With the opposition's failed no-confidence motion against the controversial junior justice minister Giacomo Caliendo in the Italian parliament, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has averted yet another defeat, writes the daily paper The Irish Times: "Silvio Berlusconi may have survived yesterday's vote of no-confidence in the Italian Lower House but the woes of the embattled, endlessly resilient, prime minister are far from over. Both the government's loss last week of its absolute majority through the departure of Mr Berlusconi's old ally and lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini, and the emergence on Tuesday of a new four-in-a-bed sex scandal, reinforce the opera buffa quality of Italian politics. ... But Mr Berlusconi, who threatened an election if he lost the vote, has demonstrated a political longevity most untypical of his country. ... In reality, Mr Berlusconi's opponents are no more enthusiastic about an election now than he is." (05/08/2010)

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Despite the rejection of the no-confidence motion against junior justice minister Giacomo Caliendo, things are gradually getting very uncomfortable for head of government Silvio Berlusconi: "If Berlusconi is unable to buy off another string of MPs from the opposition by next autumn he could be toppled by any vote worth mentioning. He won't dare propose another vote of confidence because that would mean his downfall. In the space of two years there have been 36 motions of confidence, enabling Berlusconi to avoid the debates of the opposition. And it's not so long ago that the gentleman was able to boast about having the support of two-thirds of his citizens." (05/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Tone Hocevar

Even after the failed no-confidence motion against junior justice minister Giacomo Caliendo, new elections are unlikely, writes the liberal-conservative daily Corriere della Sera, pointing out that none of the parties has a genuine interest in new elections: "After Berlusconi and without him there would be ... no real distinction, no affiliation based on a shared past, no solid political identity, no real connection to social points of reference. Without Berlusconi there would be no parties in Italy, only a void. There would just be a great parliamentary swamp. This is why only a government which, like today's, includes everyone or almost everyone is imaginable now. Italian society thus returns to one of its chief traits in normal times: the propensity to produce a political-parliamentary system in which the tendency to mix everything together is far stronger than a division into clearly opposing elements." (05/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Ernesto Galli della Loggia

Firefighters in Russia have so far failed to bring the catastrophic forest fires raging in the country under control. The number of people who have died in the fires has risen to more than 50. The forest blazes highlight many of Vladimir Putin's political mistakes in an authoritarian Russia, writes the daily Kurier: "Vladimir Putin likes to pose as a sporting master at making prompt decisions. ... Consequently he has neglected to mention that the fires are a direct consequence of a decree he himself issued in 2007. Putin got rid of the forest guards and created thousands of administration jobs instead - securing thousands of compliant voters. His deal with the people is: We'll take care of you, but you keep your mouths shut. Anyone who doesn't comply is - like 140 friends of democracy [at an opposition demonstration] on the weekend - subjected to police-state methods. In a compliant nation you can't expect anyone to think for themselves, or that there will even be enough rubber boots for the firefighters in an emergency, not to mention high-tech equipment." (04/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Livia Klingl

Two large-scale operations by the Bulgarian police against organized crime ended prematurely on Tuesday, with the release of two suspected contract killers. Interior Minister Zvetan Zvetanov and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov reacted angrily. The daily newspaper Standart also reserves harsh words for the Bulgarian judiciary: "The bitter struggle between political will and the system of justice began as planned during Borisov's first year in office. The normal functioning of courts remains a pipe dream and shows judicial reform needs the stick, not the carrot. ... The police have to infiltrate the milieu of the judges and do their work there. Otherwise they might end up stuck with the image of the naïve fairytale hero taking on the evil dragon: Every time he cuts off its head, three more grow back. ... Zvetanov has to realise that with his current batch of judges he will never get rid of crime." (04/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Martin Karbovski

In the Netherlands, the party of right-wing populist Geert Wilders (PVV) will tolerate a minority government coalition of the centre-right (VVD) and the Christian Democrats (CDA). The daily Trouw criticises the behaviour of Christian Democrats during negotiations to form a government: "After the elections, CDA parliamentary fraction president Maxime Verhagen made it clear that as a matter of principle he did not want to negotiate with VVD chief Mark Rutte and with Geert Wilders about a conservative government, saying that the PVV represents views that could not be reconciled with Dutch law. Now, five weeks later, these objections on principle have disappeared. Verhagen is prepared to negotiate over a cabinet whose fate lies in the hands of Wilders. Because that is what would result politically, whether the PVV is in the governing coalition or is merely tolerated. And Wilders has not retreated from his - according to Verhagen - pernicious views." (05/08/2010)

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Philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy reacts with indignation in the daily Le Monde to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal to have naturalised French citizens stripped of their French citizenship if they put a policeman's life in danger: "I won't say anything about the grotesque character of the term 'of foreign origin', because where does the foreign origin begin? How many generations does it take ... to make you safe from potential withdrawal of citizenship? Does the president have a criterion in mind here? A test? Perhaps even a DNA test? And even if such tests existed ..., what would happen to those whose citizenship was withdrawn? Into what kind of legal loophole would they fall? Because generally like most people they won't have a substitute nationality. Former French? Stateless persons? Will we now start generating stateless persons under the pretext put forward by Sarkozy that the nationalisation machine 'no longer works'? It's simply unbelievable that one could vaguely imply that there are two classes of French citizens: those who were born French and those who became French." (04/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Bernard-Henri Levy

Crop failures and large-scale fires in western Russia have led to the steepest rise in wheat prices in 50 years. Roussos Vranas warns of the danger of new speculation games, in the left-liberal daily Ta Nea: "If the climate grows still drier, we should not look into the blinding sun but rather turn our gaze toward the speculators. ... Grain prices on the international market reached a record high last Monday. ... And what is the real reason behind it? Everything points to Moscow. The heat wave over the past month, and the worst drought in a century, have decimated the crops in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. After the economic crisis, which turned stocks and bonds into minefields, speculators have turned their sights to the food markets. What will actually happen ... if grain-producing countries block exports, as occurred in 2008? How high will the price of bread go then?" (05/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Roussos Vranas

Spain is facing major upheavals on its photovoltaics market owing to a reduction in subsidies for renewable energies. The business paper Cinco Días criticises the cuts: "The photovoltaics sector is grinding to a halt. The announcement eight months ago that the regulations would be changed made the branch nervous. Lengthy negotiations between the ministry for industry and the [photovoltaics] associations ensued. This situation has unnerved investors, banks and building contractors. The proposed measures could have the effect of diverting investment to other countries which have a more resolute stance on renewable energies." (05/08/2010)

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According to data presented by the EU's statistics office Eurostat, Portugal, at 22 percent, has the largest proportion of workers with fixed-term employment contracts after Poland and Spain. The business paper Diário Económico asks: "Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The answer is difficult. Now another riddle: Which came first, inflexible labour laws or insecurity in the labour market? Here, too, the answer is difficult. But both situations are comparable. Portugal is a case study for this: third place on Eurostat's EU ranking list. ... The numbers come as no surprise since it's very difficult to fire someone who has an unlimited contract. Many company bosses don't want to give anyone an unlimited contract for fear that they'll never be able to get rid of employees who don't fulfil their expectations. ... The new arrivals on the job market are penalised with insecure conditions, while there are many incompetent workers who can't be sacked because they have unlimited contracts." (05/08/2010)

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In the US, 40 billionaires promised on Wednesday to donate half of their riches, whether during their lifetimes or at death, to charitable causes. The liberal Financial Times Deutschland could never imagine anything similar happening in Germany: "In the US, upward mobility and wealth are part of the 'American Dream'. Those who make it to the top are admired and at the same time they feel duty-bound to give back some of their money in the form of charity. Because this usually happens in public, the generosity also wins additional admiration for the donor. In Continental Europe - especially in Germany - the state is traditionally responsible for the public well-being. The state takes on the task of redistribution through taxes and social security. Not only the poor, but also the rich depend on it. Many of them feel they have fulfilled their social duty simply by paying taxes and fees. ... The idea of charity must be carefully promoted in Germany. And a first step might be a more relaxed attitude towards wealth." (05/08/2010)

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Estonia's political parties have been discussing for some time the introduction of a same-sex partnership law. It is a superfluous debate, says the news portal Delfi: "At a time when Europe is confronted with a serious economic crisis, and Estonia has 75,000 registered jobless [out of a population of 1.3 million], it seems odd that there are still Estonians dedicated to this pseudo theme. It really cannot be true that someone of normal intelligence would believe that a ban on gay marriage would contribute to a rising birth rate in Estonia: Gays and lesbians won't decide to have children merely because of a state requirement. ... It is high time to put an end to this political nonsense. The only reason why the Pro-Patria Union and to some extent also the Reform Party are now torpedoing the partnership law is that they don't want to lose votes in the parliamentary elections in 2011 - it's as simple as that." (05/08/2010)

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All available articles from » Rain Kooli

Jan Björklund, Sweden's minister of education and leader of the Liberal People's Party, has spoken out in favour of banning the burka in schools, because a covered face hampers communication. The conservative daily Sydsvenska Dagbladet finds this sensible: "In a secular society, the state should not hinder the people's right to dress according to their own discretion. Thus a general ban on the burka in public spaces  is the wrong approach. But an employer must be allowed to intervene if an employee is unable to fulfil the tasks of their job because of dress. Still, it is difficult to determine when head-to-toe veiling presents an obstacle. The problem with the burka and niqab in the classroom is communication. It is harder for a teacher with a covered face to transmit knowledge. Someone who takes care of children in a kindergarten should also be able to communicate through various facial expressions. This is clearly not an urgent matter for Sweden, but a ban could be appropriate.” (05/08/2010)

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Lithuania introduced the European emergency hotline "112" seven years ago. It hasn't worked, complains the daily Respublika: "Construction of the general rescue centre BPC cost taxpayers around 4 million euros, but do we feel any safer today? Are we rescued any more quickly? Do rescue workers rush to us as soon as we have dialled 112: doctors, police, firefighters? If someone has a heart attack, or if a house is in flames, every minute counts. But the answer is: In Lithuania, this number is of no use because the reactions are too slow. Any taxi driver or pizza delivery service is faster. ... The BPC will only benefit Lithuanians when any citizen's call sets off the proper alarms. And if the telephone connection is lost, the BPC staff have to react even more quickly, rather than leaning back calmly and seeing a call as an interruption of their siesta." (05/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Health and Medicine, » Lithuania