"The Netherlands and Belgium have stuck to their guns: for them it is out of the question to open up the road to EU accession for Serbia so long as General Mladic, former military leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, has not been put on a plane to the Hague in order to be judged by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (TPI)", explains Jean Quatremer, the daily's Brussels correspondent. "And yet the Commission and almost all other Member States considered that [the signature of a stabilisation and association agreement (SAA)] would reinforce the position of the outgoing Serbian President Boris Tadic and help him to win the second round of votes having been beaten by five points scored by his ultranationalist rival [Tomislav Nikolic] in the first round. With this in mind, they were prepared to show more leniency towards Serbia." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Jean Quatremer

European foreign ministers have no idea how to influence the Serbian presidential elections, says Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger. "Should the foreign ministers, some of whom would love to welcome Serbia, quickly sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreements, even though Belgrade has not cooperated as they wished with the International Criminal Court in The Hague? Never mind the fact that the EU must not grant any leeway on this point if it wants to be taken seriously as a community of values and not be seen as an association of opportunists. In the end, it is probably the social and cultural tensions between the state and federal levels that count most to Serbian voters, and not 'signals' from Brussels." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger

"Yesterday the EU dropped its habitual discretion regarding electoral processes abroad and put aside its own internal differences [among its 27 member states] managing to stretch out a timid hand to pro-European Serbian forces", explains Beatriz Navarro. "Aware of the fact that their efforts may be perceived as an attempt to weigh upon the election results, European ministers of foreign affairs nonetheless decided to offer Serbia the signature of a bilateral agreement that will allow the country to be less isolated. ... The prospect of seeing Serbia distanced from Europe and brought closer to Russia - with whom it has just signed important energy deals - is very worrying for European diplomacy." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Beatriz Navarro

French historian Pierre Nora ("Les Lieux de mémoire") shares with Benedek Várkonyi his idea of the acceleration of history, which "on one hand is a metaphor, and on the other is a reality expressed in measurable quantities. For example we see it in the energy consumption of western industrial countries, which is growing to a much greater extent than predicted. And the increasing speed of communication makes everything that happens on this planet immediately visible. Participants in this age have seen everything multiply exponentially. That includes climate, technology and energy – but it also influences history, in which everything appears and from which everything results. ... The historical meaning of these things becomes more intense and profound, and affects increasing numbers of people." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » History, » Global
All available articles from » Benedek Várkonyi

The French researcher Marc Lazar compares the political situations in France and in Italy. "Since January 21st, Italy has been going through a new political crisis that confirms the immense lassitude of a representative and parliamentary democracy ... . By contrast, France appears set to confidently stride across the threshold of the 5th Republic's 50th anniversary. ... Nobody can deny that Italy is going through a crisis of major concern. Its ailments are well known: a faltering electoral law, the fragmentation of parties, heterogeneous coalitions .... The weakness of political authorities offers other actors - in media, judicial and religious institutions - an opportunity to prosper ... . France is not however in tip-top form, it is still in fragile convalescence. Nevertheless, Nicholas Sarkozy does have the solidity of institutions on his side, something that we clearly cannot find in Italy." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » France, » Italy
All available articles from » Marc Lazar

Opposition forces in the Slovakian parliament have threatened to block the Lisbon Treaty if the government does not withdraw its controversial new press law. The law provides for extensive state control over media and has come in for much international criticism. But political scientist Jacques Rupnik tells Mirka Kernová he thinks the opposition is taking the wrong approach: "I understand that the Slovakian opposition has serious reasons to criticize the government. But to hold the European treaty hostage? That's not about the Slovakian government, but about the improved functioning of the EU – which is also important for Slovakia. … I hope the opposition's threat is only an expression of their profound concern about the press law." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Domestic Policy, » Media policy, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Jacques Rupnik, » Mirka Kernová

This January 29th, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is receiving German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Nicholas Sarkozy and the resigned Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi for a mini-summit dedicated to the world's financial crisis. According to Armando Esteves Pereira, "today's meeting ... sets a dangerous precedent for the EU by imposing the false authority of four giants on the fate of the 27 member states. And Barroso, the Commission's president, is approving this controversial division of power with his presence. .... The United Kingdom is not part of the eurozone and the decisions made by the European Central Bank have little impact on the lives of Britons, as opposed to those from countries that do belong to this zone. Thus all European citizens are equal, only, as in George Orwell's Animal Farm, some are more equal than others." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Financial Markets, » Europe
All available articles from » Armando Esteves Pereira

"Ireland's participation in the European Union's emerging military structures will be put to a difficult test now that the 3,700-strong United Nations mandated operation in Chad has been given the go-ahead", notes the daily referring to the decision made on January 28th by EU foreign ministers. "Irish troops will be working with the Nordic battlegroup, including troops from Finland, Sweden, Poland and Austria, along with officers from eight other EU member states. It [the EU force] cannot be perceived there as an instrument of French policy if it is to succeed. That will require a sophisticated communications policy, as well as close political monitoring ... . There is no doubting the professionalism of the Irish and other troops involved. But it is important that the political difficulties they face be understood as clearly as the daunting logistical ones which have also delayed this deployment." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Ireland, » Africa, » Europe

Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV, far-right) has triggered a debate in the Netherlands around wheter or not to broadcast his anti-muslim film. "Constitutional law is supposed to draw borders between what is right and what is wrong in normal human behaviour", writes Christopher Caldwell. "Staged provocations intended to shift such boundaries are sometimes acts of bad faith. ... No right is unimaginable and no tradition too venerable to be revisited. Such cases are artificial, but the law they make is real. Mr Wilders is something of a bogeyman in polite Dutch society now. He should not be. His perfectly legal effort resembles the kind of mischievous testing of boundaries that civil libertarians have engaged in whenever they have sought to hasten social change in the face of an indifferent or hostile electorate." (26/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Integration, » Netherlands
All available articles from » Christopher Caldwell

People called it "caravan capitalism," when Nokia announced it would close its factory in Bochum and move production to Romania. Germans were incensed, Romanians ecstatic. Luca Niculescu writes: "The Romanians should understand that they may be needed today but can also be cut loose tomorrow. Factories can be shifted to even cheaper countries, if production costs climb too high. There may well come a time in which we have to seriously consider a 'social Europe' with uniform taxes and working conditions. To reach that goal, the new EU countries have to overcome the economic differences that divide them from the west. Nokia will help us catch up." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Finland, » Romania
All available articles from » Luca Niculescu

Jörg Magenau introduces authors Drago Jancar, Ismail Kadaré and Giwi Margwelaschwili, whose new novels present the history of communism in their respective countries Slovenia, Albania and Georgia. Says Magenau: "The time for literature – or rather, legend-making – has come. Communism has turned into a mythological landscape populated by strange figures. It usually takes 200, even 300 years – as with Jesus or the Trojan War – for history to dry up and contract enough to reach the status of legend. With communism, it's moving faster. That's because the people who lived in socialist countries already had a mythological relation to their rulers and the state. Reality was so brittle that it needed extra reinforcements to stay 'real.'" (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Slovenia, » Central Europe, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Jörg Magenau

"Does Belgium exist? If this question is subject to political controversy, in the film world the answer is now loud and clear: 'No!'. Confirming more than ever the tendency of 2006, 2007 marks Belgium's spectacular divorce", writes Nicolas Crousse. "On the one hand, for Flemish cinema which has never, commercially speaking, done so well, this is simply a historical year. ... [On the other hand] French-speaking film statistics are average. ... The country's French-speaking audience doesn't consume films from the north, which they barely know at all. And in the Flanders region filmgoers are no more keen to discover what films their southern neighbours are making. At the end of the day, both sides are dragging along both trophies and complexes. The North has a bad reputation, but is in diabolically good health. The South looks alright, but not in the mirror [with French-speaking films only really meeting success abroad]." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Belgium
All available articles from » Nicolas Crousse

Lithuania is depressed about its lack of recognition abroad. The government is now considering changing the English name, which many find so hard to pronounce. Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas wants to start an image campaign to present Lithuania as a "courageous land." Rimvydas Valatka raises an eyebrow: "Just what do marketing experts have to offer? OK, we were Europe's last pagans, we were the ones to initiate the fall of the Soviet Union, we supposedly have an innovative culture and a spirit of enterprise. But isn't this somehow reminiscent of Soviet propaganda? What does the fact that we were latecomers to Christianity have to do with courage? ... It's nice to want to make an impression, but do we want it to be an idiotic one?" (28/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Cultural Policy, » History, » Lithuania
All available articles from » Rimvydas Valatka

The Swiss are worried about the uniqueness of their cheese. Sbrinz hard cheese is now also produced in a Slovenian dairy in Murska Sobota, reports Martin Woker. "The cheese is labelled 'Zbrinc.' True, in the Balkans all imports are transcribed mercilessly, including foreign names (for example, Majkl Mur for Michael Moore). But here, there is no semantic problem. One look at the package reveals the terrible truth: Zbrinc is trying to pass itself off as Sbrinz! ... Some is exported, as far as Croatia at this point. Exported? With a shudder, the angry Swiss imagine the day when this imitation reaches their border. They hope the steamrollers will show up to do their work, just as they did in the highly publicized case of fake Swiss clocks, which were duly flattened." (29/01/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Agriculture, » Slovenia, » Switzerland
All available articles from » Martin Woker