The business paper Il Sole 24 Ore reports from Brussels: "The voices of the ministers of individual states rose up in a loud chorus of protest against ... golden handshakes and unjustified super-salaries at the meeting of EU finance ministers on Wednesday. It is not easy to forge a common strategy for preventing excess and unjustified salaries in an area where each country in Europe has its own rules. ... It is essential that the ministers of all 27 member states reach an agreement. Guidelines and recommendations ... which can be accepted and followed by each individual government must be drawn up. A recommendation for managers' salaries was presented in Brussels back in 2004, but it was soon forgotten in the midst of the economic upswing at the time. ... The first step must be to take stock of the situation. ... Only ten countries have corporate codes for regulating management salaries. ... And only in eight must those salaries be approved by the general meeting." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Enrico Rivio

The Dutch have already submitted a draft law on the taxation of high gratuity settlements. The NRC Handelsblad is happy that Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos is no longer alone. "The most important argument for introducing measures against extremely high settlements is the psychological factor. In view of the small number of people affected, these taxes will not exactly fill the treasury. ... But extremely high gratuities for top managers poison the climate as a whole. ... In any event, if other countries join in, it will weaken top managers' threats to just go abroad. Yet action at a European level, let alone at a wider international level, is still a long way off. ... This is just the start, and now the long wait for real action begins." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Netherlands, » Europe

"It is true, I have nothing to say - but that is a far cry from meaning that I have nothing at all to say. With this motto, Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg and the country's Minister of Finances [and chairman of the EU finance ministers] is now turning his attention to the high severance packages paid to top managers. ... Of course it is legitimate and proper that Europe's finance ministers should agree on tax questions of cross-border significance. But managers' salaries clearly do not fall into this category. On the contrary: they are private contracts between businesses and their top employees. The salaries and settlements they agree on are borne exclusively by the employers who pay them." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Tax Policy, » Luxembourg, » Europe

"One subject is more taboo than any other in Finland: money. At first glance it seems as if people spent their whole time talking about money, but that is merely an illusion. ... Listed companies lower a cloak of silence over payments made to their top managers. ... But just who thinks managers' salaries are such a big deal? Apparently only the managers themselves, who fear that employees and others will turn green with envy. In any event, the shareholders of listed companies want to know every last detail about managers' salaries, because they are the ones who pay them." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Finland
All available articles from » Jenny Jännäri

A week ago, Michael Leigh, the European Commission's director-General for enlargement, published a letter highly critical of the way Bulgaria handles its EU funding. The Bulgarian daily comments: "It is perfectly clear that Brussels' punitive action of freezing funding under the Phare, Ispa and Sapard programmes was a consequence of the lack of legal and domestic reforms. Nonetheless, sorting out the affair involving Bulgaria's structural funds, for example, will pose a major dilemma for the government because the trail would no doubt lead to party funding. Neither the country's economy nor its government want this. ... The 'iron curtain' which Brussels is now constructing between itself and its young EU member is even more dangerous than that which existed in the 1990s, because back then Bulgaria was nonetheless able to gain access to the forbidden CoCoМ system (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls)." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Emilia Milcheva

The upcoming EU-Latin America summit prompts Joaquín Roy, director of the EU centre at the University of Miami, to write the following: "The majority of the new EU members are not interested in a region with which up to now they have barely cultivated relations, and consequently there has been a shift in the EU's priorities towards its direct neighbours and the strategically important regions. On the other side, the customs unions which are gradually being formed are slowing down regional integration in America. The supranational concept is rejected and equated with a loss of sovereignty. In conjunction with flourishing populist governments, the strong position of the presidents encourages the predominance of nationalist themes. Regional integration is also hindered by competing offers for free trade areas with the US. ... On the other side of the Atlantic, the EU refuses to change its Common Agricultural policy, which [in Latin America] fuels fears of neo-imperialism in the guise of an aid programme." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Europe, » Latin Amerika, » U.S.
All available articles from » Joaquín Roy

The paper discusses the Dalai Lama's visit to Germany, and the fact that the Tibetan spiritual leader will not meet any of the country's top politicians. Although he did meet Roland Koch, premier of the state of Hesse at Frankfurt airport, "one would have expected Germany's political elite to show solidarity with the Dalai Lama on such an occasion. ... But that is not how the German government sees things. ... Not a single top leader has time for him. ... Steinmeier, the Social Democratic Foreign Minister , has indicated he has 20 minutes to exchange a few words, but he has refused to receive the Dalai Lama officially. ... This in spite of the fact that the Social Democrats have championed human rights throughout their history, which goes back over 100 years. They have abandoned the struggle for human rights to the Christian Democrats. Berlin is not willing to risk angering the Chinese once again. This is clear from the aloofness of the Social Democrats." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Germany, » China
All available articles from » Saša Petelin

The Danish government plans to introduce a draft law baning judges from wearing religious symbols like headscarves. The Danish daily Berlingske Tidende agrees in principle, but stresses: "The headscarf is a ... visible symbol of how Europe's character has changed over the past few years. With the headscarf several religious and political symbols have entered the public arena, but in a democratic society there are certain fundamental freedoms. One of them is the freedom to choose how you dress. We should not try to change this. ... This is why the proposal of the Danish People's Party [for an even farther-reaching ban on headscarves] is far removed from the idea of Danish openness. It is therefore a good thing that the government has made it clear that no further legislation is necessary in this area. Meanwhile, we must pray that we are able to win back our Danish openness in the debate about neo-Danes with a Muslim background." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Denmark

Paul Fabra reflects on the relationship between globalisation and the drop in buying power in France: "The decline in buying power we are now seeing is poisoning the relationship between the government and the people. This new national crisis is bound up with the decline of capitalist structures which almost all the so-called 'developed' countries are experiencing. ... Roughly 20 years ago a sentiment of unease emerged on both sides of the Atlantic. ... But perhaps the chief cause lies in the dearth of perspectives and the improbability of significant salary increases. For the first time in two centuries, with the exception of the Great Depression in the 1930s, it seems that the living standard of a majority of the population is endangered. ... And today, as in the past, David Ricardo's concept of 'comparative advantage' is central to the debate because It remains the sole known justification for the global liberalisation in trade." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » France
All available articles from » Paul Fabra

Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu comments a Chinese weapons delivery to Zimbabwe. "Shipping arms to African governments which could use them to abuse their own people is an abhorrent but almost daily occurrence. And at present there is nothing the international community can do about it. ... At the moment the United Nations is working on an arms trade treaty that could stop weapons transfers like this one to Zimbabwe. If a strong treaty eventually becomes law, then an arms exporter will have to block the sale if there is evidence the weapons are likely to be used to commit serious violations of human rights law. ... Governments who treat their people well have nothing to fear from a treaty, and neither will legitimate arms producers. In fact there is support from many arms manufacturers for a treaty: they want their business recognised as legitimate and the crooks banned from operating." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Africa, » Global
All available articles from » Desmond Tutu

The Austrian daily Der Standard examines Europe's dependency on the US economy: "There is one area where the US is still leader of the pack: stock markets all over the world as well as global business activity are still determined by developments in the world's largest economy. Europe in particular has been trying in vain for three decades to remain unaffected by the economic slumps its transatlantic partner regularly experiences. ... On top of this, the current economic policies of the three major Eurozone states Germany, France and Italy are decelerating rather than accelerating the economy. Higher pay demands ... are slowly but surely ... cancelling out the effects of the drastic cost-cutting in German industry ... But Europe's politicians must recognise that they themselves are to blame for the vulnerability of Europe's economy because they have not done their homework regarding boosting competition and productivity." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Europe, » U.S., » Western Europe
All available articles from » Eric Frey

The newspaper comments Germany's surprisingly positive economic data in a leading article: "German gross national product expanded by 1.5 per cent in the first three months of this year – double the predictions of many analysts. ... Germany does seem to be proving rather more resilient ... than many other European countries, notably Britain. And these latest figures should give us pause to consider the merits of a balanced economy. ... The German state education system has traditionally counterbalanced the lure of finance by placing a strong emphasis on technical training and apprenticeships. We, on the other hand, have been content to let raw market forces decide career options. Winston Churchill remarked that he would rather see finance less proud and industry more content. That would seem a sensible prescription for the British economy once the worst of this crisis is out of the way." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Germany

In an essay, Ondřej Horák writes that Czech literature has been in a state of crisis since the "fall of communism". "How long must Czech literature continue to cite Hašek's 'Schwejk', even though it is undoubtedly a great novel? ... Even the books of commercially successful writers like Michal Viewegh or Halina Pawlowská never sell as many copies as were sold of books by Bohumil Hrabal or Milan Kundera. Today's authors sell no more than a couple of hundred copies of their books. This is partly a result of a loss of skill, of the ability to tell a story, portray heroes and create lively dialogues. The new books are often experimental in nature. Yet a novel does not only belong to the author, it also belongs to the readers." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Ondřej Horák

The dismissal of journalist Stelios Kouloglou from the Greek public television broadcaster ERT is being discussed in the European Parliament, the newspaper writes. "In a paper submitted to Mr. Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, MEPs ... Marilena Koppa, Stavros Lamprinidis, Kostas Botopoulos, Anna Podimata and Dimitris Papadimoulis ... have voiced their concerns about Kouloglou's dismissal and how it was carried out. ... Asked whether the American embassy had a hand in the dismissal, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos stated: 'I have heard nothing of the sort. ... Political interventions of the type we saw in the past no longer exist in this government'." (15/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Media policy, » Greece

The Greek daily comments on a surge in enthusiasm for recycling rubbish among Greek citizens. "It is true! People are queuing up at the recycling machines. ... For the most part they are very old people holding bottles and cans and waiting patiently to capitalise on their rubbish ... because although environmental altruism is good, it is more efficient when people can earn a euro by recycling their rubbish. This has also been the case with the recycling of metal. If you put an old fridge on the street it will disappear within half an hour. ... A small truck appears almost immediately and spirits away electrical goods and other things made of metal. People are motivated to collect things they no longer need and take them to be recycled." (15/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Greece

The lengthy dispute over a Stalin monument in the Czech village of Studenec has come to an end, Adam Šůra reports. In a referendum the majority of citizens voted in favour of keeping the monument - contrary to the recommendation of the district administrator. "The mayor says: 'We really have better things to worry about than rewriting history. In Finland they left Lenin monuments standing, and in America presidents who had Indians killed are still standing on their pedestals.' One of the residents who sees the monument from his window each day says: 'Of course Stalin was a mass murderer, but his army helped to defeat Hitler.' The young generation adopts the same view. A student says: 'We can't simply pull down what our forebears constructed'." (16/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » History, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Adam Šůra

Jean-Michel De Marchi writes in the online publication Rue89 about the new patrons of Russian football: "Zenit Saint Petersburg's victory over the Glasgow Rangers in the UEFA Cup Finals on Wednesday is anything but a coincidence. For several years the quality of Russian football has been improving thanks to generous backers. Their millions swell the clubs' budgets and attract top players. ... Since the Russian energy giant Gazprom took over in December 2005, Zenit Saint Petersburg has entered a whole new league. The club has an estimated budget of 100 million euros, more than Olympique Marseille in France. This money enables the club to buy excellent foreign players, and allowed it to win the national championships last year for the first time. ... What pushes investors to put their money in Russian football? Is this a huge money laundering system? According to economist Wladimir Andreff, the answer is much simpler. For him, the sums now being invested have more to do with the country's social development and the growing number of new rich, who spend their money in sport." (15/05/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Russia
All available articles from » Jean-Michel De Marchi