Britain should follow the example of the US and vote against legal recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations, the liberal-conservative daily The Times recommends: "President Obama has suffered domestic political damage by being prepared to challenge Mr Netanyahu's obduracy and publicly urge a two-state solution along borders approximating the pre-1967 armistice line. And he recognises a simple fact of diplomacy and geography: Israel has legitimate concerns about security, which need to be dealt with in direct negotiations between the contending parties. If Israel is merely presented with a prenegotiated settlement in which a Palestinian state is created by international fiat, confidence will be damaged and a resolution to the conflict needlessly postponed." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Crises / War, » United Kingdom, » U.S., » Middle East, » Israel

Officially recognising a Palestinian State would be a fatal mistake, writes Herbert Winter, president of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities in the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state at this point in time [would] only further complicate the conflict and even intensify it and lead away from a peaceful solution. In our view this can only come about through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. ... The Middle East conflict is not something that can be described in black-and-white terms with perpetrators on the one side and victims on the other, as some would have us believe. The Israelis' need for security is barely discussed in public debate and the big picture is often ignored. A solution to the Middle East problem will require compromises on both sides; of that there can be no doubt. The fears of the Israeli people must taken just as seriously in the debate as the needs of the Palestinian people." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crises / War, » Israel
All available articles from » Herbert Winter

The decision about the Palestinian application for full membership is being taken undemocratically, the left-leaning daily Público complains, particularly annoyed about the role of the US here: "Palestine has undertaken to knock on the United Nations' door this week. Unfortunately this club still reserves the right to select who gets in and who doesn't. Moreover only a few members do the deciding with their veto right. The club has strict rules and often punishes those who infringe them. However we all know that one of the members consistently disregards these rules without being reprimanded. And now this same disobedient member wants to convince the others that they should not open the door to the Palestinians who have come knocking." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » U.S., » Global, » Middle East

The rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded Italy's creditworthiness by one notch from A+/A1+ to A/A1 on Monday. The government's battered credibility is to blame, writes the business paper Il Sole 24 Ore, because it makes the country look vulnerable: "The downgrading will increase the risk of Italy's going bankrupt because the reasons given for the move convey a harsh judgement of the decline of the country's economic and political life. The latter are pivotal mainstays for the creditworthiness of a state and its ability to service its debts. And precisely these mainstays have disappeared. S&P downgraded Italy because its already feeble growth has grown even more feeble and the prospects of recovery have diminished. The backdrop for all this is a government that is unable to govern and a political class that is incapable of rising to the challenges of globalisation." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Italy
All available articles from » Isabella Bufacchi

US President Barack Obama presented his plans for cutting the budget deficit on Monday. Among other things he wants to raise income tax for the rich. The liberal-conservative daily Financial Times says the plan is overdue but doubts whether it can be implemented: "It is hard to see how Mr Obama's plan will survive the new committee on deficit reduction. But sooner or later some deficit reduction plan will have to be agreed. Better taxation of millionaires has a place in it. Well-meant deductions, unintended loopholes, and conscious choices such as taxing investment income more lightly than wages give some very rich individuals a lower tax burden than increasingly squeezed middle-class earners. This threatens both the economic and the political sustainability of the government's revenue base. If a millionaires' tax cleans up the mess of the tax code at the high end, that would be a good thing." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Tax Policy, » U.S.

The turning back and partial confiscation of lorries loaded with Dutch tulip bulbs and flowers at the Romanian border owing to alleged fears of their being contaminated with bacteria is now having diplomatic consequences. The Dutch embassy is demanding an explanation and two MEPs plan to appeal to the EU Commission. The Romanians shouldn't have messed with the Dutch, writes Ciprian Ciucu in his blog for the portal Contributors.ro: "In the Netherlands and other Western countries election campaigns are fought with the message that allowing Bulgaria and Romania to join the EU was a major mistake. It's good that the Netherlands is consistent. They didn't want us back in 2007 and they are against us again now. This is a fact that is difficult to dispute from a shaky position: because our judicial reform has failed to produce reliable results, the politicians continue to tolerate corruption and the accessing of EU funds still leaves much to be desired. A trial of strength according to the motto: 'We will stop you at the border you have insisted on keeping' only fuels the discussion about Romania's EU accession in 2007 having been a mistake."  (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Netherlands, » Romania, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Ciprian Ciucu

A Paris appeals court acquitted former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Wednesday of charges that he helped slander his arch-rival Nicolas Sarkozy. De Villepin's acquittal in the so-called Clearstream affair marks a victory for the independent judiciary, the left-leaning daily Népszava comments: "Who emerged as the victor of this six-year political monster trial is a matter of opinion. President Sarkozy, who was egged on by the desire for revenge and the will to see one of his closest political enemies behind bars, or former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, who now has been acquitted of all suspicions of slander. Both the public and a majority of commentators see the president as the loser. ... President Sarkozy's goal was nothing less than to use the judiciary for his own ends. ... But all's well that ends well. In France not only the independent judiciary has come out the winner, but also the noble principle of the separation of powers." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Justice, » France
All available articles from » Tibor Várkonyi

In the coalition talks between Belgium's eight parties the Flemish liberal party is seeking to exclude the Walloon green party. That has less to do with content than with democratic principles, writes the Flemish daily De Standaard: "Otherwise there will be too little opposition on the Francophone side, and that is democratically unhealthy. However there is absolutely no reason to exclude one of the four Flemish parties. If that happens there will no longer be a majority for the government on the Flemish side. Years ago wise statesmen warned that this could create an explosive situation. A government that rules against a majority of Flemish representatives will quickly be branded anti-Flemish. ... What may seem logical from a democratic perspective to Francophone Belgium is not desirable at all from a democratic perspective for Flanders. That's the way things work in a country made up of two countries." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Belgium
All available articles from » Guy Tegenbos

Talks between the EU, ECB and IMF troika and debt-stricken Greece on Monday about the paying of the next eight-billion-euro instalment from the bailout fund ended without a result. The liberal business daily Handelsblatt warns of the dangers of not helping Greece: "A humiliated Greece - abandoned by Europe at the height of the crisis - would sooner or later take a different direction politically. It could quickly become a European base for Chinese interests. The vast Middle Kingdom has deep pockets and is not in the least fussy when it comes to choosing its spheres of influence. Perhaps it would offer far more favourable conditions for providing state capital than the Europeans are doing. Athens, with its port of Piraeus as a bridgehead in Europe, would certainly be to China's taste. And as long as Greece is still a member of the European Union China would be indirectly sitting in Brussels along with the rest. Not a pleasant idea." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Greece, » China
All available articles from » Karl-Heinz Paqué

In view of dwindling resources the Slovenian EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik calls in a commentary piece for the daily Delo on the economic sector to use less raw materials: "The solution to the shortage of resources we are now witnessing does not lie in slowing down economic growth but in using less and producing more. At the same time we must learn to use our products several times, repair them and recycle them. ...  We need a revolution in common sense. We should stop thinking only as far as tomorrow and start looking further into the future and change our methods of production and our consumption. The environmental activists and industry must bury their differences and work together as partners." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Consumers, » Industry, » Europe
All available articles from » Janez Potočnik

Fifty years ago Denmark's Ministry of Culture was founded. This prompts Jakob Levinsen to take a critical look at state promotion of culture in Denmark in his blog with the left-liberal daily Politiken: "The system of funding still helps even hopeless artistic cases today. Talent-free, they would have to get by without an income or audience if it weren't for this help, but they can still call themselves artists and cultivate their pitiful skills as qualities. However there is a system of funding that functions quite differently. Namely film funding, which was once set up as a subsidy project for a particular branch without any ambition to educate or protect the population. ... Perhaps this is why the commission that assessed state promotion of culture has proposed using film funding as a model for other culture subsidies. ... You only breathe fresh air when you remember to open a window. Reminding the Ministry of Culture of this would be the best birthday gift one could give it." (19/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Denmark
All available articles from » Jakob Levinsen

Reacting to protests by the Jewish community, the Estonian History Museum on the weekend removed exhibits concerning the Nazi war criminal Alfred Rosenberg, who was born in Tallinn in 1893. The daily Postimees doesn't believe that will help Estonians understand the Holocaust: "Wouldn't it be more sensible for the Jewish community and the Ministry of Culture to try to increase awareness in Estonia about the Holocaust? It is unlikely that Estonians know more about the Holocaust now that Rosenberg has disappeared from the exhibition. ... It is scandalous that every Estonian book store has reams of conspiracy theories about the Holocaust but not a single good book on the subject in Estonian. Has it ever occurred to the Culture Ministry or the Jewish community to support the writing or translation of such a book?" (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Exhibitions / Museums, » History, » Remembrance culture, » Estonia
All available articles from » Erkki Bahovski

Armed with the latest Ikea catalogue the liberal-conservative daily Svenska Dagbladet draws parallels between the furniture company's advertising copy and the language of the politicians, both of whom want to put people's lives in order and take care of everything: "'Meeting in the middle. Improving the everyday lives of many people. It's up to us to fight for a better world.' ... The texts are not from a party manifesto but the catalogue that has taken care of furnishing Sweden's homes in the past decades. ... In this year's edition the texts are virtually identical to those of the political parties. But perhaps it's the parties that are taking their inspiration from Ikea and not the other way round. ... The politicians increasingly see it as their job to solve all our problems. Indirectly they then tell us how to live our lives. But unlike Ikea's customers voters don't need tips on lifestyle. ... In Ikea homes smart furniture solutions ensure harmony. In politics it's not so much ready-made solutions we need as more leeway to make personal and unique choices." (20/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Sweden

German footballer Lothar Matthäus was fired on Monday after just a year as coach of Bulgaria's national football team on the grounds that the team failed to qualify for the EUFA Euro 2012. No one really believed the team would qualify anyway, the daily 24 Chasa writes, defending the German coach: "The German notions of order and discipline simply don't thrive on Balkan soil, to say nothing of Bulgaria. If Matthäus' contract was not renewed it was not so much because of the poor results but because the players started to gripe about the tough training schedule and his ban on drinking beer after the loss to Belarus. To compound the problems the goalie and centre forward exchanged girlfriends and now can't stand each other. So the coach isn't the biggest problem in Bulgarian football. On the contrary, Bulgarian football is the coach's biggest problem. No matter who has the job." (19/09/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Bulgaria