The Italian journalist Massimo Nava, author of an essay on Nicolas Sarkozy, evaluates the French election campaign. "The new French revolution has begun. Sarkozy has disinhibited the right, freeing it from its complexes. He has swung the National Front voters away from Le Pen and could become the Blair of the European right. He has sent the old ruling elite to the back of the class. Ségolène has shrunk the far-left to a minimum and freed the left from its archaisms and heavy machinery. In record-breaking time she has managed to achieve a female version of Bad Godesberg [name given to the change in political line adopted by the German social-democrats in 1959].She could seduce most centrists, she has unleashed energy and dreams like those of 68 that Sarkozy has criticised ... . Sarkozy is the front runner, but the dynamic of 'all for one against him' is in full force. Ségolène knows that when politics is passion, one plus one can equal three." (04/05/2007)

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Dorothea Hahn observes that the 1968 generation in France has never come to power. "Both nominees who will face the music on Sunday were school kids in the spring of 1968. But it's not only their age that marks a turning point. It's also the political values they represent. Both are preparing to throw the inherited values of the old guard overboard. Both Social Democrat Ségolène Royal and the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy stand for the restoration of state, academic and family values and authorities. They speak of the renewal of morality, the reestablishment of parental authority. And in the case of Social Democrat Royal – even the inclusion of the military in re-educating juvenile delinquents. The election campaign of the last months, and Wednesday's debate, mark a departure from the libertarian principles of 1968, which have defined France for decades. They indicate a political movement towards the right. A parting from the eternal youth of May '68." (04/05/2007)

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For the French journalist Edwy Plenel, who has had a regular column in the Belgian daily for a few months, Ségolène Royal can already savour a great victory. "She might not find herself president of the French Republic on Sunday, May 6th. But she has already pulled off the exploit of succeeding to show that she could be, that she has what it takes:  the character, the competency, the dignity, the deep-focus and the over-all insight. ...  Freedom is always disturbing because of how proud and untamed, it needs to be to impose itself. No matter how the results on Sunday turn out, Ségolène Royal has already imposed her independence. However, contrary to what is said by those who are bothered by this, she did not obtain her freedom by renouncing her kin and her principles or by following fashion. As her reflexes, her repartee and her anger indicate, she is unscrupulously left-wing." (04/05/2007)

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Agaton Kozinski does not see a clear winner in the coming French election. "It's been a long time since elections brought out this many emotions. This was most clearly evident in the 84 percent voter turnout for the first phase of the election. This high voter participation shows that citizens expect something unusual, a new quality, in a new president. If he succeeds, the French would build him a new Arc de Triomphe. But if he fails, we can expect a revolution reminiscent of the storming of the Bastille." (03/05/2007)

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Thomas Ferenczi considers that the main candidates may indeed have spoken little during their campaign about the way the EU works, but have, however, referred to "France's European partners, praising some of their achievements and citing them as examples to follow. Everything seems as if the EU undertaking has accustomed French politicians to look beyond the borders of their country and emulate, if needs be, the solutions adopted by their neighbours. We are still far from the public European forum desired by many champions of a united Europe, but we have already entered a system of relations marked by mutual awareness and shared attention. Everyone has understood that, beyond the French model, experience abroad can at times also provide lessons to be learned." (04/05/2007)

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"The Greeks understood that comedy (the gods' view of life) is superior to tragedy (the merely human)", notes the British novelist Julian Gough. "Many of the finest novels - and certainly the novels I love most - are in the Greek comic tradition, rather than the tragic: Rabelais, Cervantes, Swift, Voltaire, and on through to Joseph Heller's 'Catch-22'. ... Yet western culture since the middle ages has overvalued the tragic and undervalued the comic. We think of tragedy as major, and comedy as minor. Brilliant comedies never win the best film Oscar. The Booker prize leans toward the tragic. ... The fault is in the culture. But it is also internalised in the writers, who self-limit and self-censor. If the subject is big, difficult and serious, the writer tends to believe the treatment must be in the tragic mode. When Amis addressed the Holocaust in his minor novel Time's Arrow (1991), he switched off the jokes, and the energy, and was rewarded with his only Booker shortlisting." (01/05/2007)

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Bulgarian scholar Wladimir Stefanow comments on the latest political events in Turkey. "The current Turkish prime minister underestimates an important, specific moment in the history of the Kemalist model. This model was designed to be copied in the east, but at the same time it draws its strength from the west. It's questionable whether and when Turkey could join the European Union, but without a doubt the country remains a 'showcase for secular Islam' and thus a paradigm emulated by many in the Islamic world. Erdogan seems not to consider what the impact is on the many branches of the 'Muslim Brotherhood' in the Islamic world, if even the leader of the Turkish state, with his key position, belongs to their party. The post-Kemalist game has to be played with a certain consistency, because anyone who acts without thinking will quickly disappear from the political stage." (04/05/2007)

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Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico heads to Moscow today to defend Vladimir Putin in his criticism of the planned US missile defence shield. But Fico's foreign minister, Jan Kubis, wants to convince his Russian counterpart that the project is needed. The minister says Fico is only expressing his own opinion. Marian Lesko is stunned by this indecision in Slovakian foreign policy. "In countries with a clearly defined foreign policy, it's unthinkable for the diplomatic leader and the government leader to take completely opposite stands on such a fundamental question of international policy. The attempt to reduce the Prime Minister's viewpoint to his 'personal opinion' or 'the opinion of a party chief' is embarrassing and unacceptable. Fico's views as the head of a party that occupies 11 out of 16 cabinet ministries can never ever be just his 'personal' opinion." (04/05/2007)

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Austria's Black-Red coalition has enacted a voting rights reform that includes a provision lowering the active voting age to 16 and the passive voting age to 18. This makes Austria a pioneer in Europe: everywhere else, you have to be 18 to vote. Herbert Vytiska agrees with the reform, but reflects on another side of the story. "Dropping the election age to 16 is meant to prompt discussion about whether the over-60 generation is under-represented in Parliament, and whether the over 67-generation is not represented at all, and is forced to cede its representation to the children and grandchildren. Today's under-18 generation is more mature than yesterday's, but the over-60 generation is not any more fossilized than its predecessor. It's just the opposite. They too, maybe even especially they, can contribute to the development of society and (in proportion) to urgently needed reforms, thanks to their experience and their knowledge." (04/05/2007)

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"After the initial fanfare of his departure announcement, Tony Blair intends to slip away quietly", writes Martin Bright, political editor of the weekly that has published a special issue marking the end of ten years of Tony Blair as Prime Minister of the UK . "Blair was advised ... that to stick around, Thatcher-style, would be undignified. He is unlikely to appear at this year's Labour party conference for fear of upstaging his successor. He could even stand down as MP for Sedgefield, the constituency he has represented since 1983. ... He will then throw himself into the work of the Blair Foundation, his new organisation devoted to a better understanding of interfaith relations, and, with characteristic hubris, into resolving conflict around the world. For better or worse, when he goes he will leave behind him a large empty space in Britain's public life: a gaping Blair-shaped hole ... ." (07/05/2007)

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Vandals have desecrated the gravesite of Hungarian communist leader János Kádár in Budapest's central cemetery. The perpetrators, presumed to be from the right-wing extremist scene, dug up his remains and daubed graffiti on the walls of his resting place. The newspaper comments: "It was one of the most shocking moments of the period of political change, when we learned that Imre Nagy [leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956] had been tied up and buried face down... Haven't we learned anything since 1989? János Kádár, who influenced the history of Hungary in the 20th century, is a controversial figure. His period in office as prime minister (1957-1989) will long remain a theme for historians. Many are still furious at the way Kádár grabbed power after Revolution of 1956, and then consolidated it into an initially hard, then relaxed, and finally stupefying dictatorship. Yet despite Kádár's outrageous acts, the desecration of his grave is completely unacceptable." (03/05/2007)

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The recent removal of the 'Bronze Soldier' statue from the centre of Tallinn has provoked numerous demonstrations and caused fraught diplomatic tension between Estonia and Russia. For some this monument signifies the end of Nazi oppression and for others the beginning of the Soviet occupation. Laurent Moyse points out that "it is not surprising that the ghosts of the past are creeping back little by little in the central and eastern parts of the European continent. More to the west, we have at times taken a lot longer to look back on painful episodes of History. ... National reconciliation has always been a painful ordeal in countries that have experienced trauma. Europe has indeed been living at peace with itself for 60 years, but in many cases, it maintains the hypersensitive memory of someone skinned alive." (04/05/2007)

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The search engine Google is once again referencing Belgian newspapers. It had ceased doing so in February, after having lost a lawsuit brought by Belgian press companies for violation of royalties. Did Belgians manage to sway the Californian giant all alone? Mathieu Oversraeten has his doubts. "Google felt the wind change. Over these past months the company has been attacked on the question of royalties by much bigger fish than Belgian editors ... . Google seems to have finally grasped the extent of the problem. In order to avoid  a multiplication of lawsuits, the company has notably  just launched software that blocks pirate videos on its video sharing website You Tube. It is true that the respect of royalties seems the least a company whose motto is 'don't be evil' can do." (04/05/2007)

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Justo Barranco paid a visit to the exhibition 'Frontiers', on show at the Barcelona centre for contemporary culture (CCCB). "The world has shrunk: its surface has diminished and time has been accelerated thanks to new technology. There is more contact among people and more commercial exchange than ever before. And yet there are more than 226,000 kilometres of border-lines in the world. And even if the 20th century is remembered for giving birth to a European Union that effaces borders, it also remains the century that saw the most walls built ... . The exhibition 'Frontiers' follows, with the aid of photos, these lines traced with rulers across maps and around which many people live, staying on one side or another in an often arbitrary manner. For some, these frontiers are objects of desire, the desire to cross them; for others, they are a source of anxiety, something to be fortified to fend off immigrants or enemies ... ." (04/05/2007)

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The paper comments that the Swiss government has lifted price controls on books in the German-speaking part of Switzerland - such controls never existed in the French part - and wishes Germany would do the same. "The Swiss have always had a problem with dismantling cartels. So the decision that publishers, authors and booksellers no longer can depend on 'cultural support' is even more remarkable. In the short term, prices in German-speaking Switzerland will hardly drop below the German level. The country is too much of a high-priced island for that. But the decision underscores just how out-dated the fixing of book prices has become. In general, dealers in Germany themselves already avoid the rigid price structure in any way they can. Just rummage through the tables of 'modern antiques.' In the book market, too, the law of supply and demand achieves the necessary balance for those involved... In the French-speaking part of the country, there is no price fixing. Nevertheless the number of titles remains large and the density of book trade even higher than in the protected German-speaking part." (04/05/2007)

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All available articles from » Jürgen Dunsch

Portugal correspondent Thomas Fischer describes the Portuguese island of Madeira, where the populist Alberto João Jardim, in power for almost 30 years, has good chances to be reelected. "In terms of political longevity, Jardim is hard on the heels of Portugal's Prime Minister Salazar, who led a fascist dictatorship for 36 years, from 1932 to 1968. Even the democratically legitimized Jardim puts on authoritarian airs. Literally, the rest of Portugal sees a 'democratic deficit' on Madeira and in Jardim's failures against his opponents. He divides up his friends and enemies more or less into 'Madeirenses' and 'Cubanos'. But not unlike the former Bavarian ruler Strauss in Germany, Jardim is almost a father figure for his region, with well over a quarter million residents. Like Strauss, he often reads the riot act to his adversaries during the Carnival period - but not on Ash Wednesday; rather in costume, amidst the clowning. His public doesn't applaud, and even some supporters are left speechless." (04/05/2007)

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