After the first EU-wide stress tests for banks the daily Tages-Anzeiger expresses doubts about just what the results show: "Only 7 of 91 banks tested didn't pass, and their capital requirements are estimated at a modest 3.5 billion euros. Experts had expected a failure rate of some 10 to 15 percent, and necessary capital increases of 40 billion euros or more.The major criticism was and remains: the tests did not simulate the bankruptcy of a euro country. For the tested banks this means that even in a worst-case scenario the write-offs of euro government securities will for the most part be limited in scope. For the politicians this view is entirely coherent because the euro states set up the 750-billion-euro rescue fund precisely to prevent state bankruptcies. Decisive, however, will be whether the financial markets - and above all the banks themselves - agree with the evaluation of politicians and assess the test results as reliable and comprehensible." (25/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Banks, » Europe
All available articles from » Robert Mayer

No less than 84 of the 91 banks passed the bank stress test. Good news, writes the business paper Diário Económico and recommends the business world to take a similar view: "The European banks must now pass the reality test. We all know how jittery and nervous investors are and how they like to pass their stress on to their environment. So it's not certain that bank shares will skyrocket today. The key question is credibility. … But  there are reasons why Europe's banks performed better than the USA's - starting with timing. We are still in the crisis, true, but the waters have grown calmer than they where when the test was carried out on the other side of the Atlantic. And several European states have already initiated the recapitalisation of some of their banks so that they were able to cut a good figure. This is why the markets should try to see the advantageous aspects and not adopt the journalists' position: the worse the better." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Banks, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Bruno Proença

Serious doubts have been raised about the reliability of the stress test for banks, but such doubts are unreasonable, writes the daily Le Monde: "The positive stress-test results scored by Europe's major banks have barely been published ... and already criticism is hailing down. ... Does the high success rate compared with the US banks make the test unreliable? Was the scenario not strict enough? Was the grading too lax? The scenario on which the European test was based was structurally tougher than in the US, and based on more difficult circumstances: the Eurozone recession in 2008/2009 followed by a second recession. ... In long denying the reality, Europe itself nourished rumours about possible bank failures. And in so doing it has prevented trust from returning to the financial markets." (24/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Banks, » Europe

The Internet service Wikileaks has uncovered secret documents about the Afghanistan war which the daily The Guardian publishes in cooperation with the New York Times and German magazine Der Spiegel. The Guardian comments: "The collective picture that emerges is a very disturbing one. We today learn of nearly 150 incidents in which coalition forces, including British troops, have killed or injured civilians, most of which have never been reported; of hundreds of border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops, two armies which are supposed to be allies; of the existence of a special forces unit whose tasks include killing Taliban and al-Qaida leaders; of the slaughter of civilians caught by the Taliban's improvised explosive devices; and of a catalogue of incidents where coalition troops have fired on and killed each other or fellow Afghans under arms. ... However you cut it, this is not an Afghanistan that either the US or Britain is about to hand over gift-wrapped with pink ribbons to a sovereign national government in Kabul. Quite the contrary. After nine years of warfare, the chaos threatens to overwhelm." (26/07/2010)

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

The Hungarian-Romanian and Member of the European Parliament László Tökés has once more demanded autonomy for the Hungarian-speaking Székely Land in Romania, this time in reaction to the Kosovo decision by the International Court of Justice. The daily Adevărul writes that such demands only create hysteria and recommends instead a debate on regional identity: "What we lack is the sort of local patriotism which for example allows a hotel owner from Garmisch-Partenkirschen to proudly say he's first and foremost a Bavarian. ... A feeble-minded national complex prevents us from admitting that we still have strong regional identities. We don't dare to make the topic the subject of political debate due to the ridiculous fear that the Hungarians in the middle of our country could create such a region. ... We lack the courage to give Romania its natural form, namely that of its regions. But that just means losing time and considerable possibilities." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Federalism, » Separatism, » Hungary, » Romania, » Serbia, » Kosovo
All available articles from » Ovidiu Nahoi

Numerous European and international figures are visiting Turkey this week despite scepticism over the country's EU accession, notes the business paper Világgazdaság: "Today British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Foreign Minister William Hague are visiting the Turkish capital Ankara. Tomorrow the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will meet his Turkish counterpart in Istanbul. On Wednesday the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will come to stay. In all these meetings Turkey's EU accession will no doubt be one of the main points - although not the only one - on the table. The reason for this is Ankara's refusal to back sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme in the UN Security Council. Because of that the EU is not the only body paying close attention to Turkey. ... The Turkish foreign minister has recently met not only with the heads of Nato and the UN, but also with his counterparts from Russia and the US." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Europe, » Turkey

The crisis has Romania as much in its grip as Greece, which prompts Nikos Konstantaras to compare the development of the two countries since 1989 in the daily Kathemerini: "What we in Greece understood too late is that our lives too would change. Back in 1989 it was unimaginable that the regenerated Romania and Greece would find themselves 21 years later at the same stage of development and dependent on the aid of the Interionational Monetary Fund and their EU partners. How could this happen when the two countries began from such very different starting points? … In Greece a kingdom of corruption and underhandedness was created. This has worked to the advantage of some while condemning others to personal and national failure. The same goes for Romania. Twenty years after the fall of the Wall Greece has shown itself unable to find its own way. It has learned to always be dependent on others - and this is the same again now. It's on the same level as the most underdeveloped countries in former Eastern Europe. It missed its big chance in the year 1989." (25/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » History, » Greece
All available articles from » Nikos Konstandaras

All loss-making coal mines are to be closed down by 15 October 2014, the EU Commission has decided. The Polish mines under threat of closure must therefore hurry to privatise, fight their corruption and finally become profitable, the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza demands: "And that's not impossible. The Bogdanka mine, the only mine lying outside of Silesia, has been turning a profit for years now. Its geological conditions may be unfavourable and it lacks the communication infrastructure of the Silesian coalmines, but it has a big advantage - it doesn't suffer from the pathological tangle of relations you have at the Silesian mines. It was privatised several years ago and its owners know how to run it." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Economic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Witold Gadomski

Nineteen people died and hundreds were left injured at the Love Parade music festival in the western German city of Duisburg on Saturday. This brings home the risks of such mass events, writes the daily Trouw and points our that this year's "Dance Parade", a similar event in Rotterdam, was cancelled because the city's security requirements were too high. The Rotterdame "Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb was harshly criticised for the stricter security measures. The events in Duisburg prove him right. It is to be hoped that lessons will be learned for future events that draw huge crowds, particularly seeing as their number appears to be increasing. [Such mass festivals] pose a major risk. The mayors who realise this are doing their job. That any restriction of the festivities prompts the accusation that 'we're not allowed to do anything nowadays' should not distract them from their task: ensuring public order." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Public Culture, » Germany, » Netherlands

The daily Lidové noviny writes that neither ill will nor system failure were to blame for the numerous dead and wounded at this year's Love Parade, but simply bad luck: "Large mass events are repeatedly the scene of such tragedies. One need only think back to the hundreds of trampled pilgrims in Mecca or the tragedy in a stadium in Brussels in 1985 when brawls between Liverpool and Juventus Turin fans claimed 39 lives. An exploding racing car killed 83 spectators in Le Mans in 1955. Nevertheless people keep going on pilgrimage to Mecca, cheering for their favourite football team and attending motor races. ... Was Duisburg the scene of outbreaks of aggression, hatred and violence? No. The disaster was due to a chain of unfortunate circumstances. The Love Parade must survive the tragic loss of 19 lives." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Stage, » Germany
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

The plenary assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in the German city of Stuttgart has nominated Bishop Munib Younan to be its new president. He takes over from US Bishop Mark Hanson as the spiritual leader of 70 million Evangelical-Lutheran Christians worldwide. Younan's election was controversial but a good choice, writes the daily Südwest Presse: "It took courage for the assembly of the Lutherans to attach greater value to the peacemaking influence of the Palestinian Christian than the political damage that Younan's unbending commitment to the rights of the Palestinian people could cause. Can he be blamed for not being able to ignore the restricted freedom, the destroyed homes and the separated families? The Lutherans have decided to give the message Younan's appointment sends priority over the risks. And this is good: no one else could better represent the claim of Martin Luther's church to be a voice for global justice against oppression and exploitation." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Germany, » Global, » Middle East
All available articles from » Wolfgang Risch

The Chinese government has referred to its "Internet sovereignty" in a report published in June of this year. The daily Eesti Päevaleht notes that China is far from being the only country that practices Internet censorship, naming Russia as a further example: "Those who believe that sovereignty in the form of a centralised power is obsolete in the age of the Internet are exaggerating somewhat. Even under these new circumstances states have been very successful in consolidating their power. The upshot is that borders may be drawn also in the Internet by legal and technological means. For that reason China's 'declaration of sovereignty' in June deserves to be taken seriously - if only to elucidate the plans of those states that don't talk so openly about their cyber-strategies." (26/07/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Media policy, » Press freedom, » Estonia, » Russia, » Global, » China
All available articles from » Hent Kalmo

Alberto Contador became the fifth Spanish cyclist in succession to win the Tour de France on Sunday. Another Spaniard tops the tennis world's ranking list and Spain is world champion in football and basketball at present. Its success in sport is giving the country more cohesion, writes the left-liberal daily El País: "This series of sports victories shows that Spain's sports organisations are working with experience and good planning and, as we have heard repeatedly in the past weeks, that our athletes have shed their inferiority complexes. These collective triumphs in sport also augment the social cohesion in the country, no matter how much the regionalist politicians of different provenance try to find reasons to play down and obscure their importance." (26/07/2010)

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