According to a confidential paper the EU Commission plans to demand higher securities from banks in a bid to ensure that savers are better protected against losses. However the plan should not be aimed at simply punishing the banks as much as possible, the liberal Financial Times Deutschland warns: "From tougher capital requirements regulations to compulsory payments into a bank bailout fund or the state, to a ban on proprietary trading and securitisation of debt, a number of proposals are making the rounds at present. What they all have in common is that they are aimed at protecting the general public from the mistakes of the financial world, but at the same time they place an extra burden on banks. … However governments and regulation authorities should reflect carefully on where exactly they want to get their money from and how they can best use it. Contrary to what the high profit margins of certain institutes lead us to believe, even their resources are not infinite. Once the first regulations take effect and the central banks start tightening up their extremely flexible financial policy, the room for manoeuvre will shrink – also for granting loans. The EU should bear this in mind when it stipulates how much is to be paid into the mechanisms for securing savings deposits." (19/02/2010)

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

The system of rules applying to Danish banks is to be adjusted as a result of the financial crisis. These adjustments should be made in dialogue with the banks, the paper Berlingske Tidende writes: "Unflexible demands regarding securities for bank loans could lead to the emergence of a grey market for mortgages of the type we had in the 1980s, when a quarter of all real estate transactions were secured by mortgage bonds with excessive interest rates. The best way to ensure that the new rules don't have negative side-effects is to establish a dialogue about the rules with the banks. Here in Denmark and Europe they have shown humility and been clever enough to seek stricter state supervision. It may be that this humility was just a ploy but it would be foolish not to take advantage of it to achieve new regulations that will prevent crises in the foreseeable future." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Financial Markets, » Denmark

Austria is also discussing the introduction of a new bank tax. The daily Die Presse agrees banks should do their bit, but stresses that intelligent tax models are needed for such a scheme to work: "Since Messers Obama, Brown and Sarkozy got all hot in the collar over their banks' audaciously speculative dealings, talk has once more come round to bank taxation. ... Certainly, the banks should also pull their weight in overcoming the crisis. The roughly nine percent interest to be paid on capital borrowed from the state is definitely not enough. The banks must somehow also be made to deliver 'liability premiums' in exchange for the state's protection. The three large Austrian banks all have total assets exceeding half the GDP, meaning they would have to be bailed out in an emergency. If that's the case, then it should be with taxation models that push the sector in a sound direction and not with capital-based taxes that are ultimately paid by the customers." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Austria
All available articles from » Josef Urschitz

In a surprise move the UN climate chief Yvo de Boer announced his resignation on Thursday. The business paper Il Sole 24 Ore sees this as an opportunity to rethink the role of UN climate secretary: "No one had reckoned with this decision right now, although it would have been understandable two months ago after the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference. … Yvo de Boer has not walked out and slammed the door, but his farewell words speak clearly of his frustration. On the day after the Danish summit at which the interests of the rich world clashed with those of the poor world, many talked of the need for the the UN Climate Convention itself and its mechanisms to be revised. Now this may actually happen." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Marco Magrini

US President Barack Obama has met with the Dalai Lama in Washington, not in his office but in a back room in the White House. The conservative daily Lidové Noviny criticises Obama's half-heartedness: "When two Nobel Peace Prize winners meet it should be a cause for celebration. After all, these people have something to say to the world. Why did Nobel laureate Obama receive Nobel laureate Dalai Lama bashfully and unofficially? If anyone has lost face over this, it's Obama. And he's only got himself to blame if he loses it before the very people who wish him well. After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for not having done a thing he should have done his best to dispel criticism. If all that amounts to is an unofficial reception for his fellow Nobel Prize winner, it's only grist to his critics' mill." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » U.S., » China
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

Right-leaning parties are up in arms because the leftist parties are using posters in Turkish and Arab in the campaign for the local elections, arguing that this works against integration. But language should not be a dogma, writes Koen De Mesmaeker, the director of the naturalisation programme in the Flemish city of Ghent in the left-liberal daily De Volkskrant: "Dutch is a means for achieving harmonious coexistence, not an end in itself. … When I read that the desire among immigrants to participate in local elections is declining and lower than the last time I am pleased to see that people are being addressed in their native tongue, even if it's only to explain democratic values and institutions to them. … Participation in elections is an important democratic achievement and when this message is sent in Turkish, Arab, Chinese, English or any other language it is inappropriate to complain about it." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Elections, » Netherlands
All available articles from » Koen De Mesmaeker

Primary elections have begun in Poland to find a Civic Platform presidential candidate to replace current Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has indicated he will not run for the office. Even if the president has few areas of competence, the vote will be decisive for Poland's future, writes the online edition of the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: "The elections can be decisive in shaping the political scene for decades to come, as well as future reforms. The president elected this autumn may be an ally of Donald Tusk's government, and speed him along on the path to passing new laws. Or he may block him, as the current president is doing. He may be ambitious to consolidate political power, or he may sit back and watch the government work. The closer these elections come, the more we see all that's at stake." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Witold Gadomski

What have we learned from Climagate, the affair involving the false prognoses on climate change? A new scientific community has emerged in the blogosphere, writes Jerome Ravetz in the weekly Die Weltwoche: "Looking back, the absolute certainty of the established scientists that they were in the right and their critics had intellectual and moral shortcomings can be seen as arrogance. … Scientists who were forced to work in the blogosphere know what it means to be shut out and oppressed. This valuable experience could make it easier for them to realise that something has gone seriously wrong and encourage them to embark on the moral adventure that consists in dealing with uncertainties and ignorance. The new communications technologies have revolutionised knowledge and the balance of power in many areas. The extended community of scientific experts in the blogosphere will play its role in this process." (17/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Jerome Ravetz

French unions should follow the example of the German IG Metall, which reached a new wage agreement on Thursday, writes the conservative daily Le Figaro: "Faced with the urgency of the situation it took the bargaining partners less than a week to reach an agreement concerning 3.4 million workers. With the consent of IG Metall, the largest union in Germany - and Europe - salaries will not be raised this year. if things improve, employees will catch up in two years' time. ... This sacrifice must be seen as a concession in a process of give and take: for their part business leaders have agreed to guarantee job security. ... France is not Germany, and it is not about to convert to the German system of co-determination. But between that and the class struggle - an antiquated idea which remains the sole reference for our unions - there has to be a middle way." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Social movements, » Economic Policy, » Trade unions, » Germany, » France
All available articles from » Gaëtan de Capèle

When the euro was introduced in 1998, economist Milton Friedman gave it no more than 15 to 20 years. The Slovakian business paper Hospodárske Noviny recalls Friedman's prediction in view of Greece's budget woes, writing that Friedman's doubts about the common currency were based on the fact that "it meant bringing together a group of countries at different stages of development. And of course with differing mentalities as well. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain were most often cited as problematic. Now the human factor is compounding the experts' arguments. How can responsible politicians intentionally make false statements? ... Even if the Eurozone outlives Greece's current crisis: if individual countries fail to introduce responsible economic measures and opt for false solidarity over adequate sanctions, Friedman's prophecy may soon prove right." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Greece, » Europe
All available articles from » Ivan Švejna

The Swedish Security Service Säpo is blocking research on the approximately 50 Swedes who worked for East Germany's state security service (the Stasi), allegedly for security reasons. The daily Svenska Dagbladet takes issue with this approach: "It is difficult to understand how the publishing of historical facts can put the security of the country in jeopardy today. It's easy to see that this could be awkward for the people in question. Naturally the data must be handled with care. But if Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany and other countries can deal with this degree of openness, so can we. … This is partially about Sweden's playing a double game during the Cold War, when it claimed to be neutral (and criticised the US and Nato), but in fact stood on the right side. However not everyone was on that side." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Germany, » Sweden

One hitherto little-noticed positive effect of the recession has been the sinking crime rate in Finland, writes the daily Etelä Saima: "When the economy takes a dive, the number of registered crimes ... drops as well. At the same time the number of homicides also goes down because theft, robbery and other offences against property are often accompanied by violence to humans. Of course no one longs for economic crises as a way of getting crime statistics under control. But they do give us an indication of how the number of crimes may be limited. ... Another positive factor is that the police are not being called to deal with violence in families or other relationships so often. Could it be that with the recession people are boozing it up less?" (19/02/2010)

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

The British Conservatives are up in arms against beds named after Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita and padded bras for young girls. Party leader David Cameron now wants to take legal action against those who produce or advertise such products. But it takes more than that to stop the progressive sexualisation of children, writes The Daily Telegraph: "Cameron can't stop the process just by blaming the manufacturers of that – they only create and market what children demand, and children only imitate adults. ... Unless a society agrees that certain sexual behaviour is shameful, and morally wrong, we can hardly blame children for only following their heroines." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Weltanschauung, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Ed West

Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu recently spent six months living in Germany. His experiences failed to confirm the myth of a Germany where everything functions smoothly. Berlin has changed, he writes in the daily Evenimentul Zilei: "The Germans are no longer what they used to be, and they know it. I lived in Berlin for 18 months ten years ago. Back then the subway trains weren't jammed with passengers. They didn't run irregularly, and you didn't have to get out to travel part of the journey by bus. Nor was it usual for them to arrive 20 minutes behind schedule, because that would mean you would miss your connection or have to stand around waiting at some remote train station. … This time even when I left Berlin I saw potholes in the road (I had to take photos otherwise no one would believe me) that must have been unique in Germany and are as big as those near Valea Oltului or in my beloved Bucharest. … But no matter how run-down Germany has become, when I returned Bucharest was, as always, a shock. In the first days I could have committed suicide." (19/02/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » Public Culture, » Germany, » Romania
All available articles from » Mircea Cărtărescu