Belgium may not have a proper government at the beginning of its EU Council presidency but precisely this circumstance could strengthen Belgian regionalism, writes the leftist daily Público - and not just in Belgium but all over Europe: "The rotating presidency is essentially regarded as an opportunity for national governments to get their priorities on the political agenda of the rest of the member states. Belgium, in spite of starting its European presidency with an interim government, doesn't seem about to let this opportunity pass. ... On the other hand the provisional nature of the Belgian government could force it to focus all its energy on coordinating the work of the representatives of the Belgian regions who will chair the Council's various committees. If this is the case perhaps regional politics will play a leading role on the European stage in the coming months." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Federalism, » Belgium, » Europe
All available articles from » Alfonso Egea de Haro

Belgium's provisional government will do a good job of the EU Council presidency, writes the daily Turun Sanomat, but notes that it will be more difficult when a regular government takes the helm: "The Belgian EU presidency which begins today is, to put it mildly, a challenge. The Spanish were able to rely on a politically strong government, on resources one can only dream of in Belgium. Since the parliamentary elections Yves Leterme has been the provisional head of the country. ... The formation of a new government is not yet in sight. [The head of the separatist New Flemish Alliance] De Wever will hardly be able to get one together. But the ability of the EU presidency to function won't fall victim to Belgium's domestic politics. Leterme's ministry has a carefully worked-out programme for the EU Council presidency. Belgium is an integrated EU country whose ministers are well prepared for their tasks. The country has perhaps the most experienced civil service machinery in the entire Union. It would be much more likely that the appointment of a new, probably unstable government straight after the beginning of the presidency would jeopardise the whole task." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Spain, » Belgium

Crisis-shaken Belgium takes over the EU Council Presidency on 1 July. The regional newspaper Ouest France is sceptical about its chances of success: "At first glance the situation may appear grotesque. Belgium, a country without a government that has been suffering a profound political crisis since the elections on 13 June, today takes over the EU Council Presidency. The moment could hardly be less opportune. All the more so because the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon has brought a certain amount of confusion at the top of European institutions since the beginning of the year. At a time when a thousand centrifugal forces are pulling on Europe, and Belgium itself threatens to break apart, the Belgium EU Council Presidency may well seem surreal. Unless the secret of its success were to embody one of the strengths of European architecture: its resilience." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Domestic Policy, » Belgium, » Europe
All available articles from » Laurent Marchand

Belgium is taking over the EU Council presidency in times of crisis. But the EU has become much stronger than many believe, the daily De Standaard stresses: "The big drama in Europe is: In many countries it's taboo to say this out loud. Politicians tend too often to hypocrisy. They promise their voters that they won't cede a millimetre of sovereignty to steamroller Europe. But at the same time the voters see how the power of the EU is increasing. The shameless populist discourse of many European politicians in the past months has done much damage to Europe. ... Europe is good for them - this is the message European politicians should be sending. Only in this way can the feeling Valéry Giscard d'Estaing referred to as 'affectio societatis' grow: love for Europe. ... Such an attitude requires a total U-turn from many politicians. And why should they do it? Because correctly informed citizens react less emotionally to populist and anti-democratic signals." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Belgium, » Europe
All available articles from » Evita Neefs

With the precarious election of Christian Wulff as German federal president, decided on Wednesday after three rounds of voting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reached a low point in her political career, business paper Hospodářské noviny comments: "For Merkel it was a tough blow. Although the role of the head of state in Germany is largely ceremonial the election was seen as a test of the chancellor's authority. That test went thoroughly wrong for her. Although the ruling coalition had the majority [in the Federal Assembly] the chancellor's favourite Wulff was unable to obtain a victory in the first two rounds. ... The elections in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia were already a serious defeat for Merkel and hurt her popularity. ... The Germans are ceasing to trust her, ceasing to believe that Merkel is the person best suited to solve the economic problems." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Jiří Sládek

Germany has a new federal president since Wednesday evening: conservative politician Christian Wulff. The fact that his victory was such a narrow one is a defeat for his party colleague German Chancellor Angela Merkel, writes the liberal daily La Stampa: "An unprecedented blow for the chancellor whose governing coalition has never managed to really get going after a bad start and whose popularity has plunged in recent weeks according to surveys. Angela Merkel's drama lasted nine hours. The chancellor had produced him out of nowhere after President Horst Köhler resigned in a surprise move owing to a gaffe in connection with the Afghanistan mission. Wulff's move into Schloss Bellevue [the presidential seat in Berlin] seemed secure although several representatives of the government majority had announced they would vote for the charismatic candidate of the Social Democrats and Greens. The first cold shower came with the first round of voting. There were apparently 44 rebels within the ruling majority, an huge figure." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Alessandro Alviani

Military service in Sweden was abolished today, Thursday. The daily Degens Nyheter explains why this is sensible: "To say that an army of conscripts in itself protects democracy is naive. Hitler used the draft, and so did the communist Soviet Union and the 1970s dictatorships in Latin America. ... The European trend towards professional armies follows its own internal logic. Technical advancements require ever more skilled personnel and competencies in the field of defence. Soliders need more than military training to be able to tackle modern tasks. ... The final argument often cited in favour of military service is that it is cheap. Employees have to be paid wages, conscripts are in principle free. But in some cases it is a waste of public money to train people who are not suitable as soldiers and cannot otherwise be deployed. And in some cases conscripts lose their income from paid work ... Military service can no longer be defended."  (01/07/2010)

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

In what was Bulgaria's biggest trial so far over embezzled EU funding a court sentenced the principal defendant Mario Nikolov to 12 years in prison on Wednesday. It found him guilty of embezzling 7.5 million euros in EU money by forging documents. A hopeful sign for the country, writes the daily Monitor, which has close ties to the government: "Tired of the games the defendant played throughout this major trial, all of Bulgarian society had longed for the judgement that came yesterday. The average citizen who slaves away for sums Nikolov would spend without blinking wants to see that justice does indeed exist in this country. That there are judges who can't be bought and who pass judgement with a clean conscience and their heads held high. Yesterday's judgement has shown that our judicial system is on the way to reform. Bulgarian and European taxpayers can see it with their own eyes." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » EU Policy, » Tax Policy, » Europe, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Natalia Finashkova

The EU on Wednesday opened negotiations with Turkey on the issue of food safety. On the final day of its EU Council Presidency Spain gave at best a symbolic boost to the accession negotiations, according to an analysis in the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "There are only three negotiating chapters left that are not in some way being blocked by the EU. Eight central chapters alone, from the free movement of goods to agriculture, were blocked unanimously by all member states four years ago because of a customs dispute between the EU and Turkey: the issue is that Turkey is refusing to extend its customs union with the EU to Cyprus. Other chapters cannot be opened because individual members states have raised objections, most frequently Cyprus. If the EU continues to open only one or two chapters in half a year, then negotiations with Turkey will reach an impasse at the end of next year at the latest." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Europe, » Turkey
All available articles from » Nikolas Busse

If Belgium were to break apart this could be a "liberating opportunity" that the EU could offer its members, Bronwen Maddox believes writing in The Times.The leader of the separatist New Flemish Alliance Bart de Wever "is respectful about the monarchy, one of the few institutions to span the country. He talks of autonomy, not outright independence. But he has encouraged talk of a peaceful split, as Czechoslovakia managed in 1993. ... Don't get me wrong: this isn't a Brussels fantasy that the nation state will wither away as regions shelter under the great European umbrella. The euro crisis has shown the opposite: that the EU ... has deluded itself that members had come to resemble each other. In many ways, they don't. It remains an honourable ambition for people who feel that they are different from their neighbours, and want to run their own country, to try to do so. One of the liberating opportunities that the EU can still offer millions of people is the chance to do just that. In Belgium's case, they have nothing to lose but the king." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Separatism, » Belgium, » Europe
All available articles from » Bronwen Maddox

The Portuguese government issued a veto on Wednesday to stop the sale of shares in the largest Brazilian mobile phone company Vivo - owned by  Portugal Telecom  - to the Spanish telecom concern Telefónica. The government's intervention is based on the so-called "golden share," which gives it a right of veto on strategically important decisions of the former state company PT. The business newspaper Jornal de Negócios considers this totally unacceptable: "Using the 'golden share' is without precedent, extraordinary and probably illegal. It contradicts the market, the management and common decency. And it reveals how economically underdeveloped the country is. ... If one wants to have a say one should not privatise concerns, and if one does privatise them one should not nationalise them again later. The government has infringed the rights of the owners of Portugal Telecom (PT). ... Three quarters of the PT shareholders had decided to sell. ... The sale of Vivo would be bad for PT but not for its owners. Whatever the case, that is their private business.  What happened at the PT shareholders meeting was neither interventionism nor nationalism nor an administrative act. It was a defeat - for Portugal." (30/06/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Spain, » Portugal, » Brazil
All available articles from » Pedro Santos Guerreiro

According to a survey conducted by the daily Večer, around 40 percent of Slovenians will spend their holiday in or near Slovenia. Thirty percent said they would not go on holiday at all. Low incomes don't allow people to go on holiday, writes the daily Večer: The survey ultimately showed that the only Slovenians who can afford to go on a proper holiday abroad are those who take home at least 1,600 euros a month. All those who earn only half that sum holiday in Slovenia. The other factors that this largest group of potential holidaymakers have in common are all those indicators reflecting a vicious circle of poverty: a mediocre education, a poor economic and social situation and being over 50. But shouldn't everyone who earns their living through honest work be entitled to a holiday? ... This apparently trivial survey about holidays shows how drastically the situation of the working class in Slovenia has changed. For these people a holiday is a luxury they can't afford." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Tourism, » Social affairs, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Dragica Korade

An e-mail in which voters ask for favours from Andros Kyprianou, the general secretary of the left party AKEL, has caused a stir in Cyprus. The debate about rusfeti, a kind of nepotism, has been reopened, the conservative daily Simerini writes: "Regardless of whether rusfeti is a Cypriot national sport, an ulcer or a black mark on the country's political culture - it has unfortunately shown itself to be unbeatable. For both sides [politicians and voters] wish to retain it as a form of social and political behaviour. Citizens think that if they vote for a party they should get something in return. ... It is no secret that most parties operate an office for 'services to the electorate.' For this reason it is unfortunately impossible to combat rusfeti. Much will need to be done to change the Cypriots and their political parties, to make the system fair and based on performance, and to free public life from interventions of this kind." (30/06/2010)

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

The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled that every US citizen has the basic right to possess arms, making it impossible for individual cities or states to impose restrictions. The conservative-liberal daily Jyllands-Posten criticises the decision: "This ruling by the highest US court puts an end, at least temporarily, to the confrontation between those who oppose guns and the American weapons lobby and also probably to President Obama's desire to limit the access of private individuals to firearms. ... It is all the more shameful for the US legal system that with this decision a small majority of judges raised the right to possess firearms to the same level as for example the right to freedom of opinion and religion. … This judicial decision pulls the US further into the vicious circle in which more and more people believe they need to be armed to protect themselves against those who have weapons." (01/07/2010)

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