The German government is demanding that tough conditions be set for providing EU aid to Greece. But these are just delaying tactics on the part of German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the North Rhine-Westphalia state election to be held on May 9, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "The bailout has become a race against time. It's a question of days, not months. With the current trend in prices the costs for the manoeuvre have already almost doubled. But Germany wants to wait for the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. No doubt Merkel is having trouble persuading her fellow citizens to provide help for a country that systematically cooked its books. But the very same citizens wouldn't be at all pleased if in the end they are presented with a bill that is even higher than if action is taken now. Are they well enough informed about the risks? Doubts about this are justified." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Greece
All available articles from » Tito Boeri

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's hesitancy regarding help for Greece is only aggravating the situation of the Eurozone and its weakest members, writes the daily Correio da Manhã: "Greece's lack of discipline opened the Pandora's box that is jeopardising the euro. But Germany's inflexible and egotistic policy, which is more preoccupied with the political costs of the upcoming North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament elections is only precipitating the collapse of the euro. Each financial quake in Athens has repercussions for Lisbon. These assaults on its stability will only end when Merkel guarantees the security of the Eurozone. Until she takes this step the speculators will continue to gamble and capitalise on the plight of the weaker euro countries: Greece and Portugal." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Germany, » Portugal, » Europe
All available articles from » Armando Esteves Pereira

Germany's criticism of Greece is most unwelcome in the almost bankrupt state. But the left-liberal Greek daily To Vima sees it as justified: "Greece is on the brink of disaster but some people are still thinking like spoiled princes! They behave as if the entire planet was in Greece's debt although in actual fact it's Greece that owes almost the entire planet something. We all agree that our country is defenceless and fraudsters and tax evaders have it easy here. But when Angela Merkel says this we get annoyed. Every Greek knows that we can't regulate our budget on our own. We live on debt, we spend all there is to spend and when there's nothing left we resort to austerity measures. But as soon as the measures start to work we start wasting money again. ... So before we start protesting against Frau Merkel and the other critics we should first ask ourselves whether they aren't right to be wary of us. After all, they're lending us their money." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Greece
All available articles from » Vasilis Hiotis

The left-liberal daily Frankfurter Rundschau finds German nationalist feelings of superiority in the debate over financial aid for Greece inappropriate and far removed from economic reality: "Go ahead, wallow in your pride! The high won't last for long, that's for sure. Because what would happen if Germany left the Eurozone? An appreciation of around 30 percent over the remaining Euro states. True, that would eradicate the labour cost advantage we enjoy here at home, but that's the way things are on the free currency market: rates will react - and overreact. A 30 percent appreciation in Germany would be tantamount to a rescue for Greece, where cost-benefit functions would once more add up. And it would bring a huge competitive advantage on global markets for industry in France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Slovakia. The rest of Euroland would experience a true export boom and finally be able to grow independently of Germany." (27/04/2010)

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

Greece needs a lot more financial support from other Eurozone countries than has so far been planned, writes the daily NRC Handelsblad: "Europe must lend Greece more than the 30 billion that are now in the books, and it won't get all its money back. … There is a high probability that Athens won't be able to pay back all the state securities. This will lead to renewed chaos in the financial sector, which will cause problems for many European banks as the holders of Greek state securities and increase the risk of [the crisis] spreading further. ... The alternative is to give Greece genuine support and give third parties priority when it comes to paying off the national debt. This will prevent Greece from becoming insolvent, even if it is at the other Euro countries' expense. ... The 1.8 billion that the Netherlands is advancing as part of the EU bailout package must therefore be partially regarded as a subsidy and recorded as such." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Financial Markets, » Greece, » Netherlands, » Europe

On Monday 24 years ago the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster occurred. The Balsas news portal points out that the repercussions are still being felt today: "Millions of people still can't forget the accident. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers came to help and risked their lives. They had only rudimentary protection and suffer the consequences to this day. Hundreds of thousands of people had to abandon their homes like war refugees in a matter of minutes just to save their lives. Many had no other choice and still live in the contaminated areas in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. In the corridors of cancer clinics in Kiev patients sit and wait for a cure. Many of them are still young and many have no chance. They are the martyrs of the peaceful use of nuclear energy." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Energy, » Health and Medicine, » Ukraine, » Russia
All available articles from » Saulius Lapienis

Debate has been raging in France in recent days over the case of a woman who was fined for driving a car while wearing a full burqa and whose polygamous husband is threatened with being stripped of his French citizenship. The daily Le Quotidien sees the affair as a diversionary tactic on the part of the government: "The current government loves scapegoats, and never tires of pointing its finger at them instead of dealing with the real problems at hand. It's easy to brandmark a woman who wears a full-body veil. But it's a lot more difficult to get quick results when you have to tackle genuine problems like unemployment and buying power. The man with several wives and roughly a dozen children for whom he is demanding benefits is the very image of the malevolent Muslim immigrant, just the way we like them. True, polygamy is an offence, but luckily it's no adequate reason to deprive someone of their citizenship." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Integration, » France
All available articles from » Audrey Somnard

Jarosław Kaczyński, brother of the late Polish President Lech Kaczyński, announced on Monday that he will run in the upcoming presidential elections in June. The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita welcomes the announcement: "The decision by Jarosław Kaczyński comes as no surprise. It is only natural that the leader and founder of the [national conservative party] 'Law and Justice' should run for the office of president. If he believes that he can take up the political challenge despite his personal tragedy, he has every right to do so. But even more importantly his decision means the Poles will have a true election. Because a strong opposition is just as necessary as a strong government. A serious opposition candidate is essential - especially when political life is dominated by one party." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Poland
All available articles from » Igor Janke

Aygül Özkan will become Germany's first government minister of Turkish origin when she takes office as Lower Saxony's new minister for social affairs today, Tuesday. Following criticism from members of her own party, the conservative Christian Democratic party (CDU) she has dropped her initiative for a ban on crucifixes at state schools. The Berliner Zeitung feels reminded of the Federal Constitutional Court's crucifix decision 15 years ago: "But unlike the CDU politician back then the Constitutional Court stood alone. Recently, however, the European Court of Human Rights has taken sides with it and ordered Italy to pay compensation to a plaintiff from Finland because crucifixes were not removed from the school her children attend. ... Within the Union there have been calls for Aygül Özkan to be denied the appointment as minister. If this happened the politician could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights for help. The cause of the action: Discrimination because she defended the Basic Law's principle of neutrality." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Christian Bommarius

Jiří Pehe, former chief advisor to Czech ex-president Václav Havel, writes in the leftist daily Právo that the election results in Hungary bode ill for the future of democracy in Eastern Europe: "The fledgling democracies in our region are still 'democracies without democrats'. Democracy was introduced relatively quickly here and with a good measure of success, thanks in large part to the massive transfer of know-how from institutions like the EU. Nevertheless, the development of the culture of democracy must happen over the long term. Once can say with a fair degree of certainty that Fidesz will not immediately put its absolute power into accelerating the process of reform, but that it will first settle old scores with political opponents. In foreign policy terms, [future prime minister] Viktor Orbán's nationalism means we can brace ourselves for one thing. ... No one becomes alarmed when one large party assumes power in the UK because it would never occur to them to attack the very fundaments of democracy. One-party government in our region, by contrast, unfortunately constitutes a nightmare even 20 years after the fall of communism." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Hungary
All available articles from » Jiří Pehe

Radical Islamism and extreme right-wing movements are united by the goal of fanning hatred between the West and Islam, writes the lawyer Husein Muhammed in the daily Helsingin Sanomat: "There's a sort of unholy alliance between anti-Muslim right-wing radicals and anti-Western Muslim extremists. The two work hand in glove. In this way for example terrorist attacks by radical Islamists fuel prejudices and even hatred against Muslims. That also goes for Muslims who have nothing to do with the attacks and who condemn them in no uncertain terms. In the West such attacks make anti-Muslim, right-wing extremist parties and movements more popular. These, in turn, engender hatred against all Muslims, with the result that moderate, formerly pro-Western Muslims can be radicalised. Anti-Western sentiment is spread among Muslims, while anti-Muslim sentiment spreads in the West. The result is a vicious circle from which only the right-wing extremist and radical Islamic movements can profit." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » Minorities, » Global
All available articles from » Husein Muhammed

Thousands of farmers are protesting in Paris today, Tuesday, to draw attention to the crisis in French agriculture. However state help alone is no solution, writes the business daily Les Echos: "It's not just the revenues of milk producers and pig farmers that have plummeted. Grain crops ... are also hard hit. France has helped its car industry and its banks. It's just as legitimate to support agriculture, which positively contributes to our balance of trade. But if agriculture wants to become an industry like any other it must also accept the advantages and inconveniences of this status. It must invest and innovate - as much in organic agriculture as in genetically-modified organisms. But it must also obey the rules of globalisation. Agriculture may be helped, but not overprotected." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Agriculture, » France
All available articles from » David Barroux

An increasing number of farmers are looking for alternative channels of distribution that enable them to avoid wholesale trade. The leftist daily Público sees this as an opportunity: "The crisis in which the agricultural sector finds itself and the difficulties in gaining direct access to consumers, coupled with a barely transparent profit margin law which results in an almost 500 percent increase in price between producer and consumer - mostly to the benefit of wholesale trade - has led farmers to seek alternatives. The farmers' union COAG has launched the ARCO initiative (Agriculture of shared Responsibility) with the aim of supporting shorter trade routes - farmers' markets, consumer cooperatives, delivery of crates of vegetables, farmyard sales, community kitchens - and in this way avoid wholesale traders. The surge of these modes of distribution generates a series of possibilities for developing an alternative model of consumption based at a local level which enables people to regain the right to decide how, when and who produces what is consumed." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Consumers, » Agriculture, » Spain
All available articles from » Esther Vivas

Three years ago today youths of Russian origin rioted in Tallinn following the removal of a Soviet war monument. The news portal Delfi looks back on what came to be known as "Bronze night": "Estonia was in shock. Sixteen years after regaining independence there were still so many young people whose loyalty belonged to our eastern neighbour, with its hostile rhetoric, rather than the state in which they lived. Even educated and intelligent people balled their fists, although they kept them in their pockets. ... Fortunately people in Estonia have understood that police interventions won't resolve the 'Russian issue'. This realisation has triggered a wave of actionism, however mostly in the form of new websites. They haven't really achieved much but at least they convey the impression that something is being done to tackle the problem. Yet there's no lack of good ideas, for example the foundation of a state-run Russian-language television channel, reforms in schools and anti-discrimination measures." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Media policy, » Integration, » Minorities, » Estonia

On a television programme the French comedian Jonathan Lambert has made a gag of sticking out his hand in greeting. The daily România Liberă is not amused at this allusion to the numerous Romanian beggars in France, many of whom are Roma: "We're proud that we abolished slavery - in this case that of the Roma - before the Americans. But liberation came as a calamity for many of them. ... The Gypsies were liberated in 1856, without acquiring the means of organising their own lives. Consequently they fell by the wayside and were forced to beg. Today others find themselves in a similar situation: the youths who must leave their orphanages on turning 18, many of whom become pickpockets or burglars. Few of them manage to find a place in society after losing the one stabilising factor in their lives from one day to the next: the roof over their heads." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Social affairs, » France, » Romania
All available articles from » Nicolae Prelipceanu

The detailed coverage of the engagement and broken engagement of Princess Madeleine of Sweden prompts the social democratic leaning daily Dala-Demokraten to criticise the glut of gossip in the news: "The media are preoccupied with gossip and prying into people's private lives. This spring, for example, climate issues disappeared entirely from view - instead we were flooded with wedding journalism. Exaggerating slightly, this is how you can sum up the news coverage of the past few months. It's depressing. It looks like the long drawn-out Tiger Woods saga put standards on a new level, namely a very low one: Infidelity has taken the top slot when it comes to assessing the news." (27/04/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » Online media, » Sweden