Political commentators David Charter and Philip Webster point out that "the decision by Portugal not to hold a referendum but to ratify the treaty through its parliament will come as a huge relief to Downing Street and the Elysée Palace, which feared extra pressure on them to hold a public vote. The revelation of top-level phone calls will, though, only increase suspicions that the European political elite have coordinated efforts to avoid a repeat of the referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005 that sank the proposed constitution and plunged the EU into a two-year crisis. ... As with Labour's last manifesto, Mr Socrates had promised a referendum on the EU constitution during election campaigning. ... The Portuguese move means that the Irish Republic, which has a tradition of public votes on big issues, remains the only country in the 27-member EU where a referendum will be held." (10/01/2008)

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"The National pride with which the country carried out the Portuguese presidency of the EU lead to the absence of debate around the consequences of the Lisbon Treaty", considers Luís Menezes Leitão, a lawyer and university professor at the law faculty of the University of Lisbon (FDL). "The following question arises today: can you justify the fact that such an important step in European integration is to be taken on the basis of mere parliamentary ratifications, independently of European population ? If this is the case, the words of Thucydide that were quoted in the opening of the initial European Constitution prove rather ironic ('Our constitution ... has received the name of democracy, because democracy is the power of the greatest number and not that of a minority'). In today's Europe, power is in the hands of a minority and there is no desire to pass it on to the majority of citizens." (09/01/2008)

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Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates has broken his election promise of 2005 to hold a referendum on the EU constitution. But the paper finds this correct: "At the latest by the next parliamentary election in 2009 the matter will be long forgotten. Europe is not a subject that polarizes the Portuguese. But the news is incomparably more important for the EU partners. After all, the pressure on Socrates from Berlin, but even more from London and Paris, to hold off with the referendum option, fits with the logic of what led to the Treaty of Lisbon in the first place. A referendum in Portugal would have put pressure on all those governments elsewhere that try hard to avoid them, such as in Paris or The Hague. It would have been absurd if that very country which bore and gave its name to the EU treaty were to find itself in this pressuring role." (10/01/2008)

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Lisbon correspondent Thomas Fischer regrets that the Portuguese won't have a chance to be heard on the EU Reform Treaty. "Portugal has never had a referendum on EU integration. By renouncing the referendum, the country gives up the opportunity to let the people themselves support this option before the money from Brussels runs out, cutting off one of the most popular and useful arguments for 'Europe.'" (10/01/2008)

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The Spanish university professor Victor Pou Serradell lauds the good results obtained by Scandinavian countries in economic and social matters. "According to the annual grading of global competitiveness carried out by the Global Economic Forum, three Scandinavian countries are among the ten best countries: Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The European Commission has also just published a document according to which Scandinavian countries are leading the way, along with Germany and Austria, as 'the most technologically innovative countries'. Europe does not have far to look for a role model. It need only look north .There, one finds a very high level of economic development along with a real social well-being due to a combination of serious efforts, to the solidity of civil society and institutions, to the respect of the law, to free enterprise and to the efficiency of administrations." (10/01/2008)

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Interviewed by Gilles Anquetil and François Armanet, the Swedish writer Henning Mankell questions the particularly positive image his country benefits from. "This paradise is a myth that you created, not us. It is foreigners who became fascinated by the 'Swedish model' and ... by Swedish blonds ! Sweden is not responsible for the mythology that surrounds it. And it is naturally aware of its share of problems, especially that which I refer to in my books: the relationship between democracy and the judicial system. If there is a dysfunction in the justice system, democracy cannot work either. Sweden has experienced numerous scandals that give the impression that corruption and organised crime are developing. There are even notable racist tendencies, albeit much less pronounced than in other countries. The Swedish followed the riots in the French suburbs very closely. We haven't reached that extreme yet, but we might if we're not careful." (10/01/2008)

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Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Kisliak, is visiting Warsaw today on the invitation of the new Polish government. Their topic: Moscow's opposition to the proposed US missile defence system in Poland. At the same time, Prime Minister Donald Tusk is consulting in Prague with his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolánek, about crafting a joint position on the American plans. Marek Magierowski criticizes the Polish government for having no clear strategy. "Donald Tusk is avidly seeking to improve relations with the Kremlin, by repeating at every turn that the Russians, as our neighbours, have the right to complete information about Poland's military plans. And so a strange scenario emerges: They take an arrogant position towards Americans, while handling Russians with kid gloves so as not to insult them. … The behaviour of the PO [governing party] seems to be this: We don't want a missile defence shield, but if Uncle Sam covers the cost, we'll think it over." (10/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Poland, » Russia, » U.S.
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The Czech parliament and senate will elect a new president on February 8. Facing off against conservative incumbent Vaclav Klaus is the Czech-American economist Jan Svejnar. Jacques Rupnik takes the side of Svejnar, who he says is a convinced European, as opposed to Klaus. "Jan Svejnar takes environmental issues seriously. And unlike Klaus, who constantly tangled with the Republic's highest juridical authorities, [Svejnar] respects the institutions of the constitutional state, which he sees as essential to democracy in the Czech Republic and the EU as a whole. In addition, his support for ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon proves that he considers membership in the EU and the impending Czech EU-Council presidency in 2009 not only as necessary, but as an opportunity to redefine the Czech European identity." (10/01/2008)

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Political commentator Iain Macwhirter believes the disaggregation of the UK is imminent. "The SNP [The Scottish National Party] is now running Holyrood [Scottish Parliament]; Plaid Cymru [Welsh nationalist party] is in coalition with Labour in Cardiff ; and the nationalist Sinn Féin shares power with the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party] in Stormont [Ireland]. It is the unionist nightmare come true : a separatist clean sweep. ... This country is changing - and, it has to be said, largely for the better, as the old centralised apparatus disintegrates before regional democracy. Now that the unionist parties in Scotland have all but given up, the UK faces a choice : adopt some form of federal solution, or prepare for political disintegration, on the lines of Czechoslovakia's 'velvet divorce' in 1993. It is as serious as that. While Brown launches fatuous 'Britishness' campaigns, the very fabric of the country he claims to love is being torn up and stitched anew." (10/01/2008)

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In response to the appeal launched by the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE), 400 European Muslim associations are gathering in Brussels this Thursday, January 10th, to sign a common charter defining their rights and duties in western societies. Alberto D'Argenio welcomes this initiative. "If peacefully integrating western societies is a duty, building mosques and wearing traditional clothes is a right. For the first time, the civil Muslim society of our continent is trying to express itself with a single voice to a vast media floor, rejecting all forms of terrorism ... . For the first time the Muslims of Europe are presenting a common interpretation of Islam, to understand one another and to be understood by their next-door neighbours. This is quite something." (10/01/2008)

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Francisco Veiga, professor of eastern European and Turkish contemporary history in the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), considers that we shouldn't be fooled by alarmist analyses of Kosovo's future. "Once the media hype has died down, Kosovo's Albanians on one side and Serbs and Russians on the other will get on together in many domains. ... The media and some politicians are thinking as if we were back in 1991 [when war broke out in the Balkans]. But their sensationalist attitude is by no means a reflection of actual reality on the terrain. There will be no new war, at least not one waged by Serbia, for the simple good reason that Belgrade does not have the necessary forces, leaders or logistics for one. And other local actors do not have the leeway necessary to organise a war, should they to want one." (09/01/2008)

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Lithuania is looking into the use of Internet voting for future elections – as is already done in Estonia, for example. Svenn Arne Lie doesn't approve: "Voting by Internet poses a potential danger to democracy in Lithuania. The cause for concern is that neither the politicians nor the election commission want to take responsibility for protecting the principle of anonymity, despite its supreme importance to a democratic system. Secret ballots are fundamental. And this must not be undermined by the arguments of some politicians that electronic elections raise voter turnout." (10/01/2008)

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Hungary is no longer among the top 25 countries favoured by investors, reports the paper, commenting: "Investors are turning away from Hungary because reforms have failed – despite all assurances. It is as if the government, proclaiming the supreme importance of competition, forgot that it was also defeated by the competition. Tax cuts are a good example: All of Central Eastern Europe is vying for tax cuts, but Hungary rules them out. They seem to have forgotten that there is no guaranteed membership in the club to which they want to belong. You have to keep an eye on the surroundings, take on challenges, and react with more courage and speed. But there are no new ideas. They managed to gain entry to the EU. Now what?" (10/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Hungary

The Dutch director Adelheid Roosen is currently presenting 'The Veiled Monologues' in Brussels. This play adapts the 'Vagina Monologues' to the situation of Muslim women. Interviewed by Catherine Makereel, she explains why Muslim women are so little understood in Europe. "The image that we have been given of the Muslim world is completely crazy: it spans wife-beating men, 'A Thousand and One Nights' and Omar Sharif. This is no doubt partly due to the fact that the Arabs we know in Europe are those who came to find work here, often from the poorest and therefore least educated of backgrounds. ... In addition, Muslims concerned about preserving their identity have chosen to hang on to elements of their native culture such as the veil. But views of the Arab world are warped by prejudice." (09/01/2008)

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Nikolaus Bernau waxes enthusiastic about the ideas of Dutch traffic planner Hans Monderman, who died Tuesday. "His theses about 'divided space' triggered a revolution in traffic planning and lifestyle. Because he wanted to get everyone back into communicating on the street. Do away with signs, markers and special routes; bring back eye contact, friendly compromise. Traffic accidents were dramatically reduced in the towns he redesigned; people started using the street as part of their own habitat again, and the flow of traffic greatly improved. Everyone may have moved forward a bit more slowly, but in the end they were faster because they didn't have to stop constantly. ... Eye contact on the street, on the sidewalk, in factories, in offices or bars, is our elixir of life. Street signs just sap our brains." (10/01/2008)

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Tibor Kovács wonders whether French top chef Alain Ducasse would ever open a restaurant in Budapest. His answer: Of course not. "Whenever someone wants to open a good restaurant here, the menu is French or Italian. Or in the best case, it's 'fusion cuisine', which means one can order both sushi and veal cutlet, for example. But this is at best confusing. Where are the good restaurants serving Hungarian cuisine? Why not try to rejuvenate that cuisine? Even if it lacks creativity, one could at least aim for excellent preparation of traditional dishes using excellent ingredients. Where is the perfect goulash? Evidently, the principle of 'good enough' dominates here. And if you look at the demand, people evidently accept this." (10/01/2008)

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