The German economy grew faster than anticipated in the second quarter of this year. But the crisis is not over, writes the liberal Financial Times Deutschland: "The German economy is growing at such a fast rate because growth fell to the historic low of minus 4.7 percent last year. Both results have to do with Germany's strong dependence on exports and the dangerously low significance of domestic economic activity. The well-being of German companies rises and falls with developments in the US and emerging countries like China. But early indicators have been pointing to a downturn in these countries for some time, and growth in Germany is likely to slow down correspondingly. The German growth rate could well be far lower at the end of the year than in the spring." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Consumers, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Europe, » U.S., » China

With an eye to the dependency of the Czech Republic on trade with Germany, the conservative daily Lidové noviny is delighted at Germany's economic growth but warns against excessive euphoria: "The recovery is strong, but there is nothing to say it will last for long. German exporters have been good at selling their products in the US and China. But in Beijing the economy is on the downturn, and in America people are even talking about a backslide into recession. Germany can't count on European customers. ... Germany's biggest advantage comes from its success at exporting, but that is also its Achilles heel. No other economy is as dependent on recovery abroad as Germany." (14/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Czech Republic, » U.S., » China
All available articles from » Lenka Zlámalová

Economic growth in the Eurozone is based above all on the high export levels of certain countries. Without Germany and the Netherlands the growth rate would be a mere 0.5 percent. A new imbalance between countries with surpluses and those with deficits is a real danger, the liberal daily NRC Handelsblad warns: "The gap between the mostly northern net exporters and the predominantly southern importers is growing within the Eurozone too. The past few years have show that too great a global imbalance contributes to financial disasters, from the international credit crunch to Europe's debt crisis. The world cannot be allowed to return to this economic state of affairs. Economic recovery is vulnerable when based solely on exports. Investments and more consumption are also important factors. They are in the interest of both the global economy and those of each country individually." (14/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Trade, » Economic Policy, » Europe

Germany's economic upturn is a result of exports which are soaring thanks to the policy of outsourcing, writes the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore: "One reason for Germany's success can be found in the times following the reunification and the decisions made regarding EU expansion. In the mid-1990s the 'push towards the East' began. ... German industry seized the opportunity to outsource company structures, which [owing to their high cost] were hindering competitiveness, to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Despite ... the danger of unemployment with time a new aspect of outsourcing became clear. German companies were able to rapidly increase their productivity and ... take on the competition from Asian companies. In addition there was also a steady increase in domestic demand for skilled workers." (15/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Eastern Europe
All available articles from » Stefano Manzocchi

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the world to do more to help Pakistan, which has been badly hit by the flood catastrophe. The daily Jyllands-Posten sees his point, but explains why helping the country is so difficult: "Despite the many reasons for helping Pakistan the good will that natural disasters normally inspire is lacking everywhere. The reasons are simple. For years Pakistan has had a hand in creating for itself the worst possible international reputation. It is considered the most dangerous place in the world, a nuclear power with an army that either cannot or does not wish to tackle the Taliban or al-Qaida terrorists, with a secret service that supports the Taliban according to confidential documents published by Wikileaks. All of this has done little to make the country more likeable. Nevertheless in this race with time triggered by the catastrophe it stands in need of massive aid." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Pakistan

The Finnish government's decision announced at the beginning of August to increase the number of Finnish soldiers in Afghanistan from 145 to 195 has triggered a debate in the national media. The daily Aamulehti defends the plan: "Most likely people in all countries which are sending soldiers to Afghanistan are questioning what their boys and girls are doing there. ... The Netherlands was the first Nato member country to withdraw its troops at the beginning of August. Canada will do the same next year. The US and the UK are afraid that just the two of them will be left in Afghanistan. A panicked withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan is precisely what the Taliban wants. [Afghanistan's president] Karzai appears to be securing his position through contact with the rebels behind the scenes. The return of the Taliban to power would be a hard blow for the international community and also for the average Afghan women and men." (15/08/2010)

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

Europe's social democrats are betraying their principles by failing to oppose the universally unpopular austerity policies, Giorgos Delastik complains in the left-liberal daily To Ethnos: "'Austerity packages kill governments.' This could be a slogan for all Europe, regardless of how recently they were elected, how triumphal their election victories were, or how many hopes they inspired within conservative circles and the elites of each country. ... The Europeans reject the austerity policies whether they are implemented by the Right or the Left. This behaviour on the part of Europe's citizens could be a catalyst for bringing about the fall of conservative rule on the Old Continent. But for this to happen, the social democrats must fight the austerity measures and remain true to their alleged principles. Unfortunately this is not happening, ... making the departure of the European Right highly unlikely." (13/08/2010)

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

In the left-liberal weekly Magyar Narancs, literary critic Zoltán András Bán paints a gloomy picture of the attitude towards democracy of Viktor Orbán's right-wing conservative government: "From a social and psychological viewpoint the rise to power of Viktor Orbán and his right-wing conservative Fidesz party was a revolution of the upstarts. After eight years [in the opposition] their mentality was pathologically reduced to the equation: we have suffered until now, now it's [you Socialists'] turn. ... Fidesz has lost its presence of mind, its common sense lies idle in the cloak rooms of parliament. ... What we are seeing is pure absolutism. ... But in contrast to its 18th-century predecessor there is nothing progressive about it at all. This government does not seek to renew society, and when it does it runs roughshod over the values of modernity. The absolutism of the Orbán government wants to reintroduce long obsolete values and an anachronistic mindset in Hungary. For the government, history is not controlled by the people, but by an ill-defined God. ... It undermines the country's secular fundament, which is essential for an efficient, modern society." (12/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Hungary
All available articles from » Zoltán András Bán

The management of Polish state-run oil company PKN Orlen has selected a consultancy to develop a concept for the future of the Lithuanian Mažeikių Nafta refinery. The possible sale of the refinery would have a considerable political impact for the government, points out the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza: "Partially privatised, but still under the control of the Ministry for State Assets, Orlen paid more for the refinery than it was worth and got itself into debt. For four years now Mažeikių Nafta has been accumulating debt because with the Przyjaźń gas pipeline the Russians effectively decoupled the refinery from the raw material supply chain. ... The whole business is politically volatile because selling Mažeikių Nafta could provoke further attacks from the [opposition party] PiS against the government [of prime minister] Tusk and the accusation of being subservient to Russia. But let it not be forgotten that in the end it was the inflexible and ill-considered policy of the previous government that has cost Orlen (and ultimately the taxpayer) billions of dollars." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Poland, » Lithuania, » Russia

The modernisation of Bulgaria's dilapidated motorways is a top priority for Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. The daily 24 Chasa priases the prime minister's enthusiasm but would welcome a more balanced economic policy: "Why is the prime minister so focused on motorways? Because they're highly visible. You can see them, touch them and drive on them. They have something permanent about them that will always be associated with the name Borisov. The prime minister loves clear, simple, visible results. ... As mayor, too, he would run from one building site to the next digging the first spade of soil and cutting ribbons to open new boulevards, subway stations and so on. ... [Borisov's] passion for construction can doubtless be seen as positive, but it's worrying that all the state's resources are being poured into motorways. Even if they will rake in billions for the state, they're not his only concern." (15/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Economic Policy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Georgi Velikov

The Slovenian city of Maribor will be European Capital of Culture 2012. A new theatre and house of culture with an estimated cost of around 80 million euros is to be built for the occasion. The daily Dnevnik criticises all the secrecy surrounding the project and that the mayor of Maribor has used the project to buy the participation of Maribor-born theatre director Tomaž Pandur: "The city will no doubt benefit from having a new culture centre. But the managers of the European Capital of Culture have not made the slightest effort to gain the support of the citizens for the new centre. The idea wasn't even on the list of investments needed for 2012 previously, and there was no international architecture competition. Why bother when Pandur already had a ground plan in his pocket back in March. ... No economic analyses or studies regarding the centre have been presented to the public. The only incontrovertible fact is the director's burning desire for this centre so that he can cut himself yet another generous slice of the city's budget." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Tomaž Klipšteter

US President Barack Obama referred several times on the weekend to the planned construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Initially he seemed to support the project but then he readjusted his position out of respect for the victims of 9/11. The conservative daily ABC comments: "Of all the cafés in all the cities in the world, Rick Blaine-Bogart complained in Casablanca, Ilsa-Ingrid Bergman had to turn up in his to reopen an old wound from the past. Barack (Hussein) Obama had to say something similar to rectify the serious blunder he made in defending the right of Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero. Of all the pieces of land in all cities in the US this one is probably the most inopportune because it reopens the badly healed wounds of an attacked people." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Integration, » U.S.
All available articles from » Ignacio Camacho

Sixteen women have been killed by their (ex-)husbands or partners In Portugal so far this year. São José Almeida expresses her outrage in the daily Público and has harsh words for the lax punishment meted out to the perpetrators: "It is extraordinary that we have so many laws on the protection of women, coupled with a prodigious social indifference as to whether or not they are implemented. That explains why despite the many lawsuits in the past decade only 59 men are currently serving out their sentences. ... Just as the role of women in society and their partnerships does not consist of 'passivity and the fulfilment of duties', so too can there be no talk of violence that is more or less bad. What is acceptable is the distinction between physical and mental violence, as well as lethal and non-lethal violence. There is no such thing as half freedom. Or to put it another way: there can be no freedom as long as women are de facto not allowed to live their lives for themselves as individuals." (14/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Gender equality, » Portugal
All available articles from » São José Almeida

Since the Labour government removed foreign languages from the core curriculum of British schools in 2004, the school authorities have determined that the British are less and less willing to learn a second language. That will harm Britain, writes the German-born poet and translator Michael Hofmann in the left-liberal Sunday paper The Observer: "The so-called 'world language', English, is spoken as a first language by just 7 percent of the world's inhabitants; 75 percent of people speak no English. Languages are some of the oldest, deepest, uncanniest, most thoughtful human inventions. A disdain for, or a lack of interest in, all the others does not seem to me to be a civilised or even a tolerable state of affairs. Foreigners will go on learning English, regardless. The British have an obligation, it seems to me, to reciprocate. Call it what you like - mutuality, courtesy, fair exchange, good practice. Not to do so is in every sense hateful. A self-exemption. ... A departure from international polity." (16/08/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Demographics, » Weltanschauung, » Languages, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Michael Hofmann