While Europe's politicians do nothing to stir our hearts in the run-up to the European elections, the Eurovision Song Contest is bringing Europe - and Europeans - together, Romanus Otte writes in the daily Die Welt: "For me all the advertisements and posters for the European election are nothing but barefaced cheek. They say almost nothing about Europe, don't make any proposals for it, and above all elicit zero enthusiasm for Europe. ... Luckily some small consolation is offered by Eurovision. There are plenty of good reasons to turn up one's nose at the Song Contest. But once more Saturday's Grand Prix was also a deeply moving European celebration. The sea of flags waved by the boisterous crowd that had come together from the four corners of Europe reminded one of the Last Night of the Proms in London. There were singers from states I would have left out altogether if I'd been asked to name the countries of Europe. And they were a great reminder of how big Europe is, how peaceful, and how novel such a situation is at all." (18/05/2009)

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The Eurovision Song Contest is the most successful example of European cooperation, writes author Oscar van den Boogard in the daily De Standaard, noting that more can be achieved with "bad music" than with bad policies: "The ban on the homosexual demonstration last Saturday in Moscow shows that gays are still having to rebel strongly against a regime that does not accept them. Their sweet revenge was the song contest itself. One couldn't have conceived an event with more gay counter-culture and a greater audience. The Norwegian winner Alexander Rybak put it like this: 'Let's just say that the timing of the parade was not ideal. But this evening we had the greatest gay parade in the world here.' Can the song contest move voters to go to the ballot for the European elections in early June? Televoting is easy, but going to the election office is 'sooo difficult'. What exactly do the politicians mean when they talk about Europe? Only a boy with a violin who sings about a fairytale [Rybak with his song Fairytale] can really fire our imaginations." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » Oscar van den Boogaard

The daily Sega contends that the Eurovision Song Contest is politically controlled, citing the example of a Georgian song that was disqualified because of its lyrics: "Those who claim that this year's Eurovision was not politically manipulated are certainly not telling the truth. … In the days leading up to and following March 17 the radio station Echo Moskwy [Moscow's echo] covered the scandal over the song 'We don't wanna put in' that was to represent Georgia in Moscow. Even the participation of this country in the contest would have been seen as a breakthrough after Georgia and Russia broke off diplomatic relations with each other as a result of the military conflict last year. But on March 17 the organisers refused to allow the Georgians to participate on the grounds that the text contained an insult to 'a head of state'." (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Music, » Russia, » Georgian Republic
All available articles from » Boshidar Boshkov

The Estonian daily Eesti Päevaleht comments on the Eurovision Song Contest in the context of the country's empty treasury and the dire impact of the economic crisis: "With this in mind it's just as well that Urban Symphony finished a civilised and fully respectable sixth on Saturday night at the finals of the Eurovision contest in Moscow. Because like the other Baltic states and in contrast to the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Estonia would not be able to scrape together the cash to host the finals next year [which are automatically organised by the winner of the previous year]. Financing this celebration with a loan would be reminiscent of the country bumpkin who takes out a loan to give his daughter a luxurious wedding even though he knows the young lovers will have parted by the time the debt is paid off." (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Music, » Cultural Policy, » Estonia, » Europe

The civil war in Sri Lanka is over after roughly a quarter century of fighting. The Tamil rebels laid down their weapons on Sunday after a major month-long government offensive. But to secure peace the government must now make concessions to the Tamil minority, the daily Die Presse writes: "Hundreds of thousands of Tamils have fled the fighting and are now clustered together in camps - a breeding ground for new insurgents. The Tamil Tigers have already announced they will continue their struggle with guerilla tactics. And as long as the government in Colombo has no recipe for ridding the Tamil minority of their perceived 'second-class' status, they will go on fighting. If [President Mahinda] Rajapakse wants to be not only a great commander but also a great statesman, he must secure peace - a far more difficult task than the military victory over the Tigers." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » Burkhard Bischof

The victory of Dalia Grybauskaitė in Lithuania's presidential elections means that that Baltic state is orienting itself on the West, Jerzy Haszczyński comments in the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita: "She is an iron lady who has spent practically her whole career dealing with finances and the politics of the Union. Her victory means a change in foreign policy. And also a change in the leadership of the presidential office in Lithuania, which up to now was associated in our minds with the noble, but on many matters rather inflexible Valdas Adamkus. President Grybauskaitė will deal with economic issues, with taxes, with EU funding and with the battle against the crisis - or in other words those topics that one doesn't associate with the current president. Valdas Adamkus pursued a policy that was resolutely oriented towards the East - and in this he closely resembles the Polish president. He supported the Western ambitions of countries like Ukraine and Georgia and warned the West about Russia's rapacity." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » Jerzy Haszczyński

Swiss voters approved the introduction of biometric passports by a slim margin in a referendum on Sunday. The daily Le Temps comments on the country's hesitant approval: "As a nation of travellers, the Swiss had excellent reasons to say yes to the biometric passport: this administrative document is quickly becoming the international norm. ... But at the same time they had an equally good reason to reject the biometric passport. It is their legitimate desire to protect their private sphere. ... In the country of banking secrecy which puts so much weight on the protection of the private sphere, the state had a twofold duty to reassure its citizens. But it failed. ... The accidental majority resulting from this referendum has rubber stamped the biometric passport. But this random yes has a strong message: the mistrust of the Swiss is too great for it not to be taken seriously." (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Switzerland
All available articles from » François Modoux

Melanie Phillips warns in The Daily Mail that extreme right-wing parties in Britain are benefiting from the scandal over MPs' expense accounts: "The lid has finally blown clean off a boiling pot of disgust with an entire political class which seems to inhabit a totally different universe from the voters. ... If the opinion polls are to be believed, the result is likely to be a hugely increased vote for the fringe parties at the upcoming European Parliament elections. ... As the recipients of a protest vote against the corruption of democracy, these fringe parties leave much to be desired. For all its slick repackaging, the BNP [British National Party] remains an odiously racist party, with its leader blurting out the fact that he doesn't regard British citizens of Asian descent - indeed, any ethnic minority - as British at all. He has a criminal conviction for a racist offence, and BNP members are regularly embroiled in ugly or even criminal displays and activities. As for UKIP [United Kingdom Independence Party], that itself is tainted by corruption, with one of its former MEPs jailed for benefit fraud and another kicked out of the party after being charged with money-laundering." (18/05/2009)

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The former Greek president Kostis Stefanopoulos has proposed referring the dispute between Greece and Turkey over maritime borders in the Aegean Sea to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Giorgos Delastik warns in the daily To Ethnos that this would have a negative effect on Greece's rights: "It would be a political and juristic adventure with potentially fatal consequences for Greek interests. … Obviously we can't just trouble the International Court of Justice's time with issues put forward by Greece. … The unilateral demands of Turkey will also have to be examined. … The advantages for Turkey will be much more significant than for Greece. There is only one point, namely that of the continental shelf in the Aegean, on which it is assumed that the court would probably rule in Greece's favour." (17/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Greece, » Turkey
All available articles from » Giorgos Delastik

The regional paper L'Est Répubicain casts about for reasons for the indifference of the French to the European elections: "The European elections never excited a huge passion in French hearts, but the vote that will take place on June 7 takes the biscuit. The French could not care less. Three weeks before the vote, surveys point to a 44 percent turnout. That is strange, because the European Parliament has a growing say in the affairs of the continent. ... Over and above purley French reasons, this indifference is also explained by the inherent weakness of the EU. With six countries the Union was still a dream, with 27 it has become an indefinable 'thing', whose workings appear increasingly obscure. And added to that there there's the whole technocratic side, which is far too caught up with the hunting of migratory birds, the composition of chocolate and the quality of rosé wines." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » Chantal Didier

The business paper writes about the election campaign of opposition party Fidesz, which according to polls will win the European elections by a large majority: "The oppositional young democrats [Fidesz] have presented a 284-page election manifesto for the European elections. It makes no mention of domestic Hungarian politics or potential ways out of the economic crisis. Nor was the manifesto designed for this purpose. … However the Fidesz election campaign is a different matter altogether: it focuses almost exclusively on domestic policy. And no wonder: Fidesz sees the European elections as the first round in the [national] parliamentary elections scheduled for spring 2010. The major opposition party even secretly calculates that in the case of a bitter defeat for the already floundering left liberal ruling party in the European elections the parliamentary elections could be pulled forward to this autumn." (18/05/2009)

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Poland should serve as a kind of buffer between Germany and Russia to prevent what the US sees as a dangerous rapprochement between Russia and Western Europe, writes US political scientist George Friedman in the tabloid Fakt: "When countries like Israel and South Korea began a transfer system for technology and financial aid they became important for the US strategically. … It was simply in our best interest to have a strong, regional partner. Today the relations of the US with Germany are worse than they have ever been since World War II. The Germans have completely different interests to ours [the US]. Since World War I the US has been trying to hinder a close alliance between Western Europe and Russia - in order to prevent Western industrial power from strengthening Russia. The Germans, on the other hand - by making themselves dependent on Russian gas and other raw materials - simply don't want to join the efforts to stop Russia. The US therefore sees two solutions: either to tolerate the dangerous trend of Western Europe moving closer to Russia or to create a kind of buffer between Germany and Russia the core of which lies in Poland." (18/05/2009)

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A conference on the subject of Europe taking place in the Romanian region of Transylvania prompts Klaus Brill to analyse the way the new member states see Europe in the left liberal daily the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Twenty years ago, for millions of Slovaks, Czechs, Hungarians, Poles and Romanians Europe was an icon of civilising achievements which were unattainable for the inhabitants of the communist sphere of influence: freedom, democracy, prosperity. And Ukraine's Orange Revolution was also aimed at moving closer towards the long yearned for goal of Europe, just as the current student rebellion in Moldova is today. For the inhabitants of its eastern half Europe was and still is all about belonging. The enthusiasm of 1989 has long since waned, and a profound sense of disillusion is making itself felt among many intellectuals. For the reality is, as [Slovak professor for Slavic studies Peter] Zajac put it, that while the transition is in the foreground, behind the scenes the old dramas are still being played out. … Therefore today Europe [is seen] as a broken dream, as a symbol of abuse and incompetence; the EU, the executive organ of hope, is not blamed for this, but nor did it do anything to prevent it. Such analyses should be taken into consideration when one takes stock of the expectations in the run-up to the European elections on June 7 and the validity of the idea of Europe is re-examined yet again. The continent is divided in its state of mind." (18/05/2009)

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Several thousand employees of Italian carmaker Fiat staged a demonstration in Turin on Saturday aimed at preserving their jobs. The left-liberal daily La Repubblica comments: "Taken together the Fiat affair and the OECD statistics [which put Italy at the bottom of the table as regards wage levels] tell us that the low wages of millions of workers represent a national emergency that could have far-reaching and profound consequences if the Fiat situation does not improve. … Confronted with an emergency which requires epic interventions on the scale of a Roosevelt-style New Deal, it is still not clear where the government stands on this matter. … But the confederation of industries is also busy sawing off the branch it sits on, … for instance by considerably restricting research and development activities: In this area too, Italy has been lagging way behind for some time now." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » Luciano Gallino

Agriculture must be freed from the dictates of the EU and fight for itself on the free market, maintains the Swedish Liberal People's Party. The daily Göteborgs-Posten agrees. "When leader Jan Björklund and top candidate Marit Paulsen kicked off the Liberal People's Party's election campaign last week, they immediately launched a frontal attack on EU agricultural subsidies. Away with them, they said, free farmers from the claws of politicians. Of course Björklund and Paulsen are right. ... The problem is that this goes against the Treaty of Lisbon. [However] that doesn't help at all. Either you want to do something about overproduction, protectionism and greenhouse gases, or you don't." (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Agriculture, » Sweden, » Europe

Spain urgently needs to reduce the obstacles for foreign companies operating in Spain, the Spanish business paper Cinco Días warns: "The central government and the regions can offer all kinds of incentives to attract investment, but when companies are faced with tax handicaps they see them as too great an obstacle to their investments. And when on top of that the tax authorities adopt a discriminatory stance towards employees without a permanent residence [in Spain] - including the directors of companies who make the final decisions - Spain's appeal for investors dwindles. And if the companies also face bureaucratic hurdles or have difficulties obtaining visas for management personnel and their families, the matter becomes increasingly complicated." (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Spain

João Marques de Almeida writes in the daily Diário Económico that politicians around the world are using the outbreak of swine flu to consolidate their hold on power: "What we saw in the past weeks was not an 'epidemic', but proof that people believe a global 'epidemic' is unavoidable. ... In addition there were two other worrying signs. Firstly, many political powers all over the world used the 'epidemic' or the 'crisis' to consolidate their own influence. The United Nations and the World Health Organisation immediately established plans for global regulation and intervention. In the 19th century wars were a source of power. In the 21st century this role has been taken over by public health. Secondly we continue to see a strong mood of anti-globalisation. This time the 'epidemic' showed up the dark side of globalisation, which 'threatens' us all. The 'diseases' of globalisation can only be fought with the 'health' of nations, these critics say. This might all sound like a joke, but it's not." (18/05/2009)

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All available articles from » João Marques Almeida de

In 2006 former Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen described his vision of reducing sales of tobacco in Finland to zero by 2040. The daily Lapin Kansa writes that Finland is well on its way to fulfilling this goal: "Lay down your weapons and flee. Throw away your cigarettes and hide your pipes. Finnish children have been singing these nursery rhymes for decades. Now it seems that at least the second could become reality. A ministerial group for social policy has proposed the removal of tobacco products from the shelves of shops and kiosks [banishing them to under the counter] with a two-year transition phase. Trade and industry, however, are not willing to go along with this and have begun to form a joint front against stricter tobacco laws. They cite not only the high cost of conversion but also customer service problems. … But tougher laws are aimed at protecting public health. … So what is more important: the success of commerce or people's health?" (18/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Health Policy, » Economic Policy, » Tax Policy, » Finland