The conservative daily Berlingske Tidende comments that the nuclear compromise between Turkey and Iran is of little worth without Tehran's good will being put to the test: "No matter what happens in the days to come, the US and the EU should not go ahead and take the pressure off the clerical leadership in Tehran, which is known for speaking with a forked tongue. ... On the contrary, the Iranians' will to reach a peaceful solution to this enduring conflict must be put to the test. If the leadership really has peaceful intentions, it should grant free access to all facilities so the world may assure itself Iran is now abandoning its threatening posture and offering peace. Nevertheless the likelihood that Iran really will open up to the world is slim indeed. ... The world is used to Iran making a fool of it. There is still no proof whatsoever that Iran has really abandoned its nuclear weapons ambitions." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Global, » Iran

Iran may have surprised the West with its compromise over the nuclear dispute but scepticism is still called for, writes the daily Trouw: "A certain amount of distrust is in order, especially in view of Iran's turnabouts after earlier agreements. This time for example it is simply incomprehensible that Iran is holding to 20 percent uranium enrichment and at the same time wants to win back the trust of the West. The UN Security Council has expressly prohibited this. On these grounds alone the US and the EU have reason enough to prepare new sanctions against Tehran. At the same time Iran has clearly strengthened its diplomatic position. Turkey and Brazil are members of the Security Council and will now oppose new sanctions, along with China and possibly also Russia." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Global, » Turkey, » Iran, » Brazil

The nuclear compromise between Iran, Brazil and Turkey is inadequate and above all represents an attempt by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to delay a decision on sanctions, the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore writes: "The agreement fulfils only some of the conditions stipulated by the UN Security Council. The core of the problem remains uranium enrichment in Iran, the nuclear facility in Qom, the lack of concrete answers to the demands of the International nuclear authorities. ... However, according to its own statements the Iranian government is rushing to put the ball back in the West's court. It wants to put off the discussions about new sanctions to prevent them from coinciding with the first anniversary of the presidential elections on 12 June 2009, which led to a national uprising and the regime's brutal reaction to the revolt." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Turkey, » Iran, » Brazil
All available articles from » Alberto Negri

If Iran ceased its uranium enrichment programme the compromise with Brazil and Turkey in the nuclear dispute would be a true success, writes the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Ahmadinejad has scored a real victory. Once more he was in the limelight, this time not as a provocateur however, but as partner to a potentially productive solution. 'There is no longer any reason for sanctions', the Turkish foreign minister said at the end. ... As it turns out, the transfer of Iranian uranium for further enrichment abroad is part of a package that was wrapped long ago but never tied up. ... Doubts remain about whether Iran will really deliver the fuel, and above all whether it will now respect the three UN resolutions and stop its enrichment programme. That would satisfy almost everyone - apart from those who would prefer escalation to a solution to the conflict." (18/05/2010)

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All available articles from » Rudolf Chimelli

Heads of state and government from Latin America and Europe meet today, Tuesday, for the 6th EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit. These regions urgently need to expand their economic cooperation, the daily Diario Sur writes: "The 6th EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit, with representatives from 60 states, provides the ideal opportunity to extend transatlantic cooperation agreements that are in the objective interest of two economic areas that complement each other to a high degree. The internal disputes that are hindering greater cohesion within Latin America and have led to the absence of some states from the summit should in future be replaced by the great project of the 'Latin American Union', as [Spanish Prime Minister José Luis] Rodríguez Zapatero proposed in his capacity as current EU Council president." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Trade, » Spain, » Europe, » Latin Amerika

The focus of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Kiev on Monday and Tuesday this week is gas and political sovereignty. Russia is cranking up the pressure on Ukraine, the daily Der Standard notes: "The desired fusion between Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogas is meant to secure the Kremlin's control over gas transit to Central and Western Europe. If Ukraine shows itself unwilling Russia threatens it with constructing new pipelines to the north and the south so that it will eventually be able to circumvent Ukraine. So Ukraine is faced with the choice of giving up another piece of national sovereignty or losing more and more income from gas transit - which is an important source of revenue for the already struggling state budget. Despite his reportedly pro-Moscow stance, President Viktor Yanukovych wants to integrate the Europeans in a future pipeline company. This gives Russia the chance to prove what it has always claimed: that its gas policy is not simply superpower politics using different means." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Energy, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Ukraine, » Russia, » Europe
All available articles from » Josef Kirchengast

Public pressure has forced the Bulgarian finance ministry to reveal where the capital of the 18 largest Bulgarian state-owned enterprises is placed. The daily Dnevnik reports with consternation that half of the capital is concentrated in the hands of the Bulgarian Corporate Commercial Bank: "This bank is well known for supporting a media group with newspapers, television stations - and most recently a great interest in digitalisation. Before the elections it attempted to smear the current prime minister with its headlines. Now it defends him with passion. ... Anyone familiar with the prime minister will have no doubts that he knew where the 408 million leva [roughly 207 million euros] were placed. Clearly this bank is the darling of the state. The names of those concerned are unimportant. The danger lies in the chain of dependencies. The government has taken the first step and published the data. Now it must go further, dissolve similar relationships and introduce appropriate control mechanisms." (17/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Audiovisual Media, » Print media, » Media policy, » Press freedom, » Bulgaria

Just two weeks before the parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, flooding has hit the country's Moravian-Silesian Region together with parts of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. In an effort to win votes the campaigning parties are topping each other's bids to help out. The leftist daily Právo writes: "It would be cynical to see this as pure electoral theatrics. Every koruna, every bottle of drinking water, every sandbag is welcome, and of course that includes the help of those running for parliament. It is certainly preferable for them to offer their support than to put up huge posters promising to dam up the entire country. ... Perhaps Moravia has been lucky in the face of this calamity, because the politicians just happen to be in need of our support right now." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Environmental Policy, » Elections, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Jiří Franěk

The plans of the new government in Budapest to offer Hungarians living abroad Hungarian citizenship have met with opposition above all in Slovakia, and threaten to burden the Slovakians' relations with the Hungarian minority. In a commentary for the liberal Slovak daily Sme, Czech commentator Luboš Palata warns against overreactions: "There are Slovakians who envy the Czechs for the ethnic cleansing of their border areas. But where did it lead them? Not only to a moral catastrophe that weighs heavily on the Czech conscience to this day. The extermination and expulsion of the Sudeten Germans was also an economic disaster. All that remains today of what was once a thriving landscape, a mainstay of Czechoslovakia's status as one of world's ten most developed countries between the two world wars, is a depopulated, abandoned region. ... The inspiring daily coexistence between Czechs and Germans disappeared. The Czechs robbed themselves of a lot. ... The Slovakians can consider themselves lucky that they have their Hungarians. They are a great asset which no other country in Central Europe possesses and for which the Czechs envy them." (17/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » History, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Germany, » Hungary, » Czech Republic, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Luboš Palata

In his column for the online business paper Taloussanomat, Risto Pennanen sees the premature introduction of the euro as the main cause of the European single currency's current plight: "The entire Eurozone is in a crisis because when it was introduced the euro was the fruit of an incredible political passion. The warnings of internationally renowned economists fell on deaf ears while the political idea of the euro was obsessively pushed through. Above all British and US economists warned that a currency is a mirror of the economy and that the various economies in the euro zone could not produce uniform reflections. The response to this criticism was that the euro and the stability system would lead to a harmonisation of the different economies. But exactly the opposite occurred. ... In the midst of the chaos it's easy to conclude that back then the economies should have been guided in the same direction first, with the introduction of the euro coming later. But instead of building the foundations first the impatient politicians went straight to work on building the house. So a good idea was ruined by populism and haste." (17/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Risto Pennanen

The European Commission has confirmed that Estonia fulfils the Maastricht criteria and can convert to the euro on January 1, 2011. The daily Neatkarīgā rīta avīze sees this as a change in Brussels' policy. "The decision shows a new trend in the EU's stance towards the Baltic states. Up to now many changes like accession to the EU or the Schengen Area were undertaken simultaneously in all three countries. The Baltic region was regarded as a uniform whole, and we were all treated the same despite the differences. Lithuania was denied the introduction of the euro despite very nearly fulfilling all the Maastricht criteria with the explanation that this would destroy the unity of the Baltic. ... Estonia's accession to the Eurozone breaks with this tradition and ushers in a new policy: the Baltic states are no longer assessed jointly but each for its own performance. And destructive states like Latvia are demoted and subjected to IMF control." (18/05/2010)

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All available articles from » Juris Paiders

The left-liberal daily Ta Nea paints a sombre picture of Greece's prospects for economic development: "The news we've been getting until now has been anything but good. The recession worsened in the first quarter to minus 2.3 percent. That means hard times lie ahead, and growth will remain below minus five percent in the course of the year. This is the fifth quarter in a row in which negative growth has been recorded. Inflation has risen to 4.8 percent, without counting the rise of VAT from 21 to 23 percent. Can we still hope for an annual inflation rate under six percent? Hardly. Unemployment will rise from 12 to 15 percent in the coming months. ... Our country is suffocating, because the rescue measures determined by our economic policy could plunge it even deeper into the abyss. ... Our country is choking because it has no prospects for development." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Greece
All available articles from » Giannis Pretenderis

In a surprise move Portugal's conservative president Aníbal Cavaco Silva freed the way for the legalisation of same-sex marriage on Monday evening. Any other decision would have almost certainly led to his election defeat, the daily Diário de Notícias writes: "In this election year Cavaco Silva opted for the pragmatic solution rather than a 'Quixotic' battle - even though such a struggle would have met with the approval of many of his voters. However such a course would have almost certainly have led to a dead end. The political Right elected him, but he chose the traditional path of being president of all Portuguese. ... For this reason everything pointed against his personal views. The issue, however, is not a minor one as it amounts to the most crucial break with our Judeo-Christian concept of the family. In this context it is understandable that the president turned directly to the Portuguese people before announcing his decision." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Minorities, » Weltanschauung, » Social affairs, » Portugal

France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands have all spoken out recently against Muslim women wearing full-body veils, the burka or the niqab. The UK wants to appear more liberal than its European neighbours, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown writes with concern in the liberal daily The Independent: "It's about the right to choose, say the apologists. Oh yes? Then why are these campaigners not championing the rights of Muslim and non-Muslim women in the West and East not to cover up? The truth is that they aspire to be separatists, and blackmail our nervous nation to stop them if it dares. For me, the overwhelming argument against the burka (and various coverings for children, another growing abomination) is that there is such a thing as society. Community fetishes cannot override social communication, connection, obligations, equality, duties and understanding. Security and safety-measures too require facial identification. Politicians need to get assertive and argue that they believe in non-racist, universal human development." (18/05/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Religion, » Integration, » Social affairs, » Gender equality, » United Kingdom, » Europe
All available articles from » Yasmin Alibhai-Brown