The new EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and the new EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton will above all have to be able to negotiate compromises, writes the daily Berlingske Tidende: "The task facing Rompuy and Ashton will be to work in good faith with the resolutions passed by the heads of state and government. Once the heads of state and government of 27 countries have reached agreement, the ability to reach compromises is called for. And the EU leaders clearly believe that the two possess this quality. When you think of the major tasks facing the EU, there should be no doubt that it needs people who can instil a positive climate and a constructive approach to cooperation. This is crucial. If this generation of European leaders is unable to reform and modernise the continent, it will no longer be able to keep up with the US, Japan and the new giants China, India and Brazil." (21/11/2009)

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

No sooner has Catherine Ashton been elected as the European Union's foreign minister than the EU Parliament has started blocking her assumption of office. Brussels is on the brink of making a fool of itself yet again, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: "Will the current Trade Commissioner [Ashton] assume her new post on December 1, when the Lisbon Treaty comes into effect? That's what the European Council is pushing for at any rate. Or will she have to wait until the new European Commission has been formed and confirmed, which won't be before the end of next February, as the Parliament demands? Brussels threatens to plunge into a petty squabble about competences. The embarrassing thing about all this is that it is because of the Lisbon Treaty, hailed as a reform, that Ashton is stuck with this hybrid role. The Treaty stipulates that the High Representative is a member of both the Council and the Commission because he or she is also the latter's vice-president. And the Parliament has the last say on the Commission. The EU would be well advised to resolve the conflict quickly and quietly. Otherwise not only the foreign minister's international reputation will be tarnished even before she takes office, but also the longed-for Lisbon Treaty." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Belgium
All available articles from » Cerstin Gammelin

For the witticism attributed to former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger to become true the EU's foreign policy decisions must now be made in Brussels, the left-liberal daily El País notes: "According to Kissinger, he never made that famous remark: 'Who do I call if I want to call Europe,' but it seems appropriate to him. Last week Europe completed the election of its trio: [Herman] Van Rompuy on the Council, [José Manuel] Barroso in the Commission and [Catherine] Ashton as a go-between for the two of them on foreign policy. But as things stand now, the telephone numbers for Europe start with +33 (París), +49 (Berlín) y +44 (London). Ashton's job is to make that number starts with +32 (for Brussels)." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Germany, » France, » United Kingdom, » Europe
All available articles from » José Ignacio Torreblanca

The election of Herman Van Rompuy as EU president and Catherine Ashton as EU foreign minister is in keeping with the consensus-based spirit of European politics, the website Vest.si writes: "The consensus reached among the European heads of government was to select weak and barely known figures for the two new posts in the EU. This is a sign of continuation in the spirit of European policy, which must always be based on consensus. Consensus is the EU's most important concept. And if it means that its leaders have to be weak and rather non-descript personalities then that's the price that has to be paid for things to continue moving forward without too much of a commotion. What this will mean for Europe's long-term development is hard to tell. But experience has shown that this is the way to move ahead slowly, to expand while at the same time maintaining a stable community of peoples and be successful economically. On the other hand the problem of Europe increasingly being governed by technocrats grows worse." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Europe
All available articles from » Jani Sever

Following the passing of the healthcare reform bill by the US House of Representatives the US Senate has now decided to discuss US President Barack Obama's healthcare reform. The liberal Financial Times Deutschland praises Obama's success but warns: "Obama can forget his original goal of having it ready by the end of the year. And the more time passes the more difficult it will be for the president to reach a compromise on the content that retains something of his original goal of providing health insurance for all Americans. It is above all his own democratic camp that Obama must convince. He still has the majority in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. But the congressional elections take place in autumn 2010, and democratic senators from conservative states in particular … will express their reservations about the healthcare reform all the more vocally as those elections draw nearer." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Health Policy, » U.S.

The vote in Romania on Sunday failed to elect a new president. The first projections put incumbent Traian Băsescu ahead with 34 percent of the vote, closely followed by the social democrat Mircea Geoană. But neither has managed to secure an absolute majority. The runoff vote will probably take take place on December 6, hopefully with fewer cases of fraud, writes the daily Adevărul: "It is difficult to say how strongly - or how minimally - the irregularities and fraud influenced the final result. But yesterday the major parties clearly showed that they're ready to do anything just to steal a few votes. ... And that is exactly the problem. ::: However neither the people nor political morals are about to change as long as the parties themselves refuse to. ... They're certainly not going to reform themselves of their own free will. Unfortunately this isn't something we can decide by referendum, or by passing a reform bill. The only thing that can really force the parties to reform is the power of people, those who went to the polls yesterday to cast their ballots. They can decide that the parties will have to change from top to bottom. The alternative: they can consider them unreformable, like communism." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Romania
All available articles from » Ovidiu Nahoi

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has proposed to abolish the president's right to veto laws passed by the government. An important step for achieving a functioning parliament, writes the left-liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: "A system in which the president - who is also the inofficial leader of the opposition - can block the government at any time represents a significant threat for the state. And it demoralises the government. Moreover, if the government fails to take action on something, it can cite this obstacle as an excuse. To that extent the changes proposed by the prime minister strike me as reasonable. It is very difficult to govern in a situation where it's not even enough to win the parliamentary elections. Because once a prime minister is confronted with a veto he needs a three-fifth majority in the Sejm [the lower house of the Polish parliament]." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Paweł Wroński

Nalin Pekgul has made a name for herself in Sweden by speaking out against Muslim extremism and the so-called honour killings. The Turkish native and chair of the National Federation of Social Democratic Women in Sweden deserves respect, writes the daily Expressen: "Nalin Pekgul is currently Sweden's most courageous politician. She has decided to take up the fight against Muslim extremism in the suburbs. ... We are all afraid to aid and abet the growing xenophobia and Islamophobia in our country. But standing up for the right of Muslim women and girls to dress as they see fit must be the same whether the article of clothing be a headscarf or a mini-skirt. Nalin Pekgul deserves our support in the war on two fronts she is leading between the [right-wing populist] Sweden Democrats and religious extremists. She is on the right side of the barricades - and shows inordinate courage." (22/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Sweden
All available articles from » Anna Dahlberg

The debate on national identity in France is ground-breaking and salutary, the daily Politis writes, adding that Cyprus could do with just such a discussion: "As a modern state faced with all its structural and ideological problems it is showing the will to fight a contemporary and important battle: that of defining itself. … The mere thought that such a thing could happen among Greek-speaking Cypriots is risible, even though such a debate could be the solution of the Cyprus problem. If we could answer the question of who we are, what are our origins and whom we regard as our relatives, then we would immediately know what we want." (22/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » France, » Cyprus
All available articles from » Katerina Stefanou

A bubble is inflating on the international financial markets because the central banks are making a mistake, the left-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper warns: "When a central bank raises interest rates because of bubbles on the financial markets, at the same time smothering economic growth and worsening unemployment, something is wrong. And any first-year economics student can look up what that is: you should never pursue two goals with one and the same instrument! … A central bank can … steer the real economy with the interest rate, but it can't prevent bubbles on the financial markets at the same time. … As long as the West refuses to admit that the basic problem with the current brand of capitalism is the free capital markets, the G20 won't be able to create a new global financial order. … Uncontrolled speculation is not a problem of greed, morals or decency but a matter of [setting] rules." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Germany
All available articles from » Robert von Heusinger

China is dead set on catching up with the Western industrial nations, even if that means endangering the global economy, writes the Sunday paper Vasárnapi Hírek: "In reviewing the reasons that led up to the outbreak of the global economic crisis, we must stress the trade balance between the US and China. Here above all China's gigantic trade surplus is striking. ... This imbalance has resulted in a series of financial policy aberrations, and done much to increase the indebtedness of the United States. The Chinese have ... taken to heart the well-tried position according to which on the one hand fiscal discipline, and on the other an artificially devalued currency are necessary to quickly catch up with the Western industrial nations." (22/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Fiscal Policy, » U.S., » China
All available articles from » Péter Róna

A book dealing with the flight of the East Prussians before the advancing Red Army at the end of World War II has appeared in Polish translation. A very good read, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita, which is normally critical of Germany: "Although half a century has passed since Die Große Flucht [exodus from the East] was written, and although hundreds of books have been written since then about the fall of the Third Reich, this book by Jürgen Thorwald ... has lost none of its topicality. In a broad panorama written in the form of a lively reportage, he presents the war-ravaged souls on the Eastern Front at the time when the Red army was crossing into the Reich. ... Many Poles could find it hard to read Die Große Flucht, because it predominantly portrays the sufferings of the Germans. But sometimes it is well worthwhile to look at events from another perspective, even that of the enemy." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Remembrance culture, » Poland
All available articles from » Piotr Zychowicz

Slovenia's government plans to put non-married couples and homosexual couples on an equal legal footing with heterosexual marriages and also grant homosexual couples the right to adopt children. The online edition of the daily Dnevnik analyses the law, which has come under fire from conservative Catholics: "The law doesn't simply give homosexual couples children to adopt, it makes it possible for them to adopt legally. It will still be the social security offices who 'put up' children for adoption. They must carefully consider who are the most suitable parents and with whom the child will be better off. In addition to a series of criteria, including individual maturity, health, proneness to drink or violence and around 150 more, the sexual orientation of the potential adoptive parents must also be taken into consideration. … The law therefore only makes it possible for homosexual couples who want to adopt a child to join the long queue of those who want to have a child." (23/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Gender equality, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Ranka Ivelja

If Ireland is lacking a large number of Catholic priests it's the fault of the Humanae Vitae encyclical, writes the daily The Irish Times: "The reasons for this rapid decline will be debated for years to come but consensus is gathering around a view that in Ireland, as elsewhere, its beginning can be traced to the 1968 Humanae Vitae encyclical. It banned artificial means of contraception. ... In the Catholic home, traditionally the primary source of vocations, it was the beginning of a decline of confidence in church leadership. This, in time, led to ever-growing doubt about the mandatory celibacy requirement for men who wished to be Catholic priests. An RTÉ poll in 2003 found that 75 per cent of Irish people opposed it. But it doesn't matter. As Catholics are frequently reminded, the church is not a democracy and, certainly during this papacy, there will be no change on celibacy." (23/11/2009)

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

The Swiss data protection commissioner Hanspeter Thür is suing Google before the country's Federal Administrative Court over its street-mapping service Street View, which provides a virtual tour of the streets of certain Swiss cities. Thür wants Google to make vehicle number plates and private gardens unrecognisable on its online service. The conservative weekly Die Weltwoche criticises Thür's court action: "Data protection, a German invention, originated from experiences with the Nazi regime and was intended to protect citizens from the encroachments of a threatening state. But the institution has long since been decoupled from its original purpose. While German tax investigators snoop around the accounts of respectable citizens, hoards of data protection agents are probing the private sector. The protection idea serves mainly as an alibi from which above all criminals benefit. For the average citizen data protection is for the most part irrelevant. … Data protection always entails censorship, as Hanspeter Thür's action against Street View illustrates." (18/11/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Media policy, » Switzerland
All available articles from » Alex Baur