In the left-liberal daily La Repubblica John Lloyd praises the broad-based nature of the demonstrations against the G20. "Protests have flared in Spain and France, Italy and Britain, diverse in their targets but all mobilising a resentment that living standards, outraged by those above, should be also threatened from below. ... Equality thus becomes a cross-party matter. It is already hydra-headed. ... [In] the past few decades ... everyone could be a winner. ... Now all of us are or will be losers, in one way or other: and the sour weight of our losses and rage will, if stopping short of burning bankers, underpin the rhetoric and perhaps the reality of more equable societies, at least for a time. It may, indeed, be good for us." (29/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Consumers, » Europe
All available articles from » John Lloyd

The Independent comments on the protests in London against the upcoming G20 summit: "Some express a cynical view of international summits, accusing them of producing little more than platitudes and of failing to justify all the excitement. Certainly, many gatherings of world leaders over the years have been guilty of under-delivering. But this meeting promises to be different, not least because of the turbulent global environment in which it is taking place in. The world economy is in the midst of a synchronised financial crisis and economic downturn. Whatever agreement these global leaders produce will affect confidence in the financial markets. ... The stakes are high, and true political leadership is urgently called for. We need to hope that this generation of politicians will rise to the formidable challenges of the moment and prove the cynics wrong." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Fiscal Policy, » Global

Two demonstrations took place on the weekend in Berlin and Frankfurt with the motto "We're not paying for your crisis", giving vent to frustrations over the consequences of the financial and economic crisis. The daily Frankfurter Rundschau writes: "The problem with this crisis, and what makes it hard to protest against, is ... the lack of an addressee, someone against whom the protest can be directed. Large social and political movements such as those articulated in the protests against the Nato Double-Track Decision at the end of the 1970s and the development of nuclear energy in the beginning of the 80s were directed against a manifest government policy. The large gesture of opposition had a clearly formulated political basis. In the current financial crisis, however, government policy cannot be construed as a social opponent. Condemnation of the errors and misconduct of the responsible financial managers is encountered across the political spectrum." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Global
All available articles from » Harry Nutt

Commenting on the approaching G20 summit in London the daily Gandul writes: "The positions on the two sides of the Atlantic are hard to reconcile, for both sides have had negative experiences. During the crisis of the 1930s … the market was supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff. … But this economic philosophy can also cause political and social chaos. Bankruptcies result in unemployment, panic and street demonstrations. While in the United States this approach to treating the patient led to unemployment without turning into an extreme rightwing movement, in Europe it led to a rapid inflation which fuelled social tensions and aided Hitler's rise to power. The Second World War ensued. Europeans have not  forgotten the dangers of inflation, which they regard as enemy number one for the economy and for socio-political life." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe, » North America, » Global, » Romania
All available articles from » Gheorghe Cercelescu

The business paper Les Echos comments on the Europe-wide protests preceding the London G20 summit, warning summit participants not to repeat the errors of the past: "According to an OECD study published today, public funds for the developing countries ... remain below the targets set by the industrial states, and consequently far below the amount needed to meet the urgent new needs engendered by the crisis. The poorest countries have been hit broadside by the collapse in global trade. ... Meanwhile, an additional warning concerns the means adopted by the industrial states to handle the crisis. This warning comes from Angela Merkel and the financial markets. While the United States argue that more should be done to stimulate the economy, the German chancellor stressed in an interview with the Financial Times that the crisis wasn't caused by an insufficient amount of debt or liquidity, but by the very opposite. ... This warning reminds us that there is a limit to public debt, and is valid across the world." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Nicolas Barré

The daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet comments on the new Afghanistan strategy presented by US President Barack Obama last Friday, which includes the possibility of involving moderate Taliban in efforts to restore peace. "The Afghan president Hamid Karzai has himself long claimed that peace talks and reconciliation with the Taliban is the only path to ending the violence in the country. The question is how deep the desire for peace and reconciliation is among the Taliban. While Obama offers a way out to people who joined the Taliban for reasons other than fanatic religious conviction he nonetheless realises that the hard core cannot be persuaded but must be fought." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Middle East

The lights went out in thousands of cities across the world on Saturday in protest at climate change. Environmentalists spoke of a huge victory of the action known as "Earth Hour". Oscar van den Boogaard, a writer and columnist for the daily De Standaard, felt sure he was the only one in Berlin to turn out the light: "Berlin's answer to Earth Hour is the 'Long Night of Shopping'. The freedom of shop owners to sell their wares is, however you look at it, a political action. Here the Long Night of Shopping is the perfect way to distract consumers from Earth Hour. I asked people on the street if they'd heard of Earth Hour, but no one knew anything about it. ... Regardless of whether we feel optimistic or pessimistic, it's important that people should be aware of the earth's vulnerability, that they form an opinion on the subject and accept responsibility for it. ... A collective feeling of guilt is not the worst thing there is, ignorance is: shopping all night on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm and not even knowing that at that very moment millions of people all over the world were turning off their lights." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Germany, » Global
All available articles from » Oscar van den Boogaard

The Guardian comments on the new Italian political party The People of Freedom that has emerged after the disbanded Alleanza Nazionale (AN) merged with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia: "The AN has come a long way in 60 years. Its leader, Gianfranco Fini, has discarded the old political garments and led his party towards the centre. He has worked for more than 15 years as Mr Berlusconi's ally. He talks about the need for dialogue with Islam, denounces antisemitism, and advocates a multi-ethnic Italy - positions which Mr Berlusconi, with his populist anti-gypsy and anti-immigrant campaigns and his fondness for soft-core racism, would struggle to match. Despite its distant liberal origins, modern Italy is historically a right-wing country. Yet it is a very shocking thought that there will be one head of government among the 20 world leaders at the London economic summit this week who has now rebuilt his political base on foundations laid by fascists and who claims that the right is likely to remain in power for generations as a result." (30/03/2009)

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

The liberal daily Sme criticises Slovak head of government Robert Fico. In the presidential elections Fico openly supports the incumbent president Ivan Gašparovič. A PR agency working for Gašparovič distributed leaflets accusing his rival Iveta Radičová of advocating autonomy for the Hungarian minority. Fico had failed to disassociate himself from the leaflet action, the newspaper writes: "In a democratic campaign it's not just about winning; the way you win is also important. Views on which of two candidates deserves support can divide a country. This is after all a contest. But there needs to be a consensus that both sides should stick to the rules. A head of government can't afford to have the attitude that it's 'absolutely uninteresting' what happens in this contest as long as his candidate wins. The winner must win in a way which doesn't make a loser of democracy." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Marián Leško

The British historian Niall Ferguson writes in the liberal-conservative daily Corriere della Sera on possible solutions to the "trilemma" of the economic crisis: "Life's dilemmas are easier than its trilemmas. To choose between two options can be hard, but choosing two out of three can be almost impossible. The 'trilemma' I have in mind is an economic one. It states that a country can have any two of the following, but not all three: openness to international capital flows; a fixed exchange rate; and an independent national monetary policy. ... The Conservatives can pick any two from an open economy, a stable society and political power - but not all three. ... By trying to have it three ways, Conservatives end up being identified with the social disruption globalisation brings in its wake, and particularly the losses of jobs associated with outsourcing, off-shoring and immigration. ... Conservatives should be prepared to embrace social change on what might be called the 'Leopard' principle, after the aphorism in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's great novel Il Gattopardo: 'If we want things to remain as they are, things have to change'." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Economic Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Niall Ferguson

Ulrich von Sutum wonders in the monthly magazine Cicero what Franklin D. Roosevelt's much acclaimed New Deal actually accomplished after 1929: "Historians and economists argue about how much the New Deal actually achieved in overcoming the global economic crisis at the time. Some even say it prolonged it, primarily because it regulated commodity markets and strengthened the unions. Cartels were even permitted, to fight deflation. In addition protectionism became widespread. It began in 1933 with the abolishment of the gold standard for the dollar, after which many countries sought to devalue their currencies. Tolls and trade barriers were introduced to boost domestic sales of American products. Certainly, European countries also introduced corresponding 'beggar my neighbour' policies, but in the end this only worsened the crisis. It was like the cinema paradox: if one person stands up to get a better view it will work to his advantage for a short while. But if everyone stands up no one at all benefits, and everyone loses their seat. Unfortunately the current 'buy American' campaigns and the French support measures show that nothing has been learned from the negative experiences of the past." (25/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Financial Markets, » U.S., » Western Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Ulrich von Suntum

Up to now the Spanish banking system was considered the most secure in Europe, but now in Spain too the state has had to intervene to rescue a savings bank. The Caja de Castilla la Mancha has been put under the temporary control of Spain's central bank. ABC comments: "The Bank of Spain's intervention in Caja de Castilla la Mancha was necessary and inevitable. The only question is why it waited so long. … But the case of this institution is only the tip of the iceberg in a problem with far-reaching implications: the inevitable crisis of the Spanish banking system and above all the savings banks." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Spain
All available articles from » Bernaldo de Quirós Lorenzo

The left-liberal daily Népszabadság compares the four European countries whose governments have collapsed under the burden of the global economic crisis: Latvia, the Czech republic, Hungary and Iceland. "The Latvian centre-right parties lost no time reshuffling the cards and Riga now has a new government; Iceland is holding new elections next month, the Czech Republic will probably follow suit in October, but in Hungary there's a big question mark over everything. … What ultimately caused the fall of conservative [Mirek] Topolánek and Social Democrat [Ferenc] Gyurcsány is the growing anti-reformist trend in politics. Under pressure from either the opposition (Topolánek) or one's own party (Gyurcsány) they were repeatedly forced to beat a retreat. … All the political forces in Central and Eastern Europe need to finally realise that in the midst of the crisis there is no other option but to initiate cost-cutting and reformist measures." (30/03/2009)

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All available articles from » Endre Aczél

52 poets from all over Europe have written a European constitution in the form of a poem. The "Constitution in Verse" is of particular relevance for Dutch eurosceptics, writes columnist Bert Wagendorp in the daily De Volkskrant: "We Dutch in particular urgently need Europe for it is the only way to escape our smallness. … The constitution in verse adopts a different language to the Treaty of Lisbon. With the latter it only takes five minutes to see what's wrong with this Europe: It's in the hands of bores, hair-splitters and other unimaginative good-for-nothings. … What would happen if the [Dutch] Minister of European Affairs Frans Timmermans were to have the European constitution in verse distributed to all households? Perhaps it would revive some of the dreams and fantasies in our heads. And it's also good for poetry. The poets' message is: Give Europe back to the people. Europe belongs to us. If this is made clear once more then perhaps we can learn to love it again." (30/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Constitution, » Netherlands, » Europe
All available articles from » Bert Wagendorp

The daily Helsingin Sanomat writes about a pilot project financed among others by the Finnish Cultural Foundation aimed at promoting the Karelian language and culture in the Russian city of Uhtua. Many Finns are themselves of Karelian extraction. "The efforts to preserve the language in the Uhtua community began nine years ago. Children at nurseries in Uhtua are learning Karelian. There are places for 20 children in each group but 170 want to attend. The children in these groups are the future of the Karelian language. Schools in Karelia don't teach the national language. The children there speak Russian. ... It's like a state of emergency." (29/03/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Finland, » Russia

Lists of infants abandoned by their mothers after birth between 2003 and 2008 have vanished from a hospital in Sofia. "The striking thing is that in less than one day the institutions were blaming each other for the disappearance of the documents", the daily Dnevnik writes. "Typical of the chaos were the statements by various hospital directors, who asserted that there was in fact no legal regulation on maintaining a register of the risk children [children abandoned immediately after birth]. There was, they say, only the duty to contact social workers so that they could look into things if need be. This situation would be ridiculous if it weren't so tragic: it is not normal documents that have gone missing, but lists of abandoned children. Logically, this arouses suspicion that illegal adoption, or even human trafficking, could be behind all this." (30/03/2009)

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