"Bankruptcy for General Motors would also be the best solution for its subsidiary Opel", writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "Only then could one attempt to select the pieces of GM from the rubble and put them back together to make Opel once more an independent, mid-sized manufacturer of middle class cars. ... Insolvency is the sole way of drawing the line and putting paid to the endless demands from other carmakers or other sectors. Even if the opposite may seem to be the case to politicians after the diverse bank rescue plans, they will not be able to rescue the entire global economy. It will have to rely as much as it can on its own powers of self-healing, which are not insignificant." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Carsten Knop

General Motors' restructuring plan also menaces the Opel plant in the Belgian city of Antwerp with closure. The plant's 2,700 employees have little hope, writes the daily Gazet van Antwerpen: "Today Antwerp must fight for its survival. The plant is hopelessly trapped between the various German, Spanish and Swedish sister companies which like GM Belgium have little chance of a guaranteed future. ... The European unions are attempting to put pressure on the government and are putting together a plan whereby their plants can be disconnected from the American company. This is commendable, but it offers no solution to the basic problem of the car market. There is simply a surplus of production capacity. The supply of cars is too large. The state as a potential partner must also realise this. If you want to restructure the market you've got to make cuts. And the weak twigs are usually the first to fall." (19/02/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Belgium
All available articles from » Marc Balduyck

If the Swedish government doesn't step in with money immediately GM subsidiary Saab will have to apply for reconstruction. The daily Svenska Dagbladet praises Minister for Economic Affairs Maud Olofsson's stance in rejecting a takeover by the Swedish state financed with taxes: "The state and government should do their best to alleviate the insecurity [for employees and suppliers]. But it would be better if this is not done by taking over or pumping money into a company that has seldom performed well. If there is one thing that can rightly be called irresponsible it is a scenario in which the state uses taxpayers' money as venture capital for branches where the market is worryingly unstable. Rather than guaranteeing the citizens' security this approach gambles with it." (19/02/2009)

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The daily Turun Sanomat sees the crisis in the automotive industry also as a chance for a market reorientation: "There are problems in all countries where cars are developed and manufactured. In the US however these problems are homemade. It's understandable that demand for cars dwindles when the economic conditions for consumers become insecure and they change their priorities. On Tuesday America's car giant General Motors spoke out and demonstrated with its announcement of job cuts and need for additional state aid how much it is struggling. … GM, Chrysler and Ford were unable to meet the new challenges in the areas of energy saving, environmental protection and quality. The best thing about the automotive crisis is that it has triggered a search for more appropriate models. In the current turbulence the focus is on job cuts and factory closures, but in the long term it will be on a purging of the car manufacturer market." (19/02/2009)

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The business newspaper Világgazdaság writes that injecting funds into the automotive industry will not pay off: "The restructuring of the bank sector has not yet ended, and already huge sums are being pumped into the automotive industry. The reasons lie on the one hand in the credit squeeze on the markets and on the other in people's anxiety about the future. ... But is it worthwhile to inject such astronomical sums into the automobile industry? If the result is a sector that produces cheap, comfortable electric cars, the answer is yes. More probable, however, is that the antiquated structures and overproduction will remain. So it's not worth it." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Tamás Boronkay

Following a lengthy tug-of-war the EU's Treaty of Lisbon cleared its first hurdle in Prague after the Czech Republic's lower house of parliament approved it on Wednesday. But the wait for final ratification could be a long one, writes the liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes: "In the Senate [the parliament's second chamber] the vote could be even more difficult because the opponents of the treaty in the strongest parliamentary party [the liberal-conservative ODS] wield great power there. And then there's President Václav Klaus. He has repeatedly stressed that he wants nothing to do with the treaty until the Irish change their mind after the failed referendum. It is therefore still uncertain whether the treaty will be definitively ratified in the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the middle of the year. … No one can force Klaus to sign. The Lisbon treaty is not like a regular law where the parliament can override a presidential veto if necessary." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Josef Kopecky

"Italy's dream of a reform-oriented Left that could compete for power with Silvio Berlusconi was short-lived", writes the Spanish daily El País after the resignation of Walter Veltroni as head of the Partito Democratico (PD). "Veltroni's resignation, which was unavoidable after the clear defeat of his candidate in Sardinia and in view of the silence of his party leaders, leaves a project in ruins whose fall began with the overwhelming victory of Berlusconi in the parliamentary elections last year and the loss of the mayor's office in Rome. This also strengthens the position of the right-wing Italian prime minister, who is topping all the polls in the country despite his disdain for the laws, the acute recession in the country and his being a permanent candidate for legal proceedings." (19/02/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Italy

The EU Commission published a report last week on the problems of the Romanian judicial system. The daily Gândul comments on reactions from Romanian politicians: "The report by the European Commission on the state of justice in Romania published last week deals with different problems than those faced by people on a daily basis. It goes into the passing of laws, blocked inquiries of certain dignitaries and the future of the National Integrity Agency. ... The head of state met with top Romanian politicians and heads of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) on Tuesday evening ... to find solutions to the problems mentioned in the EU report. ... The purpose of the meeting was to serve Brussels, which has entirely different priorities to those of the average citizen, which include the enormous costs for an incompetent judicial system that is incapable of convicting criminals." (19/02/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Gabriela Stefan

Campaigning has begun in the Netherlands for the EU parliamentary elections in June. Geert Wilders' right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV) is in the running alongside a large number of smaller parties. The tabloid De Telegraaf fears the Dutch delegation in the European Parliament may be fragmented: "Although it will only become clear on June 7 how big the damage is, it seems probable that the Dutch delegation in the European Parliament will be fragmented among nine or ten parties. This is regrettable, because a small fraction in Europe ... represents a large handicap in such an enormous political playing field. Parties with one, two or three seats are forced to specialise and leave certain important dossiers entirely untouched. But above all the large number of newcomers bodes ill for a powerful Dutch presence in Brussels. Of course you can also make a virtue of necessity and ride your own European hobbyhorse, an option which the PVV will certainly not neglect." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Ronald Veerman

Journalist Henryk M. Broder calls in the daily Der Tagesspiegel for Jews to go on the offensive regarding the statements of Holocaust denier and ultra-conservative Catholic bishop Richard Williamson. "Why don't the pious Christians pray for the well-being of the Muslims; that they turn their backs on Allah and profess their belief in Jesus? After all, there are well over a billion Muslims in the world and only about 14 million Jews. So the Muslim market is much larger. If 10 percent of all Jews were to do this it would add up to just 1.4 million converts, whereas with the Muslims it would be over 100 million, making an intercession on their behalf really worth the trouble. Admittedly, as the reactions to the Pope's Regensburger speech have shown, this would be a risky undertaking. Some Muslims could take offence and call for protests in the course of which not only pope puppets but also churches may be set on fire. With the Jewish brothers and sisters on the other hand one can assume that in the worst case the Central Council of Jews in Germany would announce that it was breaking off relations with the German Bishops' Conference, only to resume talks a couple of weeks later at the first opportunity. Instead of sulking and complaining the Jews should take a more aggressive approach." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Henryk M. Broder

In the left-liberal daily La Repubblica Nadia Urbinati describes the trickle-down theory according to which economic growth and the general wealth of the rich gradually trickles down to the lower classes of society as a fairytale. "Today it is clear that the droplets of wealth, the trickle-down effect, can no longer sustain the illusions of the many who believe the immense profits of the few will be able to quench the thirst of the less well-off. The masses, which today include the middle classes, have lost everything and are desperately fighting for their jobs. They almost always fight against each other: against the outsiders who come to steal their bread. The rise of racism, of angry and violent nationalism is proportional to the destruction of the illusion of the trickle-down effect. … The governments of many countries have found in protectionism the most obvious answer to unemployment among their citizens. It seems we are once again reading the chapter of a sadly well-known story that began with the protectionism of the liberal states at the end of the 19th century and ended with the grim nationalism of the fascist regimes." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Nadia Urbinati

The Financial Times comments on the banking crisis in Eastern Europe and calls on the European Union to help: "Great statesmanship is now vital to save Europe's economy – and its union. There has been precious little on display. Too many EU leaders are continuing their secular repatriation of the Union's powers – especially in core areas such as competition and state aid. ... The largest banks active in Eastern Europe have called for a unified European policy to help them support their subsidiaries. Self-serving as it may be, their call must be heeded. The EU must commit its members to rescuing their banks in non-discriminatory ways: any state guarantees must also cover subsidiaries in other EU countries. Those members without the resources to save their banks should be helped through the European Investment Bank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development." (19/02/2009)

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Sociologist Jadwiga Staniszkis comments in the daily Dziennik on the plans of the Polish government to introduce the euro. She believes this would be a step in the right direction in the present crisis: "Although the state of the Polish economy is worrying there's no need to sound the alarm yet. I believe that the cautious deliberations of the government on bringing the European currency directly onto the market are a first step in the right direction in the present situation. It is sufficiently cautious and not driven by panic. The commentaries in the West that deal with the situation in Poland differ in tone: The Economist has stressed that the crisis is not being caused by our economy but is connected to external factors. And moreover we are not receiving the support of international banks that behave unfairly in matters of loans. They apply different standards which in our case are much more rigorous." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Jadwiga Staniszkis

The parliament, or Grand Council, of the Swiss canton of Ticino has rejected the call by the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and the right-wing populist Lega Dei Ticinesi for a ban on minaret construction. The liberal daily Corriere del Ticino comments: "The barbarity cultivated by Islamist extremism - and which is unfortunately legitimated by the all-too frequent silence of Islamic moderates - has had a retrograde effect on this debate. The rest is done by the unmoral attitudes of those who would like nothing better than to rip open the doors of the old continent for boundless hordes of imigrants, and who vilify those who call for legitimate rules and limits. It is to be feared that after the No of the Grand Council, public debate on a referendum on minaret construction will digress into a base scuffle. But in such a debate there will be no place for the principles and values that comprise our identity and serve as the fundament of an open and tolerant society. Yet these values must be heard, for they are diametrically opposed to those of closed and intolerant societies." (19/02/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » Religion, » Integration, » Minorities, » Switzerland
All available articles from » Fabio Pontiggia

The business paper Les Echos explains why television in France is not under threat despite competition from the Internet: "In this age of new technologies television, which is condemned as old fashioned and outdated by techies, seems to have run out of steam. … The Internet has established itself all over the world and is already considered to be a better popular medium than television or the radio. … [Yet] there are numerous signs that the TV still has a future. Watching television remains the most popular free-time activity among the French. … Seven million French bought a television last year – an indication of how people are clinging to this old medium. … But market pressure from the Internet will continue to increase. Up to now only 61 percent of the French population has Internet access. … The challenge for broadcasters will be to revive their programmes and develop new formats that can be adapted to all types of customers and viewers." (19/02/2009)

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All available articles from » Nathalie Silbert

The Bulgarian Minister of Economy Nikolay Vassiliev has appealed to his officials to take their holidays in Bulgarian resorts and thus serve the national cause. The daily Dnevnik elaborates on this idea: "They could receive bonus points depending on the length of their stays. Those who only stay for one week would have to make do with a small prize. But if they play golf and undergo diverse spa and wellness treatments they would receive a bonus and a medal for bravery for their willingness to make sacrifices. Those who unpatriotically head for holiday destinations in enemy countries should be reprimanded or even given the sack. The worst sanction for them however would be if they had to test out different local health resorts every weekend. But after all, the traitors deserve their punishment, and since the branch has announced that it plans neither price reductions nor improved conditions that would be guaranteed." (19/02/2009)

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