The Romanian daily Gândul writes on the unexpectedly tense atmosphere at the G20 summit in London: "Two highly explosive factors threaten the negotiations: the differences in opinon among the participants, particularly concerning the reform of the international financial system, and the persisting bad news about the serious political and social repercussions of the global economic crisis in the run-up to the talks. The crisis has toppled governments and is drawing more and more dissatisfied protesters onto the streets. ... These two aggravating circumstances are connected. You can't stop the crisis as long as you don't fight its causes, and that means the huge discrepancy between the world of finance and the real economy." (02/04/2009)

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

According to the business paper Les Echos the various heads of state and government are pursuing entirely different goals at the G20 summit: "All agree that the G20 summit must not fail. … Yet it's plain to see that a G20 summit must first accommodate 20 egos. Barack Obama wants to preach to the somewhat jittery Europeans about the spirit of revival. Nicolas Sarkozy wants to restore order in the capitalist household. Hu Jintao wants China to finally be recognised as a major leader in global affairs. The list could continue with Gordon Brown, who will try to maintain his position at England's helm by casting himself as the saviour of the global economy. Or Angela Merkel, who is perhaps most concerned … about sparing her compatriots the nightmare of hyperinflation. What can such a disparate group of people possibly do to counter the first global recession since the end of the Second World War?" (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Global

The liberal daily The Independent writes that France and Germany are challenging the Anglo-Saxon dominance at the G20 summit in London: "The last minute, and very public, démarche from the leaders of Europe's two biggest economies also casts the whole project for global economic management in a different light. The combination of a new and untried President in the White House, a rising China, a friendlier Russia and a more vocal Franco-German alliance marks a signal change. Yesterday, the United States and Britain seemed suddenly a little smaller, China a little bigger, and Continental Europe a force to be reckoned with. By tonight, an agreed international plan of action along US-British lines might have shown this incipient redistribution of power to be illusory. Anything else, however, and we may be looking at the outlines of a very different future." (02/04/2009)

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A new front has emerged at the G20 summit between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the one hand and Barack Obama on the other, writes the daily De Morgen: "The American vision that the unregulated free market ultimately offers more advantages than disadvantages lives on. The most the Americans want is to put a moral limitation on super-bonuses and other forms of greed. That does not go down well with Sarkozy, who is pushing for global regulation. ... There is now a distinct possibility that these differences of opinion will lead to a carefully formulated concluding statement saying nothing at all, and outlining merely one or two of the points negotiated, or perhaps none at all. That would be extremely unfortunate, because just a few months ago, as the full extent of the catastrope became clear, many leading politicians hoped ... this summit could lead to a new Bretton Woods with stricter controls for the financial world." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Yves Desmet

The Spanish business paper Cinco Días comments on French President Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to leave the G20 summit if he wasn't satisfied with the measures to be taken regarding tax havens: "This melodramatic emphasis on tax havens is particularly ironic because firstly it has nothing to do with the present crisis and secondly France is the benevolent protector of two of Europe's most secure financial havens: Andorra and Monaco. … That only a third of voters are happy with his performance at the moment could have tempted Sarkozy to make this dramatic gesture. If this is the case it means he still has a lot to learn about how to behave on the international stage. But the threat in itself is childish, almost irresponsible. It's time the French president grew up." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Pierre Briançon

The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita voices optimism over the meeting between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the G20 summit in London: "The Obama-Medvedev summit may not have the historical magnitude of the famous meeting between Ronald Regan and Mikhail Gorbachev. But perhaps future historians will see it as marking the start of a new era in Russian-American relations, an era ... characterised by mutual appreciation. ... Two young leaders want to show that the days of the Cold War are over and that no one has any intention of returning to them. 'We've chosen the future' - this could be the real message to come out of this London summit. Barack Obama has repeatedly stressed that the most pressing task for him and Medvedev is to reduce strategic weapons arsenals in the context of a new treaty." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Marek Magierowski

Albania and Croatia joined Nato on Wednesday. The left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that these will be the last countries to join for a long time. "Of course no one can stop Nato from having other countries join its ranks, just as you can't prohibit states from trying to join. But Nato would not be heightening their security by feeding Russian fears of Western dominance. ... Nato doesn't need new members at the moment. What it needs is improved relations with Moscow. The alliance needs the help of Russia if it is to emerge from the war in Afghanistan more or less unscathed. And without Russian help it will not be able to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear arms. Nato and Russia are united by the need to prevent global nuclear proliferation. These should be Nato's priorities, and not acquiring new territories that will increase its problems but not its security." (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Russia, » U.S., » Western Europe, » Georgian Republic

The daily Pražský Deník takes a look at the runoff elections to be held this weekend which will decide who becomes the new Slovak president. It predicts that sociologist Iveta Radičová, the main rival of current president Ivan Gašparovič, will win: "Her election would bring the era of post-communist transformation politicians to an end. To this day men who are way past the zenith of their political careers are still ensconced in Prague, Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava. We can't expect them to influence further development with new ideas. … The Czechs, too, had to choose between a modern, globally-thinking academic - Jan Švejnar - and Václav Klaus, the personification of the transformation politician of the 1990s. In the end the Czech parliamentarians rejected Švejnar, who cast himself as modern and populist, and once again gave conservative Klaus the task of governing the country. With the benefit of hindsight we can see that this was a mistake. The modern-thinking Švejnar would actively address the anti-crisis agenda we need today. Klaus is totally preoccupied with his own private agenda of fighting the EU and denying global warming." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Ivan Gabal

With an eye to the upcoming parliamentary elections the left-liberal weekly Magyar Narancs examines the political situation in the Republic of Moldova: "The Republic of Moldova which gained independence in 1991 can't by any feat of the imagination be described as having been blessed by fate. Wedged in between Romania and Ukraine this country with its four million inhabitants is caught between the hammer and sickle also from a geopolitical perspective. On the one hand the Republic of Moldova is forced to maintain good relations with Moscow and Kiev because of its Russian and Ukrainian minorities (which make up more than 10 percent of the total population). On the other its neighbour to the West, Romania, under whose sovereignty the Republic once stood, remains an important point of reference for the country. … In the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 5 the communists who have governed the country for the past eight years face a conservative-liberal electoral alliance." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Miklós Sebők

One conference follows another, one summit meeting comes after the next. Why are people obsessed with such meetings? asks psychologist Ellen de Bruin in the daily NRC Handelsblad: "Of course many things can be cleared up far more efficiently outside of conferences. Group brainstorming, for example, takes place at the expense of creativity. Conference participants can never start letting the creative ideas flow because they're continually interrupted. ... And, oh yes, conferences are also horribly expensive (just calculate the hourly wages of the participants), and with all those people travelling back and forth they're also bad for the environment. But as appalling as they are conferences cannot be eradicated, because people's real reason for participating in them is more intuitive, more irrational: they just want to be together. They want to 'read' each other. They want to bathe in the atmosphere like in a collective soup, to see which emotions come to the fore and which decisions will eventually be taken as a result. And if nothing comes of the meeting it doesn't matter. 'The meeting is the message', as we've heard so often recently about the Afghanistan summit. Such statements are applicable just about anywhere: The meeting is the outcome." (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Weltanschauung, » Global
All available articles from » Ellen de Bruin

Slovenian journalist Ervin Hladnik Milharčič reflects in his column for the daily Dnevnik on the current world order: "What has become of the clash of civilisations? Six months ago the world was about to be destroyed by terrorists, the planet was on its last legs, but at least the world order was intact. On the one side you had civilisation, on the other the Muslims. We were immersed in a battle for survival. And then suddenly everything went quiet. Who won? … The war on terrorism was a serious matter in the context of the clash of civilisations. How could this global war simply have been erased from our vocabulary? Particularly in view of the fact that police stations are still being blown up in Iraq, terrorists are still occupying police academies in Pakistan and the Taliban is producing so much opium in Afghanistan that Russia and Iran are slowly collapsing as a result of the low price of heroin. It's almost as if the Islamists and their opponents had found a common language. [Meanwhile] the war against global terrorism continues, but now it goes under the name of the war against the global economic crisis." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic

The Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore responds to the demonstrations against the G20 summit in London and the attacks on entrepreneurs in France as follows: "The crucial difference is that in the case of France the attacks are directed against the captains of industry and not against the managers of the financial world, and that workers who have lost their jobs as well as unionists are participating. Compared with the protests of the anti-globalisation activists the conflicts in France are something new and much more alarming … . It would be good if the representatives of the countries who are gathered at the G20 summit in London took measures to deal not only with the demonstrators in London, but also with the wave of rebellion that, owing among other things to the cultural globalisation of the media, could also spread to workplaces if the social consequences of the crisis are not adequately addressed." (02/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Carlo Trigilia

A general strike under the slogan "Workers and Employees should not pay for the Crisis" is taking place today, Thursday, in Greece. In the daily To Ethnos Giorgos Delastik asks whether the demonstrations of the past few days will contribute to a revival of the trade union movement in Europe and the United States: "A high number of British workers was expected to join in the demonstrations [at the G20 summit in London], and this was an important test of whether the economic crisis would lead to a revival of the trade unions in Europe and the US. The age of neo-liberalism and the Social Democrats' support of it dealt a hard blow to the trade unions, which have lost much of their influence. [But] particularly in the United States US President Barack Obama makes no secret of his sympathies with the trade unions and their members." (01/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Giorgos Delastik

Sydsvenska Dagbladet dedicates its leading article to the crisis at Swedish car maker Saab, which is menaced as a result of problems at General Motors. "Here at home voices are growing louder in favour of introducing a scrappage premium in an attempt to rescue the Swedish car industry. Germany is seen as the model for such a scheme. There the premium for a scrapped car, which corresponds to around 25,000 crowns, has resulted in a 21-percent increase in new car sales and provided GM subsidiary Opel with a welcome breather. Environmental and climate goals also speak for state subsidies to modernise total car ownership in Sweden, among the oldest and dirtiest in Europe. But in terms of industrial and labour policy such a move could be doomed to failure. Saab's problem doesn't arise from a lack of state support for the car industry, nor is it that that no one is doing anything. The real problem is that so few people actually want to buy a Saab." (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Economic Policy, » Sweden

The London Chamber of Commerce has recommended that for the duration of the G20 summit men working in the financial district should avoid wearing suits and ties and that women should shed their coats, skirts and high heels and don sportswear to protect themselves from possible attacks. Pandelis Boukalas is tickled pink in the daily I Kathimerini: "As it is now well known that the bankers are going to go around camouflaged in sportswear, the demonstrators (or anyone who feels like it) could start attacking people who are dressed too casually. This could be done just for fun, or to confuse the police who will no longer know who to protect and who to arrest. The demonstrators could also disguise themselves. As what? As bankers and stockbrokers. Surely they'll be able to rent a costume somewhere and get a little money circulating." (01/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Pantelis Boukalas

On 19 March the daily Le Monde published a Pope cartoon by caricaturist Jean Plantureux, better known as Plantu. The Le Monde server was subsequently bombarded with mails from angry Catholics. The incident prompts the daily Le Temps to take a closer look at religious tolerance: "To resort to censorship or bans is the worst possible solution. Notwithstanding this is the approach a majority of the UN's Human Rights Council voted for last week. It spoke out in favour of a resolution supporting the battle against blasphemy. … [The text] can be seen as a response to all manifestations of Islamophobia. Under the pretext of virtuous intentions it represents a threat to basic freedoms. … Democratic governments take care not to try to patch up small wounds that are inflicted on religions through mockery or ridicule with specific laws. In this area only serious attacks are prosecuted under criminal law. The goal is to maintain public peace." (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Global

In the Netherlands large interest groups are allowed to have their own public broadcaster. Now a new right-leaning broadcaster is in the offing. The daily Trouw argues that the goal should be more than diversity of opinion: "Owing to the market effect, which makes viewing figures the only measure of success, and the inevitable conformism of the small radio and television world, the difference between public and private broadcasters has diminished. This poses a much greater threat to the right to exist of public broadcasters, for it is their duty to be different. … The fierce competition from the Internet and Pay-TV will make quality an increasingly important factor, in addition to style and vision. … It would be easier for public broadcasters to differentiate themselves from the private channels if they could get rid of the annoying commercials, but sadly a discussion about this source of financing is still taboo in politics." (02/04/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Media policy, » Netherlands

The sport blog of the weekly magazine L'Express analyses why French football fans don't idolize their national team: "In his morning column in L'Equipe, the former French footballer Bixente Lizarazu explains why the French national team is no longer popular. ... It has to do first of all with the fact that the 'fan culture' in France never extended beyond that level. ... There was never a tradition of support for the French team like there was in England or the Netherlands, for example. Sure, the team's popularity reached a high point in 1998 and 2000, but there was never passion in the stands. ... That explains why French players often seek a 'team spirit' in strong cities like Lens, Marseille and Saint-Etienne. But this does not at all mean that the French are 'genetically' grumpy or temperamental. It's simply because appealing to the 'nation' has become the privilege of the natioinalist right-wing and the extreme right." (01/04/2009)

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All available articles from » Erwan Poiraud