Negotiations over a global climate protection agreement have less to do with the climate than with economic and industrial policy, writes the left-liberal daily Berliner Zeitung: "At the forefront is the question of who will shoulder what burden in climate protection, and when. And that has much to do with jobs and prosperity. The developing countries, for example, don't see why they should have to bear the costs for the industrialised nations' long history of wasteful economic practices. The emerging countries in the former East Bloc and Asia don't want to jeopardise their own catching-up process. Countries like Germany, by contrast, are reluctant to play the paymaster for the rest of the world. The result of all these conflicting interests is that hardly anything gets done. But things can't go on like this. What we need now from all parties is a willingness to compromise and play down their own interests. Otherwise there will be no agreement. Neither this winter in Copenhagen nor at any other time. And that would be disastrous." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Environmental Policy, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Jörg Michel

Even if the Netherlands want to be the best pupil in matters of climate protection, it is such a small country that the global impact of its policy is small indeed, writes the tabloid De Telegraaf: "Environmental protection generally takes place at the expense of economic growth, so that most countries fall far short of their objectives. As so often, the Netherlands wants to be at the top of the class and introduce additional measures to be clean as soon as 2010. But such measures really only work against us because for a relatively clean country that means paying a huge sum of money for what is only a drop in the bucket compared with emmissions from the emerging countries. The EU's agreements for 2050, about which the romantic idealist Jacqueline Cramer [Dutch social democratic environmental minister] is so delighted are really nothing more than castles in the sky." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Netherlands, » Europe

The EU and Japan now have binding reduction targets while the US and Australia are still far from committing to such goals. The Luxemburger Wort writes that a comprehensive agreement at the climate summit would have the decisive advantage of converging the climate policy interests of industrialised, emerging and developing nations alike: "Individual agreements for these three categories of states, on the other hand, could speed up progress in certain sectors without requiring the prior approval of the US Senate. But the key to the global climate agreement lies in Washington's Capitol. There, however, the laws on healthcare reform and the regulation of the financial market have priority at present. This could result in a summit of incomplete commitments. That would be a pity, but not fatal. Obama's proposed laws are on the table: based on [emissions for] 2005 17 percent fewer emissions by 2020 and 83 percent fewer by 2050. Copenhagen should take these figures as the basis for reaching a comprehensive agreement that the US Senate would have difficulty pulling out of once it had signed." (21/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Environmental Policy, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Jakub Adamowicz

The trial against presumed Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadžić is due to start in The Hague on Monday. Karadžić has meanwhile announced he will boycott the proceedings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The left-liberal daily Magyar Narancs writes: "The charges, which have been modified several times since they were first written in 1995, couldn't be more ambitious. Karadžić ... is charged with the worst possible crime: genocide. ... What is striking about the document, however, is that it puts the entire Republika Srpska on the dock. ... According to the bill of indictment, Karadžić's accomplices included not only the former President of Serbia and Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milošević, as well as the political leadership of the Bosnian Serb state, but also more or less the entire political, military, security and administrative apparatus of the Republika Srpska. ... For that reason the charges being levelled at Karadžić far transcend the simple sphere of criminal law." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Serbia

During his state visit to Serbia on Tuesday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assured the country of his support and questioned Kosovo's independence. The daily Delo comments: "Serbia's president Boris Tadić is right when he says Russia can no longer be ignored because it is now among the protagonists of international politics. From this perspective it's obvious that Kosovo won't become a member of the United Nations as long as Russia continues to support the territorial unity and sovereignty of Serbia, as Medvedev has stressed. He has assured the Serbs that the independence of Kosovo … can't be settled before Serbia has the final say on the matter. With this promise in his pocket Tadić has reinforced Belgrade's position that it will never recognise Kosovo's independence." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Russia, » Serbia, » Kosovo
All available articles from » Vili Einspieler

France has received clear guidelines from the EU for a debt reduction timetable because with a deficit of 8.5 percent it falls far short of the Maastricht criteria. The daily Le Monde writes: "The fact is that when twenty out of twenty-seven countries are being disciplined for excessive debt, we are right to ask whether the rules that now apply are still relevant. There can be no doubt that in 2008 in France as elsewhere, public expenses were useful in aiding the economy in the midst of a depression. The problem is that Europe is not confident that France will introduce more orthodox policy before the presidential elections of 2012. And the public deficit, useful and entirely legitimate in stormy times, could rapidly become a burden, or if you believe some commentators even the origin of the next crisis." (21/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » France, » Europe

Most leading politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina officially pay lip service to joining the EU, but on a personal level they are happy to remain free of the democratic constraints imposed by the EU, writes the daily Die Presse: "Of course the leaders of the three major political groups in the country swear to their voters that they would like nothing better than to lead the country into the 'European paradise'. The fact is however that the status quo is the real paradise for many of these politicians. Especially for Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska, comfortably ensconced in his 'Serbian Republic'. All political and economic matters hinge on him. And as always when someone from outside challenges his power he declares a 'fight for survival' of the entire Serbian people. The Dodiks in the country really don't have much use for changes to the constitution or even EU accession. And for that reason they are unimpressed by any threats the EU might care to level at them." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Serbia, » Bosnien
All available articles from » Wieland Schneider

In the left-liberal daily La Repubblica Bernardo Valli takes up the subject of the fall of the Romanian dictatorship in December 1989: "The Romanian Revolution … was the final chapter and the only bloodbath of 1989, the year which turned a new page in Europe's history. … Bucharest was far behind in comparison with the satellites of the collapsing Soviet empire. In Warsaw, in Budapest, in Prague and even in nearby Sofia the bloodless transition had already been completed, and in Berlin the Wall had fallen on November 9. … The [politicians] in the West had long since turned their backs on [Romanian dictator Nicolae] Ceauşescu, after having courted him for many years in support of his nationalistic refusal to obey Moscow. And even in the Soviet Union … there was growing impatience with the Romanian regime's stubborn and to some extent disdainful refusal to accept the decisive change of the Kremlin that was based on Perestroika (economic revision) and Glasnost (political transparency). Ceauşescu seemed like the last bastion of a communism that could never be reformed." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » History, » Poland, » Hungary, » Czech Republic, » Russia, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Bernardo Valli

Author Henryk M. Broder explains in the left-liberal daily Der Tagesspiegel why he is running for the office of president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany: "It is ... not the Council's job to instruct the remaining 79.9 million Germans on how they should deal with their past. Proofs of love that are coerced are no proof of anything. ... As president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany I will seek to put an end to small-minded delusions of grandeur that bedevil themselves by biting off more than they can chew. I will make it my objective to have denying the Holocaust abolished as a criminal offence.The law was well-meant but it has proved counterproductive, helping idiots cast themselves as martyrs in the struggle for historical truth. The problem we all have is not the last Holocaust, whose factuality is beyond question, but the genocide currently taking place in Sudan. We don't need any more Holocaust memorials, but an active policy in the interests of human rights, free of political and economic considerations." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Germany, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Henryk M. Broder

A Polish entrepreneur has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to pay his employees their salaries. The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita points out that his case is not unique in the crisis: "'To stubbornly refuse to pay employees is a crime that can exact harsh punishment'. The court in Zgorzelec has thus set a precedent and deprived the businessman of his freedom for 18 months. There are other instruments in industrial law that can be used to induce unstable companies to pay their employees' salaries, however they are seldom applied consistently. And this of course tempts people to break the law. According to the most recent report of the PIP [the office for labour protection], the number of employees who have not been paid in the past nine months has almost doubled to around 60,000." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Corporations, » Poland
All available articles from » Tomasz Pietryga

Estonia has better weathered the storm of the crisis than Latvia, writes the Latvian daily Latvijas Avīze: "We are obliged to draw the sad conclusion that in twenty years the Latvians have not managed to adequately govern their state. We've tried everything: civil committees and coalitions, national elements, relentless openness, liberal and conservative currents, but all these have done is to wreak havoc, like the two scallywags Laurel and Hardy. ... And now all of a sudden Estonia's former prime minister Mart Laar speaks up: Estonia has balanced its economy and lived more thriftily, it has built up a stable banking system that has remained protected from Russian money, and corruption is not as widespread in Estonia as it is here. In Latvia corruption came from the banks with their dirty money, and from there it took contol over the economy and then politics. By contrast Estonia placed more value on the stability of its currency than on dubious investments from some island or another." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Financial Markets, » Tax Policy, » Banks, » Latvia, » Estonia
All available articles from » Egils Līcīts

In the leftist daily Information film critic Christian Monggard writes that Lars von Triers' new film Antichrist deserved to win the Nordic Council Film Prize worth 350,000 kroner (around 47,000 euros). "The fact is that Triers' film deserved to win. None of the other five films nominated - and only few of the films that were produced in the past year in any of the five Nordic countries - can compete with its thematic diversity, strong images and artistic audacity. One of the rules that apply for the Nordic Council's film prize is that only 'films can be nominated that are of high artistic quality'. … Antichrist is such a work. …It is a triumph for cinematography that Lars von Trier and Antichrist won this year's Nordic Council Film Prize and it is a cause for celebration at a time when films of this type … don't have it easy." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Denmark, » Northern Europe
All available articles from » Christian Monggaard

The international journalist organisation Reporters Without Borders this week published its yearly ranking list on press freedom worldwide. It accuses several European countries of impeding the work of journalists. Kaki Balli comments in the leftist daily Avgi: "I have worked with foreign colleagues for many years and I always had the impression that Europe was virtually a paradise of press freedom. This is not to say that all German, French or British colleagues are models of objectivity, or that they never complain about being oppressed by their bosses. Nonetheless, there could be no question of their putting their life at risk for expressing an opinion or that self-censorship was the norm for them. … The fact that press freedom is dwindling in democratic countries like France, Italy or Slovenia is worrying. Europe threatens to lose its role as a model of press freedom." (21/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Media policy, » Press freedom, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Kaki Balli

In the past weeks hundreds of international media broadcast live coverage of a silver helium balloon after a couple from the US state of Colorado claimed their son was riding in it. This turned out to be a lie. The liberal daiy La Vanguardia comments: "Let's summarise: last Thursday evening the world's attention was focused on the fraudulent fantasy of a self-appointed son of extraterrestrials who wanted to generate publicity for his planned reality show on UFOs - at the expense of collective sentimentalism. Nowadays we dedicate part of our leisure time to this kind of scam. … But the case of the helium balloon also highlights a perverse aspect of our society as a whole: at the beginning of the 21st century we watch reality shows that are pure fiction with the same avidness and ignorance with which our ancestors of the 19th century visited funfairs and believed in the most fantastic legends." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » U.S.

In Belgium there is a debate about raising the minimum age for marriage to partners from non-EU countries to 25. The law is aimed at hindering marriage immigration. Patrick Loobuyck, who teaches morals philosophy, argues in the daily De Standaard that this is not a good idea: "It is awkward and difficult to legitimise government interference in the choice of partner through coercive measures. The choice of partner is an issue of great importance that belongs in the private sphere. In these areas people's freedom should only be curtailed in exceptional cases. On the other hand campaigns aimed at raising awareness about the possible advantages and disadvantages of marrying a partner from the country of origin are very welcome. … New arrivals can naturally be obliged or encouraged to complete a practical welcome and naturalisation procedure (as is already done). This is not a question of undesirable paternalism and assimilation but of promoting emancipation and equal opportunities." (22/10/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Belgium
All available articles from » Patrick Loobuyck