The daily newspaper ABC writes that to meet the global challenges it faces, the UN is in urgent need of reform: "Once again the traditional plenary meeting of the General Assembly has been transformed into a tribunal where the most important heads of state gather for a ceremony whose sole major consensus in its 60-year existence has been to agree it should be repeated the following year. The existence of the UN as an organisation for uniting the world powers and solving global challenges by multilateral means should under no circumstances be called into question. Yet the time may have come to reflect seriously on whether the UN as we know it is able to fulfill its tasks, and whether a basic reform of its structures and objectives should not be carried out as soon as possible. ... The UN's democratic values are clearly set out in its Declaration of Human Rights. If it declines to defend these values against the dictators in its own ranks then it is not neutral, but supports the very governments that trample their citizens' freedoms underfoot." (25/09/2008)

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The United Nations Organisation is far from achieving its aims and is crippled by institutional problems, complains the liberal-conservative newspaper Le Figaro. "In the General Assembly's 63rd session the UN will seek to show its best side: that of an assembly of nations representing the weakest and the strongest states. But the recent blocking of its executive - the Security Council - underscores the need for reform. As things stand now the UN is more than ever a resonating body. ... With 100,000 Blue Helmets in operation the institution has never been as highly in demand as it is today. But comes up against regional interests. Its multilateral approach is sometimes seen as an attack on national sovereignty. The result: the Security Council cannot reach a consensus. It becomes powerless as soon as a crisis divides the five members with veto powers. ... Nevertheless all agree on one point: reform is urgently needed, and could begin in the months to come." (23/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » France, » Global
All available articles from » Jean-Louis Turlin

The proposal put forward by Slovenian president and former UN ambassador Danilo Türk to increase the UN Security Council to 25 members has not fallen on deaf ears, owing, in the opinion of the Slovenian daily Večer, to Türk's having worked for the organisation for many years. "If we understand Türk correctly, a structure like this would make it possible to get around a veto - the trump card the great powers have played against each other only too often. The UN is a rigid bureaucratic organisation. ... It is often rocked by scandals and is frequently left entirely helpless. Just remember what happened with Srebrenica! But in reality it is all we have. And at any given moment it is needed somewhere in the world. Even [US president] George W. Bush conceded as much on Tuesday when he said that the UN's role must be strengthened. This is a complete reversal of his former views, brought about among other things by the financial crisis in the US, for which everyone, in particular the world's poorest, will pay. But this, too, could give this would-be world government the decisive impulse for change to and also for more efficiency." (25/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Boris Jausovec

The international community of states lacks binding rules in all matters, writes the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "Anything and everything seems to cross borders as if weightless, be it raw materials, climate gases, information or weapons. The world has long been over-globalised and under-regulated. ... Not only do we need a new legal order, we also need new institutions. The perceived age of the Security Council structure is 200 years, and at G8 meetings emerging markets like China, India and Brazil are still sitting on the sidelines. And the best UN organisations are persistently ignored. It is symptomatic that no one is talking these days of Ecosoc, the UN's Economic and Social Council. ... The fact is that it will not be enough to just lengthen the conference tables as long as there is no basic consensus among the states with the biggest say. ... National interests - which are primarily financial - still dominate everything, and frustration at the other party's intransigence has led states to prefer national or regional solutions over global ones." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Global
All available articles from » Nicolas Richter

After his latest trip to Ireland Romanian President Traian Băsescu declared he agrees with the Irish that the European Commission should continue to have one commissioner from every member state. Romania Libera daily comments: "It's not for nothing that Ireland has come to Romania. Both are medium-sized countries, and according to the Lisbon Treaty Romania could lose its commissioner in 2014. But it is not easy for Ireland to convince the big states (which will continue to provide commissioners) because it remains the case that the Commission is overstaffed. ... Having a commissioner is first and foremost a question of prestige, but it is no guarantee of influence. Romania is the best example. ... We have to admit that 'our man' in the Commission [Leonard Orban, Commissioner for Multilingualism] is only a sort of head of translation. ... Before the rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon there was the idea that countries which lose their commissioners could gain deputy posts in important portfolios. In other words, we could agree to swap the Commissioner for Multilingualism (who manages one percent of the EU budget) for a deputy commissioner of agriculture (where 40 percent of the EU budget is managed)." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Ireland, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Cristian Ghinea

The Christian Democrat Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen calls in the national daily De Volkskrant for the establishment of a permanent European intervention force to ensure a better response to crises: "The need to supplement military power with civil power is great. For an integrated approach in which defence, development aid cooperation and diplomacy reinforce each other you need judges, police officers, diplomats and development experts working together. Yet it's not easy to implement this soft power, there are many coordination problems. ... Much is to be gained by making this process as efficient as possible. ... Therefore I call for a national reserve of experts, with a good infrastructure and financed by a clear national mandate, which can be quickly mobilised for European operations. The quality of our missions must improve if we want to leave the 'triumph of improvisation', as critics of European missions recently called it, behind us." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Netherlands, » Europe
All available articles from » Maxime Verhagen

Belarus will elect a new parliament on Sunday. The EU has made adherence to democratic standards a prerequisite for lifting the sanctions against the country's authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko. The left-liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza sees more opportunities than risks in the dialogue between the EU and Minsk. "There is no guarantee that this dialogue will continue - other than Lukashenko's fear that what happened in Georgia could be repeated in Belarus. ... This has created a new climate and a new opportunity. It would be a mistake not to use it. We must take the risk, and the risk is great. On the one hand there is the possibility that the astute and wily Lukashenko is just flirting with Europe (as he has in the past) in order to strengthen his position in the negotiations with Moscow on concessions, gas and oil supplies. On the other hand it's possible that Lukashenko will only allow opposition members he can control to enter parliament. ... So is there any point in conducting negotiations? Yes, because if the opposition had a significant representation in parliament, even if it was just 15 percent of the seats, the Belarusians would finally get to hear a voice other than that of the government. Perhaps then they could begin to believe in the possibility of things changing in their country." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy
All available articles from » Waclaw Radziwinowicz

For the first time in forty years, the conservative Christian Social Union [CSU], is facing the prospect of losing its absolute majority in the upcoming regional elections in the German state of Bavaria. The business daily Hospodářské noviny comments: "Since 1962 there has never been any question of who would win Bavaria's state elections. The only question was by how many percentage points the CSU would surpass the magic 50-percent-limit. But next Sunday evening may bring a historic change. ... If, as predicted, it wins 'only' 47 percent this will be a godsend for all the other democratic parties in Europe. For the CSU, however, with its memories of the 61 percent of five years ago still fresh, this would be a total catastrophe. ... What are the reasons behind this threatening election debacle? The most likely culprit is Bavaria's success. The slogan 'laptops and lederhosen' has lured many to the Alpine state, including immigrants for whom voting for the CSU is by no means taken for granted." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Germany
All available articles from » Adam Černý

Capitalist critic Naomi Klein comments in the daily La Vanguardia on the emergency actions to stem the international financial crisis: "Whatever the events of this week mean, nobody should believe the overblown claims that the market crisis signals the death of 'free market' ideology. ... During boom times, it's profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts have been completed. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalisation for deep cuts to social programmes, and for a renewed push to privatise what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly. What we don't know is how the public will respond." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Global
All available articles from » Naomi Klein

Former Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel reflects on Europe's political competences: "Europe is facing a world marked by change. Those who believe we can react to these new challenges by maintaining our comfortable status quo are completely mistaken. And the same goes for those who harbour dreams of European federalism or constitutional fantasies. We must define the balance we need to achieve and our future role. The idea of Europe traditionally rested upon three pillars. After the failure of nationalism, European integration held a powerful fascination. After the collapse of the command economy came the superb idea of the social market economy. And after the fallen left-wing and right-wing dictatorships, all hopes were placed on functional parliamentary democracy. All of this is now once more being called into question. National interests compete with European consolidation, and the social market economy has lost its glamour. ... The call for referendums in European matters, and not just in Austria, nourishes doubts about the democratic quality of parliamentary votes. ... The networks of the opponents of Europe, from Declan Ganley's 'No-Campaign' in Ireland to the Belgian, Dutch, German, Central European and Austrian Eurosceptics could engender a strong negative attraction in the 2009 European elections. That would be deleterious for the EU, and damage our role in global affairs. It is up to the silent majority of the friends of Europe to counteract this threat with dynamism, fervour and new ideas." (25/09/2008)

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All available articles from » Wolfgang Schüssel

The French electricty company EDF has taken over the British nuclear energy producer British Energy. The conservative newspaper The Times welcomes the purchase but also sees problems in the deal: "When a deal with EDF was first rumoured in July, it fell through. To have revived the deal, by persuading EDF to raise its bid for British Energy by nine per cent, is a considerable achievement - hence Mr Hutton's insistence yesterday that there was simply no bad news to report along with the good. Would that this were true. In fact, the structure of this deal says much about the limits of nuclear power's appeal to the private sector. EDF has agreed to meet all nuclear waste management and decommissioning costs associated with any new plants it builds in Britain. But it will not have to pay for inherited waste and decommissioning work at the sites that it is buying. That cost will fall to the taxpayer. Nor will it confront many planning hurdles: the single most valuable asset that EDF is buying is the right to build new reactors on existing nuclear sites." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Energy, » Corporations, » France, » United Kingdom

The daily La Repubblica compares Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on an Italian company taking over the ailing airline Alitalia with the defence of the Italian lines along the Piave River during World War I. "[Berlusconi] has used the Alitalia affair to further his own election interests by passing it off as the defence of national interests. All the painful stages in the airline's prolonged ordeal stem from this original sin that has given birth to a number of aberrations. ... Both Lufthansa and Air France must be granted the same conditions as domestic partners. A minority share is unlikely to last long on the European market. If one of the two airlines makes an offer ... Berlusconi is obliged to give it serious consideration. Alitalia is not the Piave, it's an airline. All that matters for the Italians is that it keeps on flying, regardless under which flag." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Corporations, » Italy
All available articles from » Massimo Giannini

Business consultant Gabrielle Rolland argues in the daily Les Echos that we need to show more consideration for working seniors: "The image of seniors is weighed down with negative connotations in a society enamoured with the cult of youth. Even the very word 'senior' conjures up images of old age and decline. Among developed countries, France and Belgium hold the sad record for the highest percentage of unemployed elderly. For the first time in history we are stuck in a paradox where men and women can expect to live an extra 20 to 25 years, but this gift is not given proper consideration. ... Living longer without risking financial calamity will only be possible if we can change the image of seniors. Because many examples show that ... staying active longer can give seniors new vibrancy, tear down the barriers between the generations and give the elderly fresh appeal." (24/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » France
All available articles from » Gabrielle Rolland

A film about the former German left-wing extremist terrorist organisation, the Red Army Faction (RAF), starts today at German cinemas. Writing in the daily Der Tagesspiegel, author Tanja Dückers notes that this RAF revival is generating a certain sense of "nest warmth" among Germans: "The members of the RAF were not just a few hate-mongerers from countries most Germans would not be able to find on a map. They were to a certain extent Germany's own sons and daughters, with parents who give lengthy newspaper interviews and with whom everyone can sympathise. And in comparison with some of the present conflicts the battle of these German urban guerrillas against the state was pretty transparent, geographically limited and, at least initially, rational. ... For the stability of a society it makes a difference whether the perpetrators are seen to have had motives or not. ... The sight of the RAF members generates a certain 'nest warmth' (feeling of security) ... because ultimately theirs was a success story for the Federal Republic of Germany, and by extension for Western democracies. It was only initially that the state and its institutions proved hysterical and inflexible, later on it was just as flexible as it was unrelenting." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Audiovisual Media, » History, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Tanja Dückers

Ognjan Stefanov, the Bulgarian journalist and editor in chief of the online newspaper frognews, was attacked and beaten by unidentified persons in Sofia. The daily Sega paints a gloomy picture of the future of press freedom in the country: "This incident is proof that the criminal underworld has no respect for the state. Those occupying the highest positions of power are only playing at being statesmen. ... Today journalists are beaten up, tomorrow they will be shot and no one will be able to prevent it. The result will be self-censorship, while the state claims that there is no censorship. Civil society - in as far as such a society exists here - will split up into individual social cells, cowering in fear and thus encouraging these developments. ... Those in power will not dare to creep out of their hiding places. The countdown is on in Bulgaria." (25/09/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Print media, » Media policy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Svetoslav Tersiev