Publishing the stress tests of only around 30 banks will not alleviate uncertainty in the capital markets, writes the conservative daily Die Welt: "And that for two reasons. Firstly, the tests have not yet dealt with the recent drop in value of European government bonds which gained momentum with the Greek crisis this spring. Consequently the impact for bank portfolios is not reflected in the test results. Secondly, no more than around 25 banks considered relevant to Europe's banking system participated in tests. Both the Spanish savings banks and the majority of Germany's long ailing federal state banks were left out of the picture altogether. ... If investors in capital markets are finally supposed to believe that the banks pose no threat to the stability of Europe's states, the transparency must extend far beyond the few banks already tested. For this reason the publication of the stress tests can't be considered any more than a first step." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Banks, » Europe
All available articles from » Jan Dams

Despite the planned publication of the stress test results of a number of banks, the European governments are primarily concerned with concealing the true state of affairs as regards the economic situation in Europe, the conservative daily Die Presse writes: "In keeping with state discretion the results of the 'stress tests' are still confidential. These analyses will be carried out by the national central banks with the aim of assessing the shock resistance of the financial institutions. … In future all the stress tests carried out at Europe's major banks are to be made public. A correct step, but the smaller banks must follow suit. Only through higher transparency can it be proven that the banks' fundamental data is better than expected in many places. And consequently that the speculation about the difficulties of entire countries is unfounded. Those who continually avoid full transparency only increase the nervousness of the markets much more than any 'US' rating agency could ever do." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Franz Schellhorn

Whether it's stress tests, bank taxes or a financial transaction tax - the EU heads of state and government are promising things on which they have no general consensus, the liberal-conservative daily Corriere della Sera writes: "The need for greater transparency in the financial sector is, like all other demands, nothing more than a promise of good intentions which run the danger of not even being shared by all. However it reflects Europe's mood. It was formulated by Germany, less by France. Paris had demanded new crisis measures tailored to the Eurozone. It wanted an economic government for the Eurozone. None of that will happen. ... France has no other option but to comply. The relations between Paris and Berlin, which threatened to break down only ten days ago, have been patched up and even appear to be improving. The all too dusty spectre of the 'directorate' won't be revived, but one thing's for sure: Only two are sitting at the EU's helm." (18/06/2010)

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

Europe is following the US's example with the stress tests and will encounter the same problems, the business paper De Tijd writes: "Either the stress test says everything's okay or the test itself comes under fire. Just like in the US people will then start talking about cooking the books and boosting market morale. ... There can be no doubt about the benefits of the stress test for the financial sector: It's an excellent instrument for measuring risk. But publishing the results is a different matter. The question is above all whether publication can restore trust. The answer is no. The European banks are under pressure because they finance a large part of European public debt. As long as there is no credible policy for reducing public deficits the banks will have to learn to live with a high amount of stress. They don't need to be subjected to tests for this." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Jean Vanempten

The austerity package passed by Romania's conservative government has met with strong resistance. The opposition Social Democrats, the Liberals and the High Court of Cassation have filed a suit against the measures with the Constitutional Court. A first, writes the daily Gândul: "Never before has the Constitutional Court had to rule on a problem that concerns the fate of several million people. Presumably many of those concerned don't even know what role the Constitutional Court plays or what cases are decided there. It is also conceivable that people's expectations are not very high because they only have limited faith in the judiciary. ... On the other hand one aspect could play a role in the judges' considerations, namely that they are deciding over their own situation. All are government officials, some of them pensioners. Certainly, in view of their impressive salaries the Constitutional Court judges are hardly affected by the austerity measures. But that also goes for the judges of the High Court of Cassation - their salaries are just as high, but that didn't stop them from filing a class action with the Constitutional Court." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » Social affairs, » Romania
All available articles from » Gabriela Stefan

Israel has decided to relax its blockade of the Gaza Strip. A necessary step, writes the daily Berlingske Tidende, warning that pressure on the radical Hamas leadership should be maintained: "Hamas refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist, and its connections to other terrorist organisations are well-known. Its friends include Hezbollah in Lebanon, above which hovers the Iranian regime which will do anything to wipe Israel from the face of the earth. In this context it is important that Israel and the Palestinian authorities on the West Bank continue their peace talks. That is the only chance for lasting peace, and the only way to ensure that Hamas will remain no more than a footnote in the all-too bloody Palestinian history." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Middle East, » Iran, » Israel

The Poles will elect a new president on Sunday after former president Lech Kaczyński died in a plane crash in Smolensk. This makes for a historical election campaign, the conservative daily Polska writes: "The most bizarre election campaign in the history of the Third Polish Republic is drawing to an end. Regardless of whether there is a second ballot or not it's already clear that the presidential elections 2010 will go down in the annals of history. And not because they were hastily put forward as a result of the dramatic events in Smolensk, but because the heroes of the campaign were forced into roles entirely different to those foreseen for them. Only [the liberal candidate Bronisław] Komorowski was truly equipped for the campaign for the presidential office. He was the only one among the political leadership who had time to prepare for the battle for the - to put it in exaggerated terms - highest office in the state." (18/06/2010)

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

The EU Parliament yesterday approved Bulgaria's membership in the Schengen Information System. With the move the country comes one step closer to abolishing controls on the EU's internal borders. The daily Sega writes that in a bid to gloss over its judicial and economic shortcomings Bulgaria has not balked at casting itself as a police state: "Why do Europeans see Bulgaria as fit to join the Schengen Area but not the Eurozone? Because while the government goes about its police work, it fails miserably in economic terms. ... That means the Ministry of the Interior deserves the credit for our admission to the Schengen Area - or more accurately the police, who have rightly considered the fulfilment of the European criteria as their true historic mission. A state that builds its image abroad primarily on police reports is nothing more than a police state. Nevertheless a critical look is enough to see that in fact Bulgaria is a mere parody of a police state. Because when push comes to shove not even the criminals take it seriously." (17/06/2010)

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

Seventy years ago Charles de Gaulle, then leader of the Free French Forces, called on his countrymen over the BBC radio to continue their resistance against Hitler. On the same day the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that while the Battle of France was over, the Battle of Britain was about to begin. Historian and columnist Timothy Garton Ash writes in the left-liberal daily The Guardian that it's time to come out from the shadows cast by the two men: "The two statesmen-bards told us stories about who we are ... and because we believed them, we became, in some measure, the peoples they had invented.The trouble is, however, that our national myths led us in different directions. To his credit, Sarkozy has decisively gone beyond the Gaullist default position in relation to the US. The question now is whether Cameron can go beyond the crypto-Churchillian, Eurosceptic default position of always siding with the US as opposed to the EU. ... This would consist in building up an EU which speaks with a stronger, more united voice in the world." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » France, » United Kingdom, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Timothy Garton Ash

The Spanish government has announced its plans for reforming the country's labour laws. One of the measures is to reduce the comparatively high costs that arise for employers when they dismiss employees. The conservative daily ABC is surprised at this radical turn: "The labour market reform which in theory was supposed to create more jobs is now ending - despite the use of the euphemism 'flexibilisation' - in a decree which will encourage dismissals. [Prime Minister] Zapatero's swing in policy has gone from a vehement refusal to touch the  worker protection laws to leaving them exposed to the most inclement storm. The red labour leader ... has set in motion a legal framework that appears to have been inspired by Margaret Thatcher's radical liberalism." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Social affairs, » Labour, » Spain

The Greek government plans to cut minimum wages and facilitate dismissals in a comprehensive labour market reform. This will only worsen the sense of insecurity among employees, writes the left-liberal daily Eleftherotypia: "The first cuts which have already been carried out (on salaries and pensions) affect above all public sector employees. Now comes the blow for those who work in the private sector. ... In the name of competitiveness the government has more than doubled the percentage of dismissals an employer is allowed to make (from two to five percent per month) and drastically reduced compensation for employees. Essentially the government is facilitating lay-offs at a time when all the forecasts coincide in that the unemployment figures will continue to rise. ... All this will increase insecurity and fear about the future. The social cocktail is gradually becoming explosive." (17/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Greece

The Srebrenica Massacre, considered to be the worst war crime in Europe since the end of World War II, took place fifteen years ago during the Balkan War. The left-liberal weekly Magyar Narancs warns that the massacre must not be forgotten: "Today we know that the murder of 8,000 boys, men and elderly people was part of a well-prepared, calculated political strategy. ... The idea on behalf of which this crime was committed is merely an extreme local variant of the post-Romantic nationalistic ideology that is encountered in all Eastern European countries and appears everywhere in more or less the same form. For this reason we must discover all we can about Srebrenica. And for this reason we must eternally uphold its memory in our minds when we think about politics and political decisions." (17/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Serbia, » Bosnien, » Bosnia and Herzegovina

Estonian society lacks a genuine debate on immigration issues, the daily Postimees notes, adding that it could learn from the experiences of the West and map out its own course in asylum policy: "One way to draw closer would be to expressly take in oppressed political refugees, who unfortunately still exist in this world, as do repressive regimes. Political refugees are in general better educated, better able to adapt and have a more positive attitude towards democratic social systems than so-called humanitarian refugees. At the same time this would give us the chance to send a signal to the needy and the international community that we care about human rights and political freedoms. Because the unwillingness of the West to take in refugees from ... authoritarian regimes all too often reflects an unwillingness to mention that human rights are being abused there." (18/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » Estonia
All available articles from » Iivi Masso

Hans Dichand, publisher of Austria's Kronen Zeitung, has passed away. The daily Der Kurier describes his political and social influence: "Decisive for his publishing and economic success was his nose as a journalist. He wanted to be 'close to readers' and had a keen sense for upcoming topics. He perceived the rise of the environmental movement more than thirty years ago. Without his resistance the floodplain around Hainburg an der Donau would have been destroyed in 1984. The struggle helped give birth to the Green Party. But he was also a gravedigger of political culture. ... Writers like Thomas Bernhard and later Nobel Prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek were mercilessly persecuted. Dichand's poet in residence Wolf Martin was let loose on stubborn politicians, and no punch was too dirty. Covert anti-Semitism, overt xenophobia and headlines condemning all and sundry who dared rub him the wrong way - that too was all part of Hans Dichand's approach. ... He was an exception in every way. Now the political and publishing landscape is changing." (17/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Publishing houses, » Social movements, » Austria
All available articles from » Christoph Kotanko