"Over the next few weeks, as the issue of independence for Kosovo comes to the boil, we are certain to have more sweat and tears, but we can, with luck and good judgment on all sides, avoid the shedding of more blood", considers Timothy Garton Ash. "The EU has just signed what in eurojargon is known as a 'stabilisation and association agreement' with Bosnia [December 4th] - an important step towards eventual membership. The EU should make it crystal clear, in public diplomacy directed at the Serbian people, that it very much wants to do the same for Serbia ... Kosovo's coordinated declaration of independence, in February 2008 at the latest, would thus be accompanied by this strong European offer to the Serbs: trade the residual shell of formal sovereignty over Kosovo for the practical chance of a better future in the EU. With their mouths, most Serbs will still say no; in their hearts, they may start to say yes." (06/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Serbia
All available articles from » Timothy Garton Ash

"Two things appear to be unthinkable for Brussels: leaving a problem child on Europe's doorstep [like Kosovo] to its own devices and - more importantly - not letting it into the house of Europe in the long term," Jochen Bittner and Andrea Böhm explain. At the same time they make the following criticism: "No one in Brussels is willing to bet on how long it will take to make Kosovo a member of the European club. Nonetheless, EU diplomats are convinced that the only way to solve the Balkan problem is to gather all the countries of former Yugoslavia under one roof - or in other words, their integration into Europe. Such ambitions not only represent a huge challenge for the expansion-weary Union, they are also a provocation for its disgruntled neighbour, Russia. From Moscow's point of view the EU's efforts in the Balkans are an arrogant invasion of Russia's traditional zones of influence. Therefore it's very possible that a frozen conflict between Europe and Russia will crystallise in Kosovo." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » Europe, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Jochen Bittner, » Andrea Böhm

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced that Slovakia will not recognise a unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovo-Albanians. Peter Morvay comments: "This stance is not evidence of steady principles and is not based on logical reasoning. Rather, it is the product of the paranoia that torments all Slovak parties. They live in fear that the separation of Kosovo will set a precedent for the Hungarians living in southern Slovakia. This attitude of the government was already reflected in the parliamentary resolution on the inviolability of the Beneš decrees [on the basis of which tens of thousands of Hungarians living in Czechoslovakia lost their rights and property]. It's an empty gesture with no practical meaning. ... It won't achieve anything, but it will poison many things." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Slovakia, » Europe, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Peter Morvay

The desire for a "European public sphere" still hasn't been fulfilled, Heribert Seifert notes. "At present only the Internet, with a series of publicly funded online magazines, provides forums for transnational communication. Signandsight.com, eurozine.com, cafebabel.com and eurotopics.net all provide platforms which enable people to inform themselves quickly and reliably about key political and cultural topics under discussion in European countries. Either multilingual or using English as a lingua franca, these online media provide an overview of the diversity of opinion within Europe. ... For even transnational publishing houses can't propagate the idea of Europe without taking the moods of national public spheres into account. It's not just the Springer group's German and Polish newspapers that argue from a primarily national perspective when it comes to contentious issues in European politics. Czech journalists in Prague have reported that Czech newspapers controlled by German publishing houses tend to adopt a particularly harsh stance towards Germany." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Print media, » Online media, » Europe
All available articles from » Heribert Seifert

"Regardless of all that has been said about or against Islam in recent times, and despite all the outcry, within society coexistence functions much more smoothly and tolerance towards Muslims is much greater than portrayed by the media," writes Middle East expert Navid Kermani. "At present there is not a single politically relevant force in Germany that tries to win votes by advocating the marginalisation of Islam or legal discrimination against immigrants. This is not to be taken for granted when you look at the Netherlands and the triumphal progress of the right-wing populists there, Denmark with its scandalous laws on bi-religious marriages or Switzerland, where the SVP won the elections using posters that call to mind the imagery of the Nazis. In Germany, the CDU would be the party one could imagine using this kind of identity politics, and without doubt there are those in the party who advocate explicitly anti-Islamic views, but not even within their own party do they appear to have a majority." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Navid Kermani

Facing the reinforcement of French immigration policy, the Greek writer Vassilis Alexakis, who lives in France, defends how immigration has contributed to French identity. "French identity is the product of dialogue with the world that started a long time ago, well before the birth of France and that is as old as the word 'dialogue' itself. The attraction I felt for this country as an adolescent was in part due to foreigners, or at least French inhabitants of foreign backgrounds, to Van Gogh and Salvador Dali, Kopa and Piantoni, to Beckett and Ionesco. ... In a country where one third of the population is from an immigrant background, preventing the arrival of new foreigners is more a way of endangering rather than protecting French identity." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » France
All available articles from » Vassilis Alexakis

Like the majority of the new EU member states, Slovenia will become a member of the Schengen area on December 21st. Bozo Masanovic is delighted at the prospect: "The enlargement of the Schengen zone is indeed a 'wonderful Christmas gift', as EU Commissioner Franco Frattini described it. It will facilitate the crossing of internal European borders for many travellers. ... But above all it is of great symbolic value for Slovenia's membership in Europe. Integration into the Schengen area erases the artificial division between the 'old' EU member states and the new ones. With the introduction of the euro and its EU presidency [from January 2008], Slovenia is being put on an equal footing with the founders of the community of states." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Slovenia, » Europe
All available articles from » Bozo Masanovic

The daily wonders about the pertinence of the appeal made last week in the Netherlands by Doekle Terpstra, former trade unionist and member of the Christian Democrat party against Geert Wilders, the populist leader of the Party for Freedom. "Doekle Terpstra has appealed 'unions, bosses, Muslims, churches, humanists and other groups and institutions' to form a united front against Geert Wilders' nasty message. But even if many of these organisations have little sympathy for Wilder's ideas, Terpstra will have to do a lot more lobbying before they join forces with him. Most have indeed been shocked by the personal offensive launched by Terpstra against Wilders, referring for example about the 'Wilderisation of society' ... The most likely scenario will involve the exacerbation of polarisation." (04/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Netherlands

Sweden's universities are free for all students. This has led to a great influx of foreign students, with the result that there are hardly any Swedish students on some courses at the renowned University of Uppsala. At the same time foreign students' previous level of education is often found to be lacking. The newspaper comments: "The principle of free education for all is not something to be taken for granted. It came about at a time when there was much less movement between different countries. Swedish students are obliged to pay tuition fees at foreign universities, so why shouldn't foreign students pay for their courses here in Sweden? ... An education that doesn't come for free has a higher status. Only those who have great ambitions will be interested." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sweden, » Global

"Last week, the German government decided to apply a minimum wage to the postal industry [minimum wages were unknown in Germany until recently]. In response, a competitor of Deutsche Post, the part-privatised former monopoly, has announced big job losses", notes the daily, which considers the latter event is a clear consequence of the former. "[The deal] was negotiated by Deutsche Post with the Verdi trade union in the full knowledge that that it would have to be adopted by financially weaker competitors. The deal looks like a cynical manoeuvre by Deutsche Post to render uncompetitive rival operations in a soon to be liberalised market. ... It is bad for Germany and Europe because it restricts competition and hinders liberalisation of the postal market. It is bad for Germany because it kills jobs. Berlin may yet regret giving it support." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Germany

The French economist Elie Cohen regrets the numerous obstacles hindering the European satellite navigation system Galileo. "What lessons can be drawn from this long gestation period for a project that so wanted to be exemplary ? Concerning European construction, which is supposed to lead the way with concrete projects creating economic growth, it now has to be recognised that it took over five years to reach a common position while EU spending was around 2.5 billion euros. As an economic project, the results are especially grim. European industrialists are indeed to benefit from subventions, public markets, are to master new technology, but they are not engaging in the reality of the market or a business plan. Galileo is thus more a technological platform financed with public funds than it is an industrial project.” (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Corporations, » Europe
All available articles from » Elie Cohen

Elianne Ros recommends a visit to a Parisian exhibition forbidden to visitors under 16 years of age, which has just opened at the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, a national library. "The Pierre Larousse 20th century Grand Dictionnaire Universel defines hell as 'a closed part of a library where books considered dangerous are kept'. This definition is the starting point of the exhibition entitled 'Hell at the Library, Eros in Secret' which is, for the first time ever, unveiling five centuries of literary and graphic documentation that had been kept under lock and key in France's National Library. This collection oscillates between eroticism and pornography. ...Through 350 works, the exhibition proposes a double itinerary: on one hand the contents of 'hell', i.e. documents, books and images gathered under that term. And on the other, the actual history of 'hell' since its creation." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » France
All available articles from » Elianne Ros

In an interview conducted by Nathalie Levisalles, the writer Sergi Pamies, who writes novels in Catalan and articles in Spanish, explains that "you can be a Spanish-speaking Catalan, and you can also be a Catalan speaker without being a Catalan. I like the idea of not having to depend on a passport to write in a certain language. But it must be understood that Catalan is one of Europe's great languages, with its own history and literature ... . It is necessary to avoid committing injustice at all costs. It would be a gross injustice to not consider as illustrious members of Catalan culture those Catalan writers who are from Barcelona and write in Spanish such as Mendoza, Vila-Matas, Vasquez Montalban and Carlos Ruiz Zafon. And it would be just as unfair to overlook the fact that this great European language has great writers such as Josep Pla and Quim Monzo." (06/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Spain
All available articles from » Sergi Pàmies, » Natalie Levisalles

This year Europe's tallest Christmas tree stands in Bucharest: it is 76 metres high and made of steel. Bucharest hopes it will gain an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. For his part Adrian Georgescu sees the tree as a monstrosity: "Like all other European capitals, Bucharest decorates itself with bright lights in December, in the same way some Romanians hang chains of blue lights on their rusty old Dacias or spray perfume on their pullovers hoping to disguise the bad smell. ... The city centre looks like a cement disco and has even been given an artistic note: Europe's biggest Christmas tree. At night, when everything looks the same and all the mayors look intelligent, you can let yourself be seduced by the spectacle, but in daylight the tree looks like a spaceship. ... 100,000 people gathered around the tree for its consecration. We are still a simple people who can be bought for a couple of pearls." (07/12/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Romania
All available articles from » Adrian Georgescu