The Italian journalist and writer Beppe Severigni calls on History to defend the European project. "The future of the European Union will be at stake over the next few hours. We had heard and read about it: the German revolving presidency was determined to take apart the Constitution, a text that no longer carries that name. Despite being approved by eighteen countries, it was abandoned because of the French and Dutch referendums in 2005. Today there is nothing but talk about a new mini-treaty aimed at giving the new Europe of 27 countries a set of new rules, seeing as the current ones don't work anymore ... . [As is recalled by the Hungarian writer Imre Kertész], Europe was born out of an historic decision: the decision of Athens to oppose the Persians. Do we really have to wait for the Persians to come back to understand that it is good, right and necessary to stay together?" (21/06/2007)

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In its editorial, the daily regrets the dropping of the initial Constitution, but nonetheless remains optimistic about the future of the EU. "The European Union has shown that a series of political crises hasn't handicapped it, quite the contrary, and there is no reason to assume that in this case the treacherous French 'no' vote against the Constitution will have a negative effect on the future of the European project. ... Europe is being built in a dynamic process and although things seem at the moment as if we were in the turmoil of indigestion after the last enlargement, there is no doubt about the actual idea of Europe. The EU continues to be the most ambitious project that we have and, through all its crises, the one clear fact is that no one has asked to leave it." (21/06/2007)

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According to Adam Krzeminski, the dispute over the EU Constitution is mainly about "the practical implementation of European solidarity. And it is precisely this solidarity which the Kaczynski brothers' advisors argue Poland is being denied. The more powerful members form an inner circle and look on silently, while less powerful states are snubbed. Poland has not forgotten Chirac's arrogant speech of 2003, in which he said the Poles had missed a good opportunity to remain silent, nor has it forgotten Schröder's indifference when his unsullied democracy-loving chum in Moscow invited him and the French President, but neither a Polish nor a Lithuanian representative (the two countries that are Russia's direct neighbours) to attend Kaliningrad 750th anniversary celebrations. Are we being too unforgiving?... In the confrontation with restorative tendencies in Russia, Poland feels it has been let down by the EU. Putin castigated Poland for the role it played (on the EU's behalf!) during the 2004 revolution in Ukraine, but the EU took no notice." (21/06/2007)

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Camilla Cavendish thinks the British should learn from the Poles' attitude to the EU. "They come fresh to the labyrinthine process of EU negotiations with a firmer grasp of their national interest than the current occupant of 10 Downing Street. Their reluctance to let Germany grant itself significantly greater voting power makes it Warsaw 1, Berlin 0, as today's EU summit kicks off. Intransigent? Yes. Unacceptable? No. ... On Tuesday, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, told Poland that it risked losing money and support if it blocked a deal to reform the EU's institutions. What, for exercising its democratic right to object? That is blackmail. ... In Britain ... those whom we elect as temporary holders of political office blithely continue to hand power permanently to unelected institutions. Each step hands power to the European Court of Justice, which seizes every opportunity to expand its domain, including slowly eroding national vetoes on tax." (21/06/2007)

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Philip Jenkins, an American professor of history and theology, considers that, despite fears caused by the rise of Islam in Europe, "The old continent will remain a Christian fortress far stronger than some may think. ... The irony lies in the fact that after centuries of rebellion, the arrival of Islam in Europe is reopening political debates that most thought obsolete, such as on freedom of expression, freedom of faith and the right to proselytize. And the controversies that are born in the Muslim world also end up inexorably increasing or restraining the rights of Christians. If all the Muslim preachers who condemn gays are to be silenced, so too should those of the charismatic Christian faith. ... The result of all this is the rediscovery of the continent's Christian roots, including by those who had long lost sight of them, and a new feeling of cultural Christianity in Europe." (21/06/2007)

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Sohrab Mahdavy, co-founder of online magazine TehranAvenue.com, reflects on the ties between Iranian art and the West: "Eagerly and with open arms we receive the Western curator who tells us what to do... Exotic is our old gift to the world, misery our modern one. Europe wants to know what it's like to experience misery. This way it's less painful - just as it's easier for a pious rich man to pay someone to say his prayers from him. There really is such a job, and in a similar way ethnic art offers Europe the possibility of understanding our misery and sympathising with it. Europe needs this dose of misery to give its own life more meaning. Otherwise it would have to experience it for itself." (21/06/2007)

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The editorialist Pascal Aubert sees Nicolas Sarkozy as a 'hyper president' ready to burst the boundaries of his office. "It is clear that our new president has learnt some lessons from the past. The position of republican monarch cloistered in the Elysée palace that his recent predecessors adopted doesn't appeal to him. Without bothering with institutional custom, he has no intention of letting anyone else act where he can. Not even, it seems those who are supposed to do so in accordance with the current Constitution, i.e. the government and its Head. The latter has just seen the general policy speech, traditionally delivered by the Prime Minister, taken away from him [Sarkozy delivered it on June 20th, before the members of parliament in his majority]. ... All this is only prefiguring the institutional rupture that the president desires, since he wishes to do tomorrow what the Constitutions forbid him today, to speak before the whole of parliament." (21/06/2007)

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Adrian Hamilton warns against being "deceived by Blair and his apologists" as the British Prime Minister prepares to step down from office on June 27th. "No, no, no. Tony Blair cannot be allowed to leave No 10 with yet another rewriting of history and yet more attempts to lay the whole blame for Iraq on the lack of a post-invasion strategy. The latest rewrite comes in Channel 4's two-part documentary to be aired this weekend. In it, we are told, Blair warned Washington of the need for a proper occupation plan as early as a year before the actual invasion, and kept repeating his concerns. It was not, in other words, that Blair and his advisers didn't think about the problem, it was just that the Americans took no notice of them. ... That the Prime Minister is becoming increasingly loopy as he heads for the exit says something about him and the extraordinary way he distances himself from his own decisions, as if they were made by a mysterious 'other' who had no choice at the time." (21/06/2007)

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The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that Poland violated the Convention on Human Rights by not allowing Alicja Tysiąc, a Polish citizen, to have an abortion for health reasons. Alicja Tysiąc was left virtually blind after the birth of her third child. The Polish state has now appealed the decision, a move which journalist and feminist Agnieszka Graff harshly criticises: "These appeal proceedings are scandalous. As if it wasn't bad enough that in Poland women's rights are denied every day, now that those in power have been caught and punished the government is filing an appeal. I'm appalled and I'm ashamed for Poland. Alicja has won before a higher authority but will have to continue waiting for her compensation. But from a purely political point of view she should be glad because this new round at the European court will bring more attention to the case. It won't only be Poland that celebrates the ruling as a moral victory for women who fight for their rights." (20/06/2007)

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Sweden's conservative government plans to sell a number of state-owned companies. The Swedish parliament has already decided in favour of selling six large companies, including the telecommunications company TeliaSonera. The newspaper speculates on what should be done with the proceeds, which are expected to reach 20 billion euros. "Some have called for the money to be distributed among the owners - in other words the citizens. This policy would no doubt win votes, but it wouldn't be wise because it would push up inflation... The government's idea of using the money to pay off the national debt seems more sensible. This would free up billions each year which could be used for long-term investments, for example for improving the infrastructure. Another alternative would be to invest the capital in government stocks to save up for difficult times. This would allow state and capital to help each other without sitting in the same boat." (21/06/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Tax Policy, » Sweden

The European Institute of Technology (EIT), which is supposed to be Europe's answer to elite American universities such as Harvard and the MIT in Boston, is to start running in 2008. Michael Moravec says the whole project is symptomatic of the problems with the EU's research and development policy. "The European Institute of Technology (EIT) will effectively be a small coordinating centre with a staff of 60, and it still isn't even clear where the 300 million euros or so needed for its foundation and the initial phase are to come from. By comparison, Harvard alone has a budget of around three billion euros - per year - and 25,000 employees. There's still no sign of the billions trade and industry are supposed to be providing for the EIT project. The companies have refused to spend money on a concept that lacks substance." (21/06/2007)

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The Swiss daily has dedicated its front page to private equity which it defines as the "most powerful industry in the financial world" because of the crushing weight it bears on the market. "By not calling upon public transparency, this capital is often processed in utmost anonymity, managed by highly experienced former industrialists and business men", explains the editorialist Pierre Veya. "In economical terms, these are predators with a shark's instinct, to whom we owe the resurrection of companies that the traditional market had condemned. They are the inspiration behind restructuring and mergers that no-one else dares to impose. But they are also the predators who force companies into debt so that they can then re-sell them with a profit, without necessarily concerning themselves with the durability if their prey. They are both the 'angels and demons' of global capitalism." (21/06/2007)

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Great Britain's decision to give author Salman Rushdie a knighthood has provoked shock and indignation in several Muslim countries. Jürgen Tamme says that although the situation is reminiscent of the cartoon row, the West has learned its lesson from the dispute over the Muhammad cartoons: "So far European newspapers and politicians have refrained from making childish comments that could spark a further wave of protests in less radical Muslim countries and in Europe. Indeed, opposition figures in Muslim states have criticised politicians who describe terrorist attacks as an understandable reaction. So far, unlike during the cartoon row, the rational approach has prevailed. If we succeed in avoiding the mistakes we made back then there will be no need to fear an escalation of the conflict." (21/06/2007)

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"No sooner have we got over the cartoon row than another tiresome culture clash looms on the horizon," writes South Asia correspondent Bernard Imhasly. "Thanks to the dashing diplomats of the British Foreign Office, Mr Rushdie will be able to have people address him as Sir Salman in future... After a decade of living in the shadows, over the past ten years the author of the 'Satanic Verses' has slowly but surely stepped back into the limelight... It doesn't take an Oxford degree to see that Sir Salman will pay dearly for his knighthood - and his vanity. The protests against the 'hated corpse' (to quote the words of the first deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament) will almost certainly spread, because this rehash of the hunt for Rushdie will once again put the spotlight on the mockery of Muhammad in the 'Satanic Verses'." (21/06/2007)

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It is estimated that between 400 and 800 brown bears live in Slovenia. A dispute is now raging there about whether the government should permit 100 of them to be hunted and shot this year. Both in Slovenia and abroad, animal rights activists are protesting against such a move. Gregor Kosir of the 'Pozor, medved' (Beware, Bears) project is in favour of the shooting. According to him, when bears attack flocks of sheep "all Slovenia, experts as well as laymen, argue that it's not the bear that's at fault but the humans who can't live with the animal... But we should listen to the people and try to understand their position instead of just passively taking in all the propaganda and clichés of the animal rights activists. Perhaps then we could one day find a solution that suits all sides. Then we could proudly display a Slovenian speciality to Europe: the brown bear in its natural habitat." (21/06/2007)

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All available articles from » Gregor Kosir