The planned construction in East Jerusalem is jeopardising the Middle East peace process, writes the liberal daily Der Standard: "What will happen now with the so-called peace process? Most likely nothing. But that was also true before the scandal. All that's changed is that now people are taking an even closer look at this crucial theatre of events. ... More and more people - also in the EU - are arguing for the recognition of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, if it can't be reached at the negotiating table. Like all unilateral steps, that would also be a very dangerous undertaking with unpredictable consequences. There is only one way to avert this danger, and that is with real, meaningful negotiations. But that's a far cry from what we're seeing now." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe, » U.S., » Israel
All available articles from » Gudrun Harrer

In building homes for ultra-orthodox families in East Jerusalem Israel is stoking the flames of the Middle East conflict, writes the conservative Daily Telegraph: "This is simply not good enough. The international community is investing a great deal of time, effort and money in seeking to bring peace to the region; and while the Israelis may have their concerns over the direction of travel, as no doubt do the Palestinians, it is incumbent on all parties to avoid such provocation while the initiative is under way. With some justification, the Israelis consider Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon, and not the Palestinian issue, to be the region's most pressing problem. They believe that once Hamas and Hezbollah are emboldened by Tehran's military umbrella, then a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict will be further away than ever and nuclear proliferation will grip the Middle East. All the more reason why, surrounded by enemies, Israel must not exasperate its friends." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Middle East, » Israel

With the announcement that it will build 1,600 new homes in the eastern part of Jerusalem, Israel has clearly snubbed its American partner, writes the left-liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Yes, this is a provocation, and a show of brazen impertinence. The small partner is calling the tune. President Obama should now bring it forcibly home to Prime Minister Netanyahu that even the special friendship between the two states has its limits once Israel starts undermining America's authority. Any hesitation on Obama's part will up the chances of Jerusalem's also distancing itself from Washington on how to deal with Iran's nuclear programme. If Israel really does bomb Iranian nuclear facilities as it has threatened to do, the whole region could sink into war." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » U.S., » Israel
All available articles from » Peter Münch

French lawyers, prosecutors, judges, prison wardens and court employees protested on Tuesday against conditions in the French judiciary. Since the elections in 2007 legal reform has been a top priority of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, writes the daily Le Monde: "The government may argue that this is merely the inevitable disgruntlement of a profession that has been considerably shaken up. Nevertheless there are good grounds for the exasperation. Despite budgetary measures, the efficiency of the judiciary remains severely handicapped by lacking staff and resources. Eyewitness accounts are damning. But even more worrysome is the executive's desire to control the judiciary. The decision to abolish the post of examining magistrate announced by the president in January and implemented by the Minister of Justice Michèle Alliot-Marie ... could have met with a general consensus. ... But as long as prosecutors remain subordinate to the ministry ... their impartiality will remain in question." (10/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » France

The National Council of Slovenes in the Austrian state of Carinthia is on the verge of disbanding due to severe funding cutbacks on the part of the Republic of Slovenia. Young Slovenians living in the region can only benefit, writes the daily Delo: "They are also calling for the other two Slovenian minority associations to disband, as well as for the resignation of 'paid functionaries who for decades have only cared about consolidating their power instead of helping the minority to survive'. They also believe it's high time for Slovenia to take a firm stand on the minority in Carinthia. Of course the welfare of the Austrian Slovenes lies primarily with the government in Vienna, but it prefers to look on impassively and do nothing. ... Happiest with the current situation are above all the local Carinthian politicians, who have grabbed the chance to rant and rail against the Slovenian minority." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Slovenia, » Austria
All available articles from » Barbara Kramzar

The Italian ruling party The People of Freedom failed to meet the registration deadline for regional elections in certain parts of the country and has therefore been excluded from the vote. In his blog Tempo Reale Vittorio Zucconi comments on the scuffle that broke out at a press conference held by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on the subject on Wednesday: "I am sure that this sequence will not be missing from future documentaries on Italy's Berlusconi years aimed at teaching our unbelieving and sceptical grandchildren about the fog that blinded Italians to such an extent that they were no longer capable of recognising even the most blatant facts. The scene featuring a hysterical prime minister and a wrestling defence minister who thinks he's a gorilla makes it clear that we have gone far beyond the limits of politics, ideology, mafia and trials ... and crossed into a Never Never land; a country full of aged Peter Pans with plastic faces, Tinkerbells, fairies and Captain Hooks that is beyond comprehension and out of which there is no way out but to wake up and go to the ballots!" (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Press freedom, » Italy
All available articles from » Vittorio Zucconi

King Albert of Belgium will attend the celebrations for 50th anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium. The visit to President Joseph Kabila should be more than just a ceremony, the daily De Morgen points out: "If the King confines himself to amiably watching the marches and drinking a glass of champagne with Kabila he would only be strengthening these people' reputation and legitimacy and his visit would thus be a slap in the face for the average Congolese citizen and for everyone who is concerned about the future of Africa and general and that of the Congo in particular. ... After all, the question of what policy this government is pursuing towards Congo is more important than a symbolic visit. ... What conditions does Belgium attach to the expansion of development aid, what are the possibilities for further democratisation ... and which instruments can be used to end the conflicts that have claimed millions of victims in the past decade? ... If the Belgian government's only answer to these questions is a handshake between the King and Kabila, accompanied by a deafening silence, it would be a disgrace." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Belgium, » Africa
All available articles from » Yves Desmet

Roughly three years after the US real estate crisis that sparked the global financial crisis speculators remain largely unchallenged, writes Kaki Balli in the left-leaning daily Avgi: "The leaders of the old industrial world unanimously promised to stop the speculators. They said it was their priority to 'tame' the markets to avoid the next crisis. The current one has put 100 million people out of work and plunged dozens of countries around the globe into bankruptcy. Nevertheless the people widely believed to be the real culprits, the accursed 'golden boys', are once more raking in the profits and tirelessly sowing the seeds for the next disaster. In 2008 they convulsed the world with their toxic, complex products based on unsecured subprime loans. Now they're going one step further. They're making their money at the expense of states - not just 'naughty' little Greece, but also the 'powerful' old UK. And they're doing it with the money these very states forked out to save them from the crash." (10/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Kaki Balli

Living conditions will seriously deteriorate for most people in the coming decades, British journalist John Lloyd of the Financial Times predicts in a column for the conservative Polish paper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna :"We will have to contend with the rundown of resources - not just oil, gas and coal, ... but also land, clean air and water. Strong population growth is likely to continue, especially in poorer regions. John Beddington, the British government's chief scientific adviser, warned a few months ago that we were heading for a 'perfect storm' of escalating food prices, mass migration and droughts in the next 20 years. Inequalities will grow wider as wealth flows to a global elite of resource owners, top executives and stars. The three sibilants - secrecy, security and celebrity - will disguise this for a time but cannot do so in the longer term." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Economic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » John Lloyd

Economist Annamária Artner explains in the left-liberal daily Népszabadság the economic shortcomings of the Eurozone: "What is at stake here is the 'European Dream', or in other words the existence of the single currency. The latter ... leaves countries that are having difficulties (like Greece) no means to influence the economic processes with their own financial policy. This wouldn't be a problem if we were talking about a community of states in which the members were all at a high stage of development and in which all the market's control mechanisms (for example interest policy) were the same. But the Eurozone is far from conforming to this ideal." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Annamária Artner

Rating agency Fitch has announced it may lower Bulgaria's credit rating to "junk" because of the country's great dependence on Greek banks. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung sees the response this news elicited from the Bulgarian government on Tuesday as very risky: "[According to the Bulgarian government] Fitch just wants to get its own back after Bulgaria cancelled a contract with the agency about a month ago that was costing the state budget 225,000 francs (154,000 euros) per year for the agency's monitoring services. ... However Fitch is not alone in fearing a chain reaction on the Balkans as a result of the problems of Greek financial institutes. The agency Moody's also expects Bulgarian banks to struggle with the consequences of the crisis over the next 12 to 18 months, and that their foreign parent companies will act with caution." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Financial Markets, » Greece, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Rudolf Hermann

The sexual abuse scandal involving the Catholic Church is now spreading in the Netherlands too. The country's religious community bears part of the responsibility for the incidents, writes the Christian-oriented daily Trouw: "Naturally nothing good can be said about what the Church and some of its priests did to the children who were entrusted to their care and pastoral supervision. ... Power corrupts, and uncontrolled power corrupts absolutely - this is also true for the Church, as we have long been aware. These things happen in an environment where the clergy and laity close their eyes to abuse and are deaf to the signals of the victims, where they hinder denunciations and abandon the victims to their fate 'in the name of peace'. It would be too easy to point fingers in collective indignation at the Church exclusively. The religious community makes and gets the Church it deserves." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Netherlands, » Global
All available articles from » Henk Tieleman

Twenty years ago Romanian civil rights activists in Timişoara published a draft for a lustration law proscribing that former members of the communist party and the secret service Securitate be barred from running for political office for the space of three legislative periods. If that law had been passed, this is how things would look in Romania today according to the daily România Liberă: "The country's capitalism would not still be dominated by nepotism and Romanian politics wouldn't be in the hands of cliques. ... Romania would have changed more swiftly and sensibly, bad roads would have been replaced by motorways and the best railway network in Eastern Europe wouldn't have been taken to pieces, the average salary would be between 800 and 1,000 euros like in the Czech Republic or Poland and the media wouldn't be in the hands of a few moguls. ... Romania missed its start because the parliamentarians never wanted to accept a lustration and preferred to privatise the secret service rather than the economy. Twenty years after the Proclamation of Timişoara an assessment of morals leaves much to be desired even though by joining the EU and Nato Romania managed to catch up a bit." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » History, » Economic Policy, » Elections, » Remembrance culture, » Poland, » Czech Republic, » Romania
All available articles from » Sabina Fati

Several Swedish papers on Wednesday published cartoonist Lars Vilks' caricature of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, in protest at the presumed plot to murder him. A needless provocation, writes the daily Savon Sanomat: "One should avoid hurting people's religious feelings. But it must be allowed to give an artistic portrayal of religion as Vilks did. And it goes without saying that offending people's religious feelings in no way justifies violence. The decision of the Swedish press to publish the controversial image is a needless protest that does not serve the interests of the freedom of expression. Rather it could consolidate the battle lines and make fruitful dialogue more difficult as a result. The freedom of expression of the media is unassailable, but provocation should also be avoided." (11/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Print media, » Online media, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Press freedom, » Sweden