The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on the EU's decision regarding emissions certificates for the control of greenhouse gases: "Certificate policy is a legitimate, powerful instrument for the state to limit the quantity of harmful emissions. But making companies pay for the initial allocation of certificates is an arbitrary tax in the name of environmental protection. The key point is that the certificates allocated should be tradeable. In this way prices are reached for the right to pollute which ensure that producers achieve the politically desired quality. This fosters an environment for investments which are in and of themselves environmentally sound, and thus do not require accompanying investment in the form of emissions certificates, which will only become increasingly rare and increasingly expensive as the economy grows. That is environmental policy based on the market value of pollution avoidance." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Hans D. Barbier

The left-liberal daily La Repubblica comments on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new willingness to compromise. His threats to veto the package had jeopardised the climate protection negotiations. "The fear of cutting a poor figure and of attacks from the Left are behind Berlusconi's sudden U-turn. ... Italy will be satisfied; it demands laxer measures to avoid the threat of production being shifted to countries with few or no climate regulations. The goal of the EU is to put together a respectable climate package in readiness for the international negotiations on climate protection in 2009, when all states will have to agree on a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The hope is that the EU together with [Barack] Obama's US and his new climate plan can convince the rest of the world to endorse climate protection." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Alberto d'Argenio

El País comments on the climate compromise being reached at the UN summit in Poznań: "Despite the overridingly pessimistic expectations ... the climate summit in Poznań has taken a surprising turn. ... This change is certainly due to anticipations for the upcoming presidency of Barack Obama, who has announced he will strive to stimulate the economy in part through the development of alternative energy. As a next - or simultaneous - step, which for the most part will be concretised today, the EU summit must coordinate the varying interests of the 27 members, all of which are at different levels of development and have varying energy needs." (12/12/2008)

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Many politicians forget in view of the global economic crisis that they have committed themselves to conserving the earth for coming generations, comments the daily Delo. The adoption of the EU climate package and the negotiations in Poznań are also being slowed by the crisis, the paper writes: "Some industrial nations have started to repeat the accusations of the biggest developing countries. In these times of economic crisis they have recalled that they could be freed from their committments. But one wonders what the small islands will say to that which will disappear under the surface of the ocean in the next decades even though they did nothing to harm the planet. ... Moreover, the talks are being slowed by the fact that Barack Obama's new government has yet to take up office. Even India and China are waiting to hear what the US will decide on strategies for climate change before they ... even agree to discuss reducing their own emissions. Sooner or later the rich will have to give in, otherwise our planet can expect a far more in-depth cleansing - in the fight for survival. Nevertheless the rich countries are far outnumbered by the desperate poor who have nothing to lose." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Borut Tavcar

The daily Berlingske Tidende welcomes the news that the Irish are to hold a new referendum on the EU treaty: "EU cooperation is in many respects entering a decisive phase. The highest priority must be that the EU stands united in a world that depends on stable economies. The EU states share a number of democratic values. But these values and in particular cooperation with our close ally, the US, will be meaningless if in times of crisis we fail to stand united. It is almost banal to point to the financial crisis as an example of how cooperation can go wrong. But it is nonetheless important to stress that solidarity is one of the EU's cornerstones." (12/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Denmark, » Europe, » U.S., » Global

Switzerland joins the Schengen area today, Friday. The daily Le Temps analyses the significance and consequences of this move for the Alpine country. "What in the past seemed inconceivable has now become routine work: the standardisation of visa-free travel procedures and the consolidation of important security data on wanted persons and objects. The satisfaction of the Helvetic police, who since mid-August have been connected up with the Schengen database, is testimony to its importance. It proves that after four years of negotiations and assessments the federation has integrated a highly successful and well accepted area. ... So it is not unrealistic to talk of a model that could form the basis for a bilateral spring with the European Union." (12/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Switzerland, » Europe
All available articles from » Richard Werly

In Madrid and Barcelona several hundred peple have demonstrated in solidarity with the protest movements in Greece. During the demonstrations conflicts arose between the police and radical protesters, and several people were injured. The conservative daily El Mundo comments: "It is absurd to establish a link between the demonstrations in Greece, where the death of a youth sparked a social outcry whose roots lie in social dissatisfaction at corruption and the crisis, with the violence that has flared up in the rest of Europe. Even if the radicals carry banners calling for solidarity with Greece and condemning the police, vandalism was clearly the sole motive for this alarming protest." (12/12/2008)

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Right-wing populist Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) has for the first time been described as right-wing extremist by an academic study. This establishes a dangerous trend, writes the daily Trouw. "Leaving semantics aside, there is still the question of whether the PVV can be termed right-wing extremist on strictly scientific grounds. There are certainly plenty of other scholars ready to contest this view. It seems also to make little sense, because even without such labels everyone knows what Wilders stands for. He and his party pursue several absurd and often objectionable goals, but they do this in abidance of the rules of our parliamentary democracy, and they do not shy away from debate. For this reason it makes far more sense to engage the party in dialogue over its positions, and if necessary to fight these tooth and nail. ... If the party's agenda is truly unacceptable, it is up to a judge to pass sentence on it. Otherwise we should do our best to avoid dangerous labels and strive for dialogue." (12/12/2008)

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Hans Thie reflects on sustainable growth in the left-leaning weekly Freitag: "How is it possible that given the unprecendented degree of interdependency of all parts of this world, individual utility maximizers and the blind market are still being held up as an ideal, despite the disgrace into which they have fallen? ... There must be fundamental reasons for this dilemma. The most important is certainly the mental block on the part of theorists, their inability to put together what belongs together. ... What Marx hinted at although it could not be properly conceived in his time was never actually set down even later as a thoroughly ecological and at the same time politically realizable vision. That goes especially for economists who - whether on the Left or the Right - still believe that growth can never be senseless. Even today in honest financial statements, and with due consideration of all the social and ecological consequences, the costs of putative progress are often higher than its benefits. This is what the American economist Herman Daly calls anti-economic growth. Daly rightly says that nature's ability to reproduce should be the starting point for all economic models. People who take his message to heart see social questions in a new light. What really matters is not just distributive justice in the conventional sense, but guaranteed chances for survival, which could encourage the maximum number of people to alter their ways." (11/12/2008)

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With an eye to the protests in Greece British political scientist Tom Gallagher identifies in Romania Libera a lack of visions among Romania's youth. "It is highly unlikely that students in today's Romania who are unhappy about their lacking prospects for the future would ever decide to stage protests in front of the houses of well-known businessmen who, thanks to their political ties, have become billionaires overnight. Or in front of the villas of politicians who have been acquitted by judges or are being protected by their parliamentary colleagues despite grave accusations and even substantial evidence against them. Young Romanians lack the prospects, the dreams that are typical of people their age, even concrete projects in which they could participate. In other words they lack on the one hand the destructive impulse that politically motivated violence generates, and on the other the concept of joint struggle, a struggle that finds its expression in actions directed against the permanent irregularities that ultimately destroy not only their own futures but also the development of society as a whole. ... It remains to be seen whether in future this country's youth will take an interest in the public life of the nation and in improving the current political system which has fallen into profound discredit. Without their intervention in politics I would dare to claim that the system will continue to deteriorate." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Tom Gallagher

The Times comments on Germany's criticism of British and European attempts to reflate the economy through fiscal policy: "Germans are profoundly averse to debt and, since the collapse of the currency in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, they have remained terrified of inflation. Nor do they trust pump-priming; they tried that after the 1973 oil shock, they point out, and all it did was drive up public debt. Their reaction to emergency spending by government is to save against the day when the bills come due. More debt today, they reckon, means higher taxes tomorrow. ... The really interesting question, though, is whether the Germans are alone in thinking like this. Mr Brown's gamble is that we Brits will actually be cheered by borrowing that puts him on course to double the national debt - debt that we know will have to start being repaid almost immediately, probably before the country has fully emerged from recession." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Rosemary Righter

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are often perceived by other countries as a single unit sharing the same problems, but the daily Lietuvos Rytas points out that, also in the face of the financial crisis, the economic situation in these three countries varies: "In Latvia - and also to some extent in Estonia - the transport sector is of major importance because it is here that the flow of goods with Russia is realised. In Lithuania, by contrast, industry plays the key role. But transport is more susceptible to fluctuations, whereas industry is less sensitive, especially when it's diversified. Lithuania has therefore maintained a higher level of stability even in hard times, although certain trends are causing concern at present. ... What all three economies have in common is their small markets. To achieve long-term growth we are therefore dependent on the situation in other countries which we supply with goods and services." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Margarita Starkeviciute

A judge in Prague yesterday put a definitive end to the futuristic project for a new Czech national library. The business newspaper Hospodářské noviny writes that President Václav Klaus' opposition to the library lies behind the ruling. Klaus had made no secret of his distaste for the proposed building, which the Czechs endearingly called the 'octopus'. "The president is a powerful man. He has stopped a construction project that had won a conventional tendering procedure. And in so doing he has further strained relations between this country and its most famous architect. ... This 'Hussite' who once saw no difference between the Catholic Church and a garden colony, was able to do all of this with a single sentence: 'The octopus looks down arrogantly on St. Vitus Cathedral'. It's no wonder that the head of state meddles in every matter, because there are always enough people to dance to his tune." (12/12/2008)

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All available articles from » Petr Kamberský

The daily Politiken reports on two debates connected to the so-called cartoon crisis: A group of Islamic states is trying to push through a ban against criticism of religion at the United Nations and in Denmark the right-wing liberal coalition has put forward a bill at the behest of the Danish People's Party which would make it legal for terrorist suspects to be held in custody without a court order. Politiken writes that both are "extremely bad proposals. Freedom of expression should not be restricted simply because it can be abused. ... On the positive side one can safely conclude that the UN proposal stands hardly a chance of going through. As far as the Danish People's Party's proposal is concerned the outlook is much gloomier. It is a government proposal that was made 90 days ago, and the Social Democrats, as the main opposition party, have not yet decided whether they want to make a serious attempt to stop it being passed." (12/12/2008)

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Anyone who wonders why there is no serious political dialogue in Greece only needs to turn on the television, writes I Kathimerini newspaper in a comment on the riots currently gripping the country. "The electronic media have once more played a particularly negative role in a major crisis. Lay opinions and simplifications abound, as do ... stereotypes and crude clichées. The fine line has been crossed between objective journalism and a television court. Those taking part in televised debates generally range anywhere from model types to the utterly indescribable. Comments by some television stars have incited the youths to commit extremist acts. Even condemned terrorists have had their say on TV." (12/12/2008)

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