It took three rounds of voting to elect Germany's new federal president and not all the voters within the ruling coalition voted for him. A debacle for Chancellor Angela Merkel, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica, speculating that she may face the same end as her predecessor Gerhard Schröder: "The humiliating  vote of no confidence of dozens of voters of the centre-right in the presidential elections has left the most important country in Europe looking like a place of instability and political weakness. The 'most powerful woman in the world' with sensational poll ratings is only a memory. The coalition must now prove that it intends to stop quarrelling. The last time there was a political climate of this kind was at the end of the Schröder era, when the 'German Tony Blair' lost support within his own party over controversial reforms - and ultimately lost the elections he himself had wanted as well. Now only a first-class performance by the German economy will be able to save 'Angie.'" (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Andrea Tarquini

The laboured election of Christian Wulff, the candidate backed by the ruling coalition, as German federal president is a symptom of the current weakness of Chancellor Angela Merkel's leadership, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita, noting that it's time for a new style of government: "During the marathon on Wednesday it became clear that the chancellor has lost her power over her party - not to mention her influence over the coalition partners - the Bavarian CSU and the liberal FDP. ... No one doubts that they [the CDU rebels who initially didn't vote for Wulff] wanted to show their great dissatisfaction with the party leader and the government. 'Merkel must now seriously consider how she can change her government, writes her biographer, Gerd Langguth. Many observers hold the view that what happened is the beginning of her political demise and the imminent collapse of the ruling coalition." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Poland
All available articles from » Piotr Jendroszczyk

The conservative daily Die Welt analyses the state of the opposition following the election of the ruling coalition's candidate: "At any rate the red-green camp has been nothing but a chimera since Wednesday evening. Whether it returns as a ghost depends on how seriously the SPD [Social Democrats] and Greens take the experiences they've just had with the 'Left'. To hope, like Sigmar Gabriel [leader of the SPD], that the 'sensible ones' in the 'Left' would soon take over the command and replace the 'old Stalinists' is simply naïve. ... Gauck [the opposition party candidate] personifies the general attack on the leftist lie that the GDR was. ... This Gauck movement should go on, with the means being the end. The civil rights activist has shaken up the backward looking German Left, and frightened it out of the equation with his mere appearance. This may not have been intentional, but it was still a welcome and necessary clean up."  (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Elections, » Germany
All available articles from » Claus Christian Malzahn

The Romanian senate on Wednesday passed a controversial amendment to the country's anti-corruption legislation. The Agency for Integrity ANI has been deprived of its power to scrutinise the assets of politicians and functionaries. Scandalous, writes the daily România Liberă, commenting that the decision "ignored the fact that Romania accepted the ANI as an anti-corruption body when it joined the EU. It ignored the fact that the protective clause was intended as an emergency measure, as a means for improving governance, and not as an attack against Romania. It didn't take account of either Brussels' opinion or the veiled warnings of last year that we would be denied entry to the Schengen zone and European funding could be cut. ... None of that counted. The only thing that did count was that politicians and public functionaries would be able to conceal their assets, avoid scrutiny and be able to continue doing business with the state covertly. Since 2007 Romania has taken dramatic steps backwards in the fight against corruption and Europe is beginning to lose patience. Up to now it has been possible to expel anyone from the Union, but if the crisis continues this is what may happen to us." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Cristian Campeanu

The Slovenian shadow government of opposition leader Janez Janša yesterday publically presented a fourth package of anti-crisis measures. The daily Dnevnik sees this as an opportunity for a rapprochement between the government and the opposition: "The proposals of the expert committee of the Democratic Party Janšas are nothing new: tax reductions, the founding of a bad bank and tax breaks for new companies. But it would be more important if the government and the opposition were able to jointly support the public administration reform, even if their opinions differ. Both [Prime Minister] Pahor and Janša say the crisis is a chance to clip the wings of the burgeoning public administration. Since the public also favours a leaner state, Pahor and Janša would be wise to use this to make a joint stand." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Economic Policy, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Joze Poglajen

The Republic of Moldova has declared 28 June a day of remembrance of the Soviet occupation. Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Estonian parliament, criticises Moscow's reaction in his blog: "Russia immediately announced that it might impose restrictions on Moldovan wine imports. This would by no means be the first time that Moscow has tried to advance its political goals by means of a trade war. Let us recall how Russia following the events in April 2007 [the riots in Tallinn triggered by the removal of a Soviet war memorial] imposed restrictions on transit, and Estonian companies in Russia were hindered in doing their business. Wine wars were waged against Georgia in 2006 and Moldova has also experienced restrictions of this kind. The quality of Moldovan wine may be inferior to that of French or other West European wine, but imposing sanctions right now, just after a pro-Western government has come to power, is all too transparent." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Consumers, » Agriculture, » Economic Policy, » Russia, » Republic of Moldova
All available articles from » Marko Mihkelson

The Afghanistan conflict can only be resolved if Pakistan and Indian intervene constructively, the historian Willian Dalrymple writes in the daily The Guardian: "The stage is now open for a deal whereby India could agree to minimise its presence in Afghanistan - which it could accept as Pakistan's sphere of influence - in return for Pakistan withdrawing its longstanding sponsorship of the Kashmir jihad, which it could accept as India's domain. To satisfy Nato, an undertaking by Pakistan to drive al-Qaida from the region would also need to be included. Such a deal would certainly be difficult to sell domestically. There would be strong resistance by the many hawks in both India and Pakistan. Yet such an understanding would be the best and possibly only hope for a regional peace that might allow Afghans, Kashmiris, Pakistanis and Indians some chance of a stable future and to concentrate on the regional issues that really matter - feeding and educating the largest undernourished population in the world." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Afghanistan, » India, » Pakistan
All available articles from » William Dalrymple

Literary critic József Tamás Reményi criticises the use of catenaccio defence tactics at the South Africa World Cup on literary portal Litera: "Perfectionism (versus art), effectiveness (versus imagination), power (versus finesse) and dirty tricks (versus fairness) are the name of the game in modern football. As we know, an intelligent team plays on the counter-attack. In other words: it packs the defence. So the cantenaccio can be compared with the sonnet. It benefits the untalented and the masters equally. With the necessary will and luck the former can conceal their lack of skill and avoid disgrace. The latter for their part can use it to save their energy (take the game-destroying, time-wasting tactics of the Dutch against the Slovakians). ... But every now and then it can be combined with the odd stroke of genius (see the way the Brazilians are playing in this World Cup). The Spanish have been confronted with both types: the Swiss team composed of little craftsmen was even able to trip it up. Meanwhile the masters of defence, the Portuguese, almost managed to lull them into defeat. ... A few interludes of genius, ... followed by yawning monotony." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Global, » South Africa
All available articles from » József Tamás Reményi

Greece has increased VAT from 21 to 23 percent. This will not help anyone, the left-liberal daily To Ethnos concludes: "We experienced the first increase in VAT [from 19 to 21 percent in March] and we … waited in vain for the state revenues to grow as a result. We will also wait in vain for this latest rise in VAT to increase state revenues. You don't need to be an economist to understand why. ... The logic is simple: ... The higher VAT is the lower people's purchasing power. ... But some believe that higher VAT means greater revenues ... because they can see the cheese but not the mousetrap. And you ask: If the government sees that a measure doesn't work why does it continue with it? Why should practices be implemented that don't increase public revenue and at the same time reduce citizens' disposable income?" (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Greece
All available articles from » Errikos Bartzinopoulos

The new Columbian film Bolivar: Fragments of a dream deals with Latin America's fight for independence 200 years ago. In the left-liberal daily El Periódico de Catalunya writer Olga Merina describes her thoughts after watching the film at its screening at the Grec Festival in Barcelona: "In the tropical dawn, walking down the Montjuïc hill to Parallel metro station, I reflected on how little interest this anniversary [of 200 years of independence in Latin America] has provoked on this side of the big pond and how little we were taught at school about how the nations of the new world freed themselves from the deadly fangs of a stepmother called Spain. The schoolbooks explained the whole affair with one sentence: Simón Bolivar in the north and St. Martín in the south. And instead of the word independence they used the term emancipation, which connotes a somewhat paternalistic attitude." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » History, » Spain, » Latin Amerika
All available articles from » Olga Merina

The deadline for companies to file their annual statement of accounts expired in Bulgaria on Wednesday. As happens every year the authorities were unable to cope with the flood of paperwork, writes the daily Standard, criticising the way public officials work: "We are satisfying the state's hunger for paper and blocking up the system by requiring the same information to be submitted to different offices, apparently because they are not able to communicate with one another. Has it ever been possible to submit documents without ending up with frayed nerves? No, one should not spoil the people. They might get the idea that suddenly everything is functioning normally and that one doesn't have to stand to attention in front of public officials. Bulgarian officials have since time immemorial followed the maxim of Louis XIV: 'L'Etat c'est moi' [I am the state]. And the last thing they would relinquish is their prerogative to make fools of citizens." (01/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Corporations, » Consumers, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Stela Stoyankova

Finland on Thursday became the first country to pronounce access to a high-speed Internet connection a basic right. Life would be unthinkable without the Internet nowadays, writes the conservative daily Lidové noviny: "The citizens in the civilised West live to an ever greater degree in the virtual world. They are entitled to care and pensions when they're old, but the multi-generation family is collapsing - in contrast to the Confucian model where families stick together because there is no functioning social system. Normal social contacts, normal communication are increasingly difficult to maintain when the family is replaced by old people's homes, and e-mails and the Internet take the place of the local pub. Even ordinary gossiping is done on the Internet nowadays. And just as gossip is necessary so is the Internet." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Online media, » Finland
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

Today the South Africa World Cup quarter finals begin. In their blog for the conservative-liberal daily Jyllands-Posten Troels Heeger und Søren Villemoes poke fun at sports commentators who see the success of a national team as a measure of the success of the integration model of the country it represents: "The debate in Denmark clearly shows that multiculturalism is the great variable everyone is trying to define. ... After all, it was multiculturalism that devoured the French team. ... The biggest problem with Danish football is our lack of commitment to integration. Danish racism is the reason why we didn't play better. ... Commentator for Politiken Lars Trier Mogensen uses his impressive knowledge to explain to us the secret of Germany's World Cup success. Yes, that's right: multiculturalism! ... The battle over multiculturalism has reached a new low in the Danish debate." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Global
All available articles from » Troels Heeger, » Søren Villemoes

In the today's quarter-final match in the World Cup in South Africa the Netherlands will play against Brazil. The defensive game of the Dutch team (Oranje) displays the same mentality as the country itself has, the publicist Auke Kok writes in the daily NRC Handelsblad: "Only a few weeks after the electoral victory of the [right-wing populist] Geert Wilders Oranje is playing a game that is miles away from the progressive bravado with which whole generations grew up. ... Watching Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten made us grow a little bit too - a model country with the right moral principles, more liberal and progressive than the rest. Football intellectuals in other countries saw it the same way, as if there were a direct link between our attitude to drugs, abortion and euthanasia and the uninhibited play of Dennis Bergkamp. Apparently accounts must now be squared with all this: Just listen to the Bondscoach talking about discipline. Look at us turning away from Europe, the calls for a firm hand. Listen to Wilders. Feel our propensity to become inward-looking, to close the curtains and shut out the big bad world outside." (02/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Netherlands
All available articles from » Auke Kok