The Football World Cup starting today, Friday, in South Africa is an opportunity for Africa and will make Spain forget the crisis for a few days, the daily El Correo hopes: "The World Cup which begins today in South Africa is a milestone in the history of a continent plagued by poverty and violence but not has an opportunity to channel its enthusiasm and pride into solidarity, peace and development. The first World Cup to take place on the African continent is a triumph of Nelson Mandela's peaceful revolution and confirms the extraordinary potential of a region that needs confidence in its future, more infrastructure and to open up more to the rest of the world. For Spanish society, fired up by its dream of conquering the trophy, the World Cup will at least allow it to ward off the nightmare economic crisis for a few days." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Economic Policy, » Spain, » Africa

For the daily Latvijas Avīze the significance of the Football World Cup extends beyond sport well into the realm of politics: "Already in Ancient Rome the people could be kept happy with bread and games. Football events are the biggest spectacle of our time, which is why just before the start of the World Cup people will be more ready to stomach unpleasant decisions taken by their leaders. In Germany, for example, critics believe Angela Merkel's austerity package met with very little outrage simply because the Germans are more caught up with team captain Michael Ballack's injury than the resignation of the German President Horst Köhler. France, by the same token, is now involved in a debate over retirement and pension reform. So like all other presidents in a similar situation President Sarkozy has every interest in the French team getting as far as possible to improve the public mood and raise his popularity." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Sport, » Germany, » France, » Global
All available articles from » Uldis Šmits

The Football World Cup may not be able to solve South Africa's problems but it is nevertheless a time for celebration, writes the Catholic daily La Croix: "The required infrastructure, organisation and funds employed in this venture do not correspond to the usual image of Africa - even if the country of Nelson Mandela is emblematic of wealth and energy. The whole world will have its eyes on Africa. And for all Africans these will be days of pride. Of course no magic wand can spirit away the glaring inequalities both old and new, the violence and shattered dreams, the poverty and divisions. There may be failures or disappointments. Nevertheless one has to rejoice with this people and this nation, known for their ability to take on challenges." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Sport, » Social affairs, » South Africa
All available articles from » Dominique Quinio

Slovenia can be proud of its participation in the Football World Cup because the championship is far more than just a sporting event, writes the online edition of the daily Dnevnik: "Although security worries dissuaded many fans from coming to the World Cup, the days to come will once more make clear why football is the king of sports. Far more than a game among 22 men on a playing field, this is a huge business, a modern religion, in which the very identification of a nation hinges on one of the most highly regarded challenges of modern time. Here a country may win prestige among all the world's peoples and nations. Many Slovenians are insufficiently aware that in our 19 years of history as an independent country our national team has twice acquired for itself an equal footing in the club of 32 national teams through an extremely arduous qualification system." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Slovenia, » South Africa
All available articles from » Joze Okorn

Parts of a recorded discussion dealing with dubious donations to the governing left-wing populist party Smer have surfaced in the run-up to Saturday's elections in Slovakia. The recordings come as an embarrassment to Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose voice can be heard on the tape. Fico has filed charges against the daily Sme, which published the recorded text. The newspaper comments: "Every vote, and every voice - even a recorded one - can decide how the country will be governed in the years to come. ... The voice on the tape speaks volumes. If it really does belong to Fico it proves that his party has been based on fraud, clientelism and corruption since its very inception. Silence would be out of place here. The past months have brought a quantity of evidence that Smer was born as a business project. The current recordings are just the latest piece of evidence. But even without it it is clear that Fico and his friends do not deserve your votes." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Matúš Kostolný

In the Srebrenica trial a UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague convicted two of the seven defendants of genocide on Thursday. The Bosnian Serbs Vujadin Popovic und Ljubisa Beara were sentenced to life imprisonment. The victims will no doubt be satisfied with the judgement, the left-liberal Berliner Zeitung comments: "Back in March the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić had the audacity to describe the massacre as a myth. His name is now included in the judgement against the high-ranking officers. The court is firmly convinced that they acted under the direct orders of the supreme command. A March 1995 directive bears Karadžić's signature. For the first time the direct chain of command is becoming visible which reached from the political leadership to the military staff to the perpetrators on location. The tribunal has made further progress towards incontrovertibly proving that Karadzic was the brains behind the bloody deed." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Netherlands, » Bosnia and Herzegovina
All available articles from » Frank Herold

The Italian senate on Thursday approved the controversial bugging law on first reading. The legislation is aimed at restricting bugging operations for investigational purposes and banning their publication in the media. The conservative online magazine Farefuturo concedes that the government has relaxed its "gag law" but says it nevertheless still encroaches on the democratic future of the country: "You get the unpleasant feeling that this is just a cover. … It may sound exaggerated to see the law as a dividing line between dictatorship and democracy, but it could have been a lot better. It could have prevented the escalating practice of bugging without restricting press freedom. The list of 'could haves' is long. Given the circumstances they've done the best they could. Perhaps. But that perhaps weighs like a rock on Italian politics and threatens to destroy it." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Press freedom, » Italy
All available articles from » Filippo Rossi

Geert Wilders' right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV) has emerged from the Netherlands' elections as the third-strongest political power. The left-liberal daily Politiken points to Denmark's experiences with the comparable Danish People's Party: "It's not just that the attitude of so many Dutch who support this party is deeply problematic. Religious and ethnical intolerance have left such deep marks on our common European past that you lose all hope that this won't happen again, even if it now wears the guise of democracy. As regretful as Wilders' election victory is, his party is only a little bigger than the Danish People's Party, which as we all know thrives on the same worries, fears and prejudices as Geert Wilders' party." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » Elections, » Denmark, » Netherlands

The conflict over the Israeli attack on an aid flotilla for Gaza illustrates the new balance of power in the Middle East. In relying on its ally the US Israel is making a mistake, writes international politics expert Rob de Wijk in the daily Trouw: "By doing this the country is positioning itself beyond the international order. Israel is increasingly becoming one of the world's pariahs and putting itself in the same category as North Korea. … Israel's stance is untenable because it ignores international changes. … The cards are being reshuffled in the Middle East. The US remains the protagonist but it must share its power with countries that have other priorities. Turkey and Russia are taking the initiative and want a peace that doesn't come at Iran's expense. The US's loss of power could become an existential problem for Israel because for Turkey and Russia the wellbeing of the Jewish people is not the top priority." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Russia, » U.S., » Turkey, » Middle East, » Israel
All available articles from » Rob de Wijk

The Estonians are paying a high price for the austerity measures of their government and Europe's neo-liberal course, writes columnist Giorgos Delastik in the left-liberal daily To Ethnos: "Finally the country has been found that shows what a 'financial Dachau' looks like. It is Estonia, whose Eurozone membership the finance ministers have approved. ... In 2009 the country's budget deficit was only 1.7 percent of GDP and its national debt ... just 7.2 percent of GDP! At the same time Germany's debts for 2009 rose to 73.2 percent of the GDP. ... Just one question: how did Estonia achieve this financial miracle in just a year? The answer is simple, if painful: it exterminated the Estonians! In 2009 the country's GDP was reduced by 15 percent. ... The country's government declared a social war on its people: it drove up unemployment to 20 percent. Not only did it slash the salaries of civil servants by 20 to 30 percent, it slashed the public servants themselves by firing tens thousand of them. It cut pensions by 20 percent and destroyed the hospitals by cutting their budgets by up to 40 percent." (10/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Estonia
All available articles from » Giorgos Delastik

The Polish government wants to introduce a legal limit for budget spending in a bid to save several billion zloty in the coming years. The conservative paper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna welcomes the plan but doesn't expect the savings to amount to much: "Let's not fool ourselves: the spending limit won't be a miracle cure for Poland's public finances. The government's cuts of 8.5 billion zloty [2.2 billion euros] by 2012 are only a drop in the ocean. So if we're seeking a purpose to all this we'll have to look elsewhere: It would set up another hurdle to protect against populist attacks on the budget, as it won't be so easy to get round the spending limit. Firstly because anyone who wants to touch it, from a psychological perspective, must bear the market reaction in mind. And it won't be good. And secondly there is a technical reason. To fiddle around with the limit would require a change in the law, which is no small matter." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Marcin Piasecki

In the wake of the Greek crisis the EU statistics office Eurostat has acquired the right to verify economic data on location in member countries. Doubt over Bulgarian economic statistics has led Eurostat to announce that auditors will soon be arriving in Sofia. The daily Sega writes that the EU wants to make an example of Bulgaria: "Why must the newly empowered statistics office make a bee-line for Bulgaria? The answer is simple: Bulgaria is to serve as a deterrent for other countries. Exposing the poorest EU country won't constitute too much of a risk for European stability. ... However Bulgaria's problem isn't the statistics, but the all-encompassing network of lies and theft, in which it has been enmired for the last 20 years of transformation. It's not for nothing that the tax authorities yesterday [June 8] decided to review 500 tax inspections. It suspects that tax inspectors did deals with companies for bribes. If we've reached the point where we have to inspect the inspectors, it's better for Brussels to take over right away." (09/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Svetoslav Tersiev

The film Sex and the City 2 has received bad reviews following its premiere in Portugal. Liliana Coelho finds this a pity in her blog A Vida de Saltos Altos for the weekly Expresso, and imagines what the film would be like if it were set in Lisbon: "Four women who despite life's controversies always come out on top … and above all manage to balance their different roles in life. Basically this is every woman's dream. … It's not so difficult to imagine a similar lifestyle in the Portuguese capital. The four friends could live in [the upmarket district of] Chiado, … and drink their cocktails at the Ritz or the Sheraton. … Naturally life beyond the big screen is considerably simpler, in Lisbon as well as in New York. This is one of the criticisms levelled against the film. But everyone knows that's all it is - a product aimed at providing fun and distraction. Nothing more. And if it's all not possible in real life then why shouldn't we dream?" (10/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Portugal, » U.S.
All available articles from » Liliana Coelho

With the end of the school year many youths move directly into unemployment. The liberal newspaper Expressen calls on the conservative government to do more for youth unemployment: "The basic problem for marginalised youths is that employers feel they are not in a position to shoulder the duties that employment brings with it. The starting pay in Sweden is unusually high, and once you've hired someone it's hard to fire them again if things don't work out. The conservatives merely want to lengthen the probationary period. But that will mean major changes to the labour law." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sweden

The scandal over sex abuse within the Catholic Church in several countries is fading. The Church has admitted its guilt and taken legal steps. However the problem should not be buried but must prompt a deeper examination of clericalism, writes the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino, saying that it is not celibacy that leads to child abuse but "the disruptions in the sexual and emotional development of a person. This has nothing to do with being a priest but with clericalism and the Church's tendency to cast the clergy as a higher-ranking social group above the secular population. The 'traditionalist' ideas of certain members of the clergy and their dubious belief that they are morally or spiritually superior to normal mortals do not as such lead to a stronger tendency to abuse minors. But they do lead to a mountain of privileges that tolerate child abuse and conceal, protect and foster it over an extended period of time." (11/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Global
All available articles from » Carlo Silini