the 15th March which will mean hundreds of thousands of Polish people having to reveal that they collaborated with the communist secret services. "No other East European country has gone this far and with good reason: anyone familiar with the communist dictatorship knows how it managed to compromise independent personalities through blackmail, intimidation and lies. Not everyone was a hero. Many believed in the Utopia. To punish their weakness or the historical error of such a large number of citizens almost twenty years later, will not purify the country but will open the door to new injustices. No one objects to the fact that the leaders of past regimes are cold shouldered. To institute a new McCarthyism is to move towards totalitarianism. … Most disturbing is the feebleness of the reaction, both in Poland and elsewhere. … Poland is slowly slipping towards totalitarianism observed wearily by Europeans and with delight by the American neocons." (22/03/2007)

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Bulgarian writer Vladimir Levchev reflects on the lack of a concept of a European nation: "Would it be at all possible to forge a nation (or a national idea) along the lines of the United States on this side of the ocean? Why did the Yugoslavian experiment fail?... Europe is uniting for purely economical reasons: there is not a single European state that could attain the international economic power of the US or China on its own. ... However, united Europe is not homogenous from an economic point of view (particularly not since Bulgaria and Romania joined). The idea of a European multi-ethnic nation would, however, be feasible if peace and economic independence were established on the old continent." (27/03/2007)

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Part of the right-wing conservative ruling PiS party and its small, extreme-right coalition partner, the LPR, want to push through an amendment to the constitution that would make Poland's already tough abortion laws even more stringent. The Polish parliament is discussing the issue today. The protection of life is to start with conception - and not even in cases of rape would women be allowed to have an abortion. In her commentary Wanda Nowicka, president of the Polish Association for Women and Family Planning, sharply criticises the move and calls for widespread protest: "When priests, politicians and journalists discuss the issue among themselves, the only alternative for those who want the liberalisation of our abortion laws is to take to the streets. ... But politicians have grown deaf to the voices on the street. They prefer to repeat that the abortion ban of 1993 was a compromise solution. Although those most affected did not make a compromise, they are trying to persuade us that we should be satisfied with the current laws because they could get even tougher." (26/03/2007)

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The daily supports the status of "independence under international supervision" as proposed for Kosovo by Martti Ahtisaari, the UN special envoy, in his final report published on 26th March. "To bring to an end the break up of Yugoslavia, we must go the whole way with these independence issues. That of the Kosovo 'province' has in this regard as much legitimacy as the preceding six Yugoslav 'republics' [Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenego and consequently Serbia]. … By accepting the independence of Kosovo, the international community must also make clear that the break up must not go any further. Because, although the risk is slight within the EU, it persists on the borders. It is therefore indispensable to say to the Serbs in Bosnia, the Albanians in Macedonia or the Hungarians in Voivodine that Kosovo will be the last independent nation to be emerge form the ruins of Yugoslavia." (28/03/2007)

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The daily highlights the importance of the EU role in Kosovo's future after the UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's proposal for the province 'supervised independence'. "There are many potential pitfalls. In backing Mr Ahtisaari's proposals, the EU has maintained a decidedly uneasy unity. Countries including Spain, Slovakia and Greece have been reluctant to endorse independence - a word Mr Ahtisaari dared not say publicly until this week. But if the EU fails to give firm backing to independence, the chances of a Russian veto in the Security Council will undoubtedly increase. … Internal EU divisions might also encourage the Serbs to attempt a partition of Kosovo, with an accompanying risk of violence. … This turbulent corner of Europe has been the victim o the continent's neglect too long. Now, at last, the world has to say clearly what the future holds – and grant independence for Kosovo." (28/03/2007)

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Catalin Avramescu takes stock three months after Romania joined the EU: "Has anything changed for the better in the hundred days since Romania's accession? In reality things are not looking good. We were promised stability but what we got is institutionalised chaos. ... We were supposed to have representatives in the European Parliament yet we have to wait almost a year before we can elect our MEPs. ... So far Romania's only contribution to Europe's institutions has been the creation of an extreme-right faction together with Bulgaria. But first and foremost is the question of what's happened with the money. Weren't we promised a veritable flood of euros? Politicians assured us it would be a problem to manage the immense sums. We have paid our EU contribution of around 300 million euros, but what have we got for it? So far, nothing." (28/03/2007)

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Romano Prodi's government won the vote in the Senate on 27th March. The bill on the refinancing of the Italian contingent in Afghanistan has been adopted thanks to votes from the opposition. The columnist Massimo Giannini analyses the vote on which Silvio Berlusconi did not manage to unite his camp. "In the Senate, Afghanistan could have become the down-fall of the centre-left government, instead it has become the down-fall of the centre-right opposition. If the Union [centre left coalition] has again shown its lack of self-sufficiency, a weakness minimised on this occasion by the support of centrists, since yesterday, the Casa delle Liberà [centre-right coalition] no longer exists." (28/03/2007)

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"Surreal Things", an exhibition exploring how surrealism was commercialised opens Thursday, 29th of March, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (V&A). Maev Kennedy calls up the past. "The ghosts of André Breton and Louis Aragon should really turn up and picket. ... In 1926, [they] were affronted that fellow surrealists Max Ernst and Joan Miró were 'selling their souls to commerce' by designing sets and costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. …What they would make of the exhibition's gift shop, with its £3 squeaky rubber lobsters or Man Ray's skin crawlingly sinister Cadeau Audace - a flat iron with a row of nails protuding viciously from the sole plate, now a £5 tea towel - can only be guessed at. … The curator, Ghislaine Wood, points out that surrealism 'grabbed the popular imagination, and is still tremendously powerful today.'... The exhibition recreates some perhaps mercifully lost surrealist interiors." (28/03/2007)

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In an interview with Volker Mazassek on the occasion of the Go East festival of Eastern European film in Wiesbaden, Nikolaj Nikitin, a member of the Festival's selection committee, stresses the poor conditions filmmakers in Eastern Europe have to contend with. He points out that they urgently need technical and financial support from the West. He also talks of the new language being used in films by Eastern European directors: "It used to be that most films written and directed by the same person were inaccessible for audiences that are used to Western cinema. Or directors working under the old regimes had to use historical themes because censorship was too strong. But it's not the film language that distinguishes these films. The great strength of Eastern European directors is their themes, which have the power to move audiences. Look at Grbavica, which is about the mass rape of women during war, and what the success of the film [which won the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlinale] has achieved in political terms. It's been years since a politician has been able to make such an impact." (28/03/2007)

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Greek President Karolos Papoulias' state visit to his Hungarian counterpart László Sólyom was overshadowed by a dispute over a baroque church. During the Cold War Budapest's only Greek Orthodox church passed into the hands of the Russian Orthodox Church. Now the Greeks want their church back. "They point out that the baroque church was built by the Greek residents of Budapest. During his last visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the church and lit a candle there. The Greek president also wanted to do this but the Russian Orthodox patriarch stipulated impossible conditions, so in the end the visit was cancelled. Nonetheless, Budapest's Greek minority has erected a Greek monument in front of the church." (28/03/2007)

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