Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter on the cases of child abuse in Ireland could be an attempt to wash his own hands of any blame, writes the conservative daily Lidové noviny: "This is about more than abortion, condoms or celibacy. This is about criminal penal issues. That's why people tend to see the pastoral letter from a social and legal rather than a theological perspective. But why is this 'general' letter addressed only to the Irish? Why does it deal with the 'problem of child abuse in the Irish Catholic Church'? Isn't the issue broader than that? ... Some will remember that as a bishop in Munich thirty years ago the Pope himself failed to alert the authorities to a case of abuse. Concentrating on the Irish could be interpreted as an attempt to cleanse himself of his own guilt." (22/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » History, » Ireland, » Europe
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

In his pastoral letter the Pope took a stance on the cases of abuse within the Irish Church, but the liberal daily Der Standard says it didn't go far enough: "Ratzinger failed to acknowledge his own responsibility and that of the Vatican. He was on the committee that examined more than 20 years ago how to deal with cases of abuse. … The fact that the Pope didn't clearly refer to mistakes in the Church system but rather blamed the 'fast pace of social change' in Ireland leads to the conclusion that either he has understood nothing or doesn't want to understand anything and above all doesn't want to take the necessary steps. For sure, the call to 'submit to the demands of justice' is a first, important step. But Pope Benedict XVI refuses to go further and promise an obligation to report such cases and compensation or even name the root causes, like celibacy."  (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Alexandra Föderl-Schmid

The media is blowing the scandal over the cases of abuse within the Catholic Church out of all proportion, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita and praises Pope Benedict's pastoral letter as a fitting reaction: "It is particularly painful when a person who one held in high esteem, like a family member or a priest, causes such pain. But the thesis put forward by the media that paedophilia is a crime for which the Church is responsible or typical of members of the clergy is nothing but a lie. The theory that there is a connection between paedophilia and practicing celibacy has been described as absurd by experts. They also say that of all paedophile offenders only a couple of percent belong to the clergy. The majority of such cases take place in a domestic environment. This makes the resolute reaction of Benedict XVI all the more crucial." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Dominik Zdort

Despite its shortcomings Pope Benedict XVI's pastoral letter is an important step towards reforming the Catholic Church in Ireland, writes the daily The Irish Times: "None of it explains any, never mind the epic scale, of the sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect meted out by Catholic religious to tens of thousands of children held in orphanages, reformatories and industrial schools throughout those many decades of 20th-century Ireland before the Second Vatican Council and at a time when traditional moral absolutism reigned supreme in Catholicism on this island. ...All that said, there is much in the letter which is as refreshing and clear as cool spring water. Included would be his words of sorrow and admiration for the abused, particularly those who suffered in residential institutions." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Patsy McGarry

The conservative UMP by French President Nicolas Sarkozy suffered a major defeat in the final round of the regional elections on Sunday, gaining just 36 percent of the vote while the Socialists netted around 54 percent. The conservative daily Corriere della Sera talks of the defeat of a strategy, but not of the president: "The election result is a resounding slap in the face for a president who has squandered the wide support he enjoyed among the people. He lost sight of the ambitious reform and modernisation project, the 'strategy of rupture' [with the past and former president Jacques Chirac] to which he owed his triumphal entrance into the presidential palace. Sarkozy is now at a crossroads. Everything indicates that he will follow the path of renouncement and confirm the unwritten rule of his predecessors, who took the Elysée with promises of revolution but preserved their hold on it with the 'marche tranquille': One step after the other and sometimes two steps back." (22/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » France
All available articles from » Massimo Nava

The West Balkan conference in Slovenia took place on Saturday without the presence of invited high EU representatives. The daily Delo criticises the absence of EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy: "Europe has once again shown how little interest it has in the situation in the West Balkans. But perhaps the claims made during the conference that Europe is wary of all the accumulated difficulties on the Balkans and is in this way expressing its desire for a break before further EU expansion are true. Herman Van Rompuy has shown himself to be an absolute beginner when it comes to understanding the Balkans. His absence was highly symbolic. By failing to attend he unknowingly lent support to Serbia's total block of communication with Kosovo and he also raised Serbia to the privileged status of a regional power because he made his attendance dependent on that of Serb President [Boris] Tadić." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Veso Stojanov

The US House of Representatives has narrowly approved the healthcare reform by 219 votes to 212. Despite previous setbacks this is a historical victory for President Barack Obama, writes the daily De Morgen: "The bitterness of the debate makes it likely that the matter won't rest at this: there will be lawsuits before the Supreme Court, and in every state where the Republicans have a majority ... they will try to boycott its introduction. But that comes later. Today what matters is that the US House of Representatives overcame a historic hurdle. One that not everyone however sees as such - there are still critics who say that it's 'not done' that the Democrats made a series of concessions. ... The criticism of Obama flaring up here and there that this was all too little is pretty incomprehensible because it ignores the reality of the situation. Those who see that this reform was adopted with a razor-thin majority and after a night full of emotion will hopefully understand that politics is also the art of the possible." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Walter Pauli

The Turkish government wants to boost trade with Iran while the West is considering imposing tougher sanctions on the country because of Tehran's nuclear programme. Turkey shouldn't go too far, writes the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "Officially the goal is to diversify Turkish policy, as conceived by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The basic idea of this policy is to complement Turkey's Western orientation by opening up to the country's Islamic neighbouring states with which Turkey has close religious and historical ties. For Prime Minister Erdoğan and President Gül the religious component in particular should be especially important. Before the rise of the conservative-Islamic governing party AKP the relationship between Ankara and Tehran was not the best for a long time. This had to do with the secularism of [founder of the Turkish state Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk. Turkey is a member of Nato and associated with the European Union. An eye should be kept on how much further it plans to go in its rapprochement to Iran." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Wolfgang Günter Lerch

Lluís Bassets writes in his blog for the daily El País that of the three desirable goals of peace, democracy and land Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can only choose two: "Netanyahu wants it all: peace, territory and democracy. But there is a well-known axiom whereby you can only have two of three things. So this leaves three combinations from which to choose. If he chooses peace and democracy - as all friends of Israel hope he will - he will have to give back the territories with the necessary exchanges for the largest settlements. With everyone's help this would result in the creation of a neigbouring state of Palestine with secure borders that are recognised by its neighbours. If he chooses peace and territory, he must deprive the Arabs living between Jordan and the Mediterranean of their rights to prevent their looming demographic majority from becoming a political majority, which would result in a bi-national Israeli-Palestinian state and the end of the Zionist dream. If he chooses territory and democracy and postpones peace for later - as he is doing at present - he must tighten the military control of the West Bank to the further detriment of his international standing." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Lluís Bassets

Berlin has been hesitant on the issue of a financial package for Greece and Chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested it should be possible to exclude offending countries from the Eurozone. The Greeks should not take such a show of contempt sitting down, writes the left-liberal daily Ta Nea: "The German attitude has nothing in common with how Kohl, Mitterrand and Delors saw the EU, namely as a melting pot that would bring about European unity. The time has come for us to react. Berlin has reaped much advantage from the EU, and now it is refusing to provide resources to help it out in a time of need. Consequently the countries affected [by Germany's attitude] should respond and deprive Germany of the export privileges which it has so long enjoyed. They should import fewer German products and buy more Italian, French, Spanish and Greek goods. Only in this way will Merkel grasp that a racist attitude to other countries can be economically detrimental, particularly to Germany." (20/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Notis Papadopoulos

The digitalisation of the cultural heritage is a key task facing cultural policy in the coming years, but it must not be left to the US company Google alone, writes Pekka Heikkinen, jurist at the Finnish national library, in a commentary for the daily Helsingin Sanomat: "Crucially, Google's digitalisation offer has forced those employed in the book industry to reflect in new ways about their attitudes and the possibilities for cooperation. Models must be developed for achieving the future which Google is already envisaging, while not ceding control over the cultural heritage. Financing the digitalisation will require the cooperation of the public and private sectors. To prevent legal battles from arising, the rightsholders will have to demonstrate their readiness to cooperate as well as openness to the economic possibilities that cooperation with Google will bring with time." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Pekka Heikkinen

A group of 15 young Roma have won a suit filed in the European Court of Human Rights against discrimination in Croatian schools. Because of their poor knowledge of the Croatian language the pupils were put in classes for the mentally disabled. However the majority of Roma are distinctly unhappy about the victory, writes the daily The Guardian: "Apparently, many of them even signed a petition against taking this case to a court. Why? The answer is simple: fear. Roma are afraid that, after this ruling, they could be discriminated against even more by their non-Roma neighbours. ... It is a paradox that the court ruling in favour of greater tolerance and integration of Roma has provoked their frustration. It only underlines how very insecure they feel. It will take a larger social change in Europe, and not just a judicial decision, to erase that anxiety." (22/03/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Integration, » Minorities, » Europe, » Croatia
All available articles from » Slavenka Drakulic

The daily Adevărul attempts to calm the heated debate over the autonomy of the Hungarian-speaking Székely minority in Romania. "The Romanian legend that you can't buy bread in Székely Land [because of linguistic problems] still haunts people's minds. The Székely, for their part, tend to view the Romanian authorities more as an occupying power than as a partner. Romanian and Hungarian intellectuals will nod to each other in greeting but they speak rarely, if at all. Not so much as a word is wasted over a common school textbook on the history of Transylvania. We know so little about each other! ... Should we really shelve the idea of administrative reform along European lines just because we're not able to give Székely Land a fitting status? This question should no longer be left to the propagandists, but should be the subject of an honest political debate in which every side renounces something for the common good, so that both the Székely and the Romanians feel equally at home. Europe has plenty of examples from which to take inspiration." (22/03/2010)

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All available articles from » Ovidiu Nahoi

Few Swedish politicians use social networks like Twitter or Facebook despite the opportunity they provide for direct communication with citizens, writes the daily Göteborgs-Posten: "Like the presence in public space, dialogue with the electorate is part and parcel of the political game. But when it comes to using social media, politicians are reticent indeed. ... Many members of the Gothenburg municipal government don't actively use social networks. ... But from a democratic standpoint it's perfectly illogical to close one's eyes to such opportunities. Many analysts agree that social media can do much to lessen people's dissatisfaction with politics, which often comes from the idea that politicians don't listen to their constituents. Why should we miss this chance?" (22/03/2010)

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