The left-wing daily Právo sees the subject of the EU treaty as far from closed: "The President will react stubbornly and delay giving his signature. The Czech constitution doesn't even specify whether his signature is necessary in this case. Several experts on the constitution say yes, while others say no. This is going to get complicated. Klaus's statement that he would only sign once Ireland has reversed its No is causing concern. It seems hardly likely that the Irish will hold another referendum before October next year." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Ireland, » Czech Republic, » Europe
All available articles from » Petr Uhl

The liberal daily Sme Czech warmly applauds President Václav Klaus for his appearance before the country's Constitutional Court: "Klaus made no secret of his disappointment at the ruling. But in fact he can be happy that the court deliberated at all over the question which Klaus had termed 'fateful'. Klaus' true merit is to have initiated public discussion about the Treaty. Such disputes over important issues are vital for society. In this respect, Klaus' role has been one-of-a-kind. On the other hand, the Czech Republic is not in a position to reject the Treaty of Lisbon, even if it has its faults. There is simply no geopolitical alternative for the countries in our region." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Peter Schutz

Europe can get by very well without a new treaty, writes the conservative paper Die Welt: "The Czech Constitutional Court judges' yes to the Treaty of Lisbon is an important stage victory for the new European Reform Treaty. But it's no more than that. Its opponents can go on bringing charges against it because the judges in Brno have only ruled on certain disputed points. ... The treaty has never been able to reach Europeans' hearts. It is a cold compilation, seen by many as the lap dog of elite Europe-enthusiasts. And it will never lose this tarnish - as long as it remains an issue, that is. And if it doesn't? Europe will just keep on going. Experience shows that good results can be had even under today's rules. We can cooperate more even without a new treaty. All this hue and cry about Europe's future has got to stop." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Czech Republic, » Europe
All available articles from » Christoph B. Schiltz

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes that in a speech on security policy Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin formulated President Dmitry Medvedev's proposals for a European security agreement in more concrete terms: "Russia's foreign and security policy generally falls in the domain of the president. ... In a speech that was remarkable in this context, Putin took up the proposals of President Medvedev for a new European security agreement and for the first time named the concrete principles for such an agreement. ... However his rhetoric, which adhered to the general lines of the country's present foreign policy, is unlikely to dissuade Washington from implementing its missile defence plans. But this did not stop Medvedev from expressing the hope that the new American administration would desist from its plans during his Latin America trip last weekend." (26/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Russia, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Jürg Dedial

Malta's Minister for Justice and Home Affairs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici praises France's EU Council presidency in the Times of Malta, writing that France has put the topic of illegal immigration firmly on the EU agenda: "December will mark an end to a European Union presidency that has had significant importance for Malta and the other Mediterranean countries facing, like ourselves, challenges on the illegal immigration front. The French presidency must be commended for putting this item on the agenda of the 27 member states. It gave primary direction for concrete proposals as to how the whole of the EU should deal with all the issues in a coordinated manner. It is a presidency that will be remembered as the one that laid the foundations for a common EU policy for immigration and asylum. ... However, we cannot assume that the inroads that we've made in the past four months are enough. We have to move on in all EU fora to ensure that what has been agreed upon will be implemented in the most favourable timeframe possible so that Malta can derive the maximum benefit." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Migration, » Malta, » Europe
All available articles from » Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici

Berliingske Tidende newspaper welcomes the referendum in Greenland in which Greenlanders decided strongly in favour of increased autonomy from Denmark, but adds that true independence still remains a long way off, however: "Nevertheless the most important thing is that the Greenlanders themselves decided, and they are the ones who bear the responsibility for their decision. Denmark has paved the way for this development and will continue to provide aid, however economic and social responsibility now lies in the hands of the Greenlanders. Greenland will decide where it wishes Danish assistance while Denmark, for its part, need not feel bound to do more than what it has agreed to do. Accusations of colonialism and 'Dane-hatred' could well be a thing of the past. In the long-term we can look forward to an independent Greenland that may remain in a 'free association' with Denmark of its own accord, in a voluntary agreement between nations on an equal footing. That is how things should be." (27/11/2008)

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

In the past few years the "Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), which represents the country's second-largest minority, has often tipped the scales as a partner in the ruling coalition to give the government a majority. The daily Cotidianul questions whether the Union will win enough votes in the parliamentary elections on Sunday: "The Hungarian Union failed to put together a successful election campaign that could mobilise its full voting potential among voters who are weary of empty phrases. ... The UDMR has acquired the same bad habits as the Romanian parties. In the Romanian city of Galati an entire Hungarian family: husband, wife, brother-in law and sister-in-law ran for election, ... and as with the Romanian parties there are differences of opinion. From time to time the Hungarian Union also waves the flag of autonomy ... . The Union talks seldom, only when absolutely necessary, about poverty in the large Szekler region (the region where most of the Hungarian minority lives), and when it does it's only to try and justify its failure to give the Szeklers adequate representation during its time in government and give its coalition partner the blame." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Hungary, » Romania

Sociologist and publicist Ralf Dahrendorf investigates in the monthly magazine Cicero whether a prosperous society can also remain good and free in times of crisis. "Rich, good and free societies - distinguished by competitiveness, social cohesion and liberal democracy - are simply not the same. ... It is rather easy to describe a rich society. These combine a high per capita income with a distribution of wealth that guarantees opportunities for all and a decent standard of living for the majority. A good society is much harder to define: one even hesitates to apply moral categories to societies. Above all this refers to civic societies, those which thrive on individuals' initiatives, which exclude no one and are marked by enough social cohesion to prevent people from falling through the social net. But the squaring of the circle proposed here has three elements, and the third, the free society, could prove the most difficult. For it is here that modern societies are most threatened. Some are ready to sacrifice political freedoms to attain economic and social goals. The belief is even spreading that change is only possible if freedom is limited. The danger of a new authoritarianism is looming unmistakably. ... All those who love freedom face two great challenges: removing barriers to change without replacing them by arbitrariness, and surviving in the global market without sacrificing social cohesion." (21/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Philosophy, » Global
All available articles from » Ralf Dahrendorf

In view of the in-fighting in the French Socialist Party (PS), political expert Marc Lazar sees Europe's entire Left at a crossroads in its history. It must reinvent itself, writes the Italian daily La Repubblica. "The majority of the PS wants the party to reorient itself along the lines of classical socialism. This entails the stigmatisation of any attempt at forming an alliance with the centre, which has already borne fruits at a local level. ... Meanwhile, Gordon Brown's most recent anti-crisis measures in England stand in contradiction to the direction taken by New Labour. The SPD [Social Democratic Party of Germany] has been penalised for its coalition policy with the CDU/CSU, the Christian Democrats, and is now struggling under pressure from the new Left. Consequently it is now turning its back on [former chancellor Gerhard] Schröder's agenda and banking on a more 'social' policy. Apparently Labour and the SPD, the authors of the revisionist and renewal policies of the Left in the 1990s, have reached the end of the cycle they called the Third Way. ... They have an identity problem, a problem with their political projects because they are now called on to give their reformism, or socialism, a genuine and inspiring content. The European Left has suffered many election defeats, but above all it has lost its intellectual superiority. Now it needs to focus on regaining it." (27/11/2008)

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

People can put their trust in the economic plan presented by the European Commission on Wednesday, writes the Belgian daily De Tijd: "True, the member states will contribute most of the funding for the European rescue package, but does this make the plan any less plausible? No. ... Just as was the case with the financial crisis, Europe's institutions have neither the authority nor the budget to combat the problems directly. But coordination at a European level is indispensable to halt the negative spiral of national reflexes. In these times of crisis the calls of 'our own banks first' or 'our own economy first' threaten to undermine not only the financial system, but also the network of European cooperation that took years to build. Because it is simply taken for granted the greatest advantage the Union has to offer - its strong common currency - goes practically unnoticed. Without the euro and all the economic, budgetary and monetary efforts that were undertaken in its name the financial and economic crisis would have been even worse." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Dirk De Wilde, » Kris Van Haver

According to the daily Neatkariga Rita Avize the financial crisis and sinking oil prices could soon lead to a period of deflation for which Europe is ill prepared: "The average citizen may be delighted to hear that prices are going down, but when deflation continues for a certain amount of time it has a negative impact on economic growth. ... Large companies in particular are wary of deflation because it lowers their prospects of growth and making profits. Yet although the Western states have their strategies for combating inflation, they know little about dealing with deflation. The Japanese government, for example, has been trying to combat deflation in its country since the 1990s, without concrete results." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Latvia, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Juris Paiders

El Mundo newspaper criticises Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for his passive attitude in face of the Russian oil giant Lukoil's attempt to purchase part of the Spanish oil company Repsol: "The Spanish government's main argument for avoiding responsibility for the sale of Repsol to Lukoil is that it may only intervene to a small extent in operations between private enterprises. But this ploy will be shown up as ludicrous today in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. There Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez will sign an agreement founding the first Latin American energy company, made up of Lukoil and Gazprom on the Russian side and the state-owned Venezuelan company Pdvsa. Can President Zapatero go on treating Lukoil - a political and strategic instrument in the hands of Russia's Prime Minister Putin - like any other company?" (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Energy, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Spain, » Russia, » Latin Amerika

"A year after the largest teachers' strike in Bulgarian history educational policy remains frozen," Monitor notes. "The strike produced a barrage of competing voices instead of productive debate. And although teachers, trade unionists and the government were supposedly talking about education, what they were really talking about was money. The one side was thinking about how it could get money and the other about how it could withhold it. Nor was there a debate about education policy in parliament. ... And indeed, how could there be if most of the appointments to the assorted posts are meted out during telephone calls with the education authorities. We should not play down the role of teachers in the declining quality of education, but at present it's the management that carries most of the blame for perpetuating a sick educational environment that demotivates everyone involved." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Velko Velkov

An incest case has come to light in the UK comparable in its gravity to the recent Fritzl case in Austria. To protect the victim the court of jurisdiction has declared a gag order restricting news reporting of the case. The Times counters by calling for a greater role for the media: "If the system cannot be trusted to investigate its own properly, the media must expose it. ... The lifelong anonymity rightly given to all rape victims means that it is not possible for the media to name the defendant, because to do so might lead to the identification of his daughters. ... The media should not act as judge and jury in these cases. But if the system will not properly investigate its own, it is hard to justify the withholding of information. These poor women and their children deserve their privacy. But they also deserve openness from the authorities about what went wrong." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » United Kingdom

The Süddeutsche Zeitung comments on the German-Polish media dispute that has flared up over the use of the term "Polish concentration camp" in the German paper Die Welt: "Authors who have used the phrase and been attacked have generally apologised and explained that the term 'Polish camp' was merely meant geographically. But as it can in fact readily be misunderstood ... most German chief editors have instructed their staff not to use the term. But on the Vistula the version that the Germans blame the Poles for the Holocaust is extremely popular, while the Poles see themselves as victims of the war. However hardly any Polish journalists or publicists try to make it clear to their kinsmen that this version has nothing to do with reality. ... The Polish reader doesn't learn that in the German Federal Republic there are of course not only thousands of press reports, but also television programmes, school curricula and publications that that stress Germany's guilt." (27/11/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Print media, » Germany, » Poland
All available articles from » Thomas Urban