The legacy of the past and radical nationalism on both sides are putting a burden on relations between Lithuania and Poland, the translator and literary critic Laimontas Jonušys laments on the online portal of the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT: "Poland and Lithuania have had a love-hate relationship for hundreds of years. That's why even today there are Polophiles and Polophobes in our country. Nevertheless it's time to stop seeing our relations to Poland and the Polish minority in our country through the prism of history, and view it in the light of today's reality. ... We don't need good relations with Poland just because we once formed a common state. And confrontation shouldn't be avoided because of the need to forget what happened in the interwar period. We need good relations because these two modern European states, members of the EU and Nato, have overcome all the major hostilities of the past and can look forward to amicable neighbourly relations. ... Unfortunately in [today's] spectacle of hatred, radical nationalists and rabble-rousers are taking the foreground on both sides." (23/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Lithunian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » History, » Poland, » Lithuania
All available articles from » Laimantas Jonusys

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and former European Commission president Jacques Delors call in a commentary in the left-liberal daily El País for the austerity policy to be coupled with measures for stimulating growth: "There must always be a correlation between the willingness to engage in structural reforms on the one hand and the willingness to show solidarity on the other. There is no 'either growth or austerity'. We are convinced that the two can be combined in a meaningful way - they must be combined. ... A key area here is the fight against youth unemployment in Europe. We cannot accept that a 'lost generation' is growing up in Europe because in many countries more than half of the young people are without jobs. ... Europe can work again if governments, trade unions, business and civil society all join together to support a new initiative on youth unemployment and the 2014 efforts [the elections for the European Parliament] to bring greater democracy and legitimacy to European government." (24/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Elections, » Labour market, » Economic situation, » Europe
All available articles from » Gerhard Schröder, » Jacques Delors

The Greek neo-fascist party Chrysi Avgi has approval ratings of over ten percent in current opinion polls, confirming it as the country's third-strongest party - despite the violent acts of some of its members. The Greek writer Christos Chomenidis describes on the web portal Protagon.gr how popular the party is among young people. "Chrysi Avgi is trendy. Thousands of youths, both girls and boys, are thrilled with the haircuts and the deeds committed by the guys in black shirts. They're thrilled at how they exude power and virility, and by their slogans of violence and intolerance. ... While the adults appear as superficial turncoats and founder in the mire of their contradictions, the young people succumb to the charm of the 'clear message' [of the neo-Nazis]. They join Chrysi Avgi's paramilitary groups and get a feeling for what it's like to be the catalysts and inheritors of the future. 'Tomorrow belongs to me', sang the blond representatives of the Hitler Youth in what is perhaps the most eerie scene in the film Cabaret." (21/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Greek)
More from the press review on the subject » Weltanschauung, » Crime, » Justice, » Society, » Greece
All available articles from » Christos Chomenidis

The EU politicians' desire for European unity and integration hardly corresponds to the current needs of the people, the Europe expert Anne-Cécile Robert writes in the monthly newspaper Le Monde diplomatique: "Does this mean that the European construction as we know it today is pointless? It would be an exaggeration to say such a thing after 60 years of shared effort. However it is based more on a sort of faith than on reason. Its advocates 'believe' in it, despite the daily doubts instilled by a cruel reality, and the increasingly blatant resentment on the part of the people, who only hear about the Union when the news is bad. Because when the leaders push the idea of integration, it's often in the name of what Europe could be, and rarely in the name of what it is. Any treaty, even the worst, must be ratified on the grounds that it would 'bring Europe forward'. And is not after all 'faith' that justifies the EU's increasingly overt authoritarianism and its turning its back on the democratic values the Union is supposed to defend?" (16/05/2013)

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU institutions, » Europe
All available articles from » Anne-Cécile Robert

Without the EU the British won't be able to compete in the globalised world, sociologist Ulrich Beck insists in the left-liberal daily El País: "Let's say the Eurosceptics get their way and the country withdraws from the EU. Would this give the British a stronger sense of identity? Would they have more sovereign to decide their own affairs? No! In fact it's pretty certain that the Scottish and the Welsh would stay in the EU. So the consequence would be the division of the United Kingdom. And Great Britain - no, England! - would lose a considerable portion of its sovereignty if you define sovereignty as the power to exert influence on one's own affairs and the decisions of others. The way I see it, the historical situation is crystal clear: the European Union is in a far better position to defend national interests than each nation on its own could ever be. And therefore we must campaign to have this view prevail in Europe." (17/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » Federalism, » Separatism, » Nationalism, » United Kingdom, » Europe
All available articles from » Ulrich Beck
Who's saying what » Cameron flexes his muscles

True reconciliation between Serbia and Croatia will only be possible when the misdeeds of both sides are openly discussed and those responsible are called to account, the philosopher Nenad Miščević writes in the liberal daily Jutarnji List: "At the time of the Serbian siege of Vukovar, the Serbs committed serious crimes against the Croat victims. Today these victims and their descendants are denying [the Serbs] their constitutional right to use their Cyrillic alphabet. Is the Serb minority now the new victim? ... What must be done for the dispute to end and the victims to stop their generalisations and demands for restitution? First of all: the culprits on both sides must be punished, regardless of which side - broadly speaking - is right or wrong. Secondly: dialogue can be long, tedious and expensive. But only through dialogue can both sides be appeased. Thirdly: the definitive solution can only be reconciliation. Through reconciliation the victims obtain satisfaction and stop pressing further demands and the witches' dance can finally come to an end." (15/05/2013)

» to the homepage (external link, Jutarnji List)
More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Society, » Nationalism, » Eastern Europe, » Serbia, » Croatia
All available articles from » Nenad Miščević

The Hungarians have always had a tendency to let themselves be subjugated, the author Krisztián Grecsó writes in the left-leaning Sunday paper Vasárnapi Hírek, arguing that Viktor Orbán's right-wing conservative government has benefited from this attitude: "We simply can't stand people who are outside of society: monks, the homeless, hippies. These people have no feeling for who is important or powerful in society. We hate them so much because our system is based on fear, not love. Fear rules everything. Fear of authority, of being ripped off, and even of being deprived of the few remaining possibilities at our disposal: our jobs, our pensions, our homes, our cigarettes, our wine. The Hungarian people are hopelessly submissive. If they have no yoke to bear they will go out and find one. ... They need a leader to order them around, a power figure they can trust and venerate. The Orbán government, which refers to itself as nationalist, fulfils this need to the maximum." (12/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Hungarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Society, » Hungary, » Eastern Europe
All available articles from » Krisztian Grecso

Ireland is immersed in fierce debates on the subjects of abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage at the moment. In the left-liberal Irish Times author and columnist John Waters criticises the media coverage of the discourse: "Encroachingly, what media offers is ideological agitation in the promotion of radical social change, rather than, for example, conduits for information and commentary about matters of true social importance. The newspaper, certainly, is no longer to be taken as the literal representation of its description, being only in the remotest sense about 'news'. Sure, it contains stories about things that happened yesterday, but in the main … these narratives are selected because of their relationship to an implicit programme of societal 'improvement'. ... Abortion, euthanasia, homosexual marriage - all these have in common that they represent a repudiation of existing understandings and belief systems. The persistent media implication is that these proposals relate not merely urgent and desirable changes, but that they will, once implemented, bring us closer to the perfect society." (10/05/2013)

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Weltanschauung, » Media, » Society, » Ireland
All available articles from » John Waters

With the apology of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić for the massacre in Srebrenica and the renewed nationalist tones in the Croatian media, Marinko Čulić, columnist for Novosti, the left-leaning weekly magazine of the Serbian minority in Croatia, observes an astonishing role reversal in the two states: "The ritual of symbolic assumption of guilt for the war crimes committed by his country and people is old hat. ... It doesn't serve to eliminate hatred, but only to keep it under control and prevent it from flaring up, without getting rid of it completely. ... An interesting role reversal is taking place between Croatia and Serbia. Serbia is escaping from the mire of its war history by using the Croatian method of sloughing this off on the nationalists, while in Croatia exactly the opposite is taking place. There they seem to be following the Serbian model from the days of Boris Tadić [2004-2012 Serbian president]. Back then the left-centrists paved the way for the nationalist rise to power because they didn't have the courage to tackle the most difficult problems in the country, above all corruption." (06/05/2013)

» full article (external link, Croatian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Society, » Nationalism, » Eastern Europe, » Serbia, » Croatia
All available articles from » Marinko Čulić

The success of the Eurosceptic Ukip party in local elections in the UK last Thursday has injected fresh impetus into the debate about Britain leaving the EU. Nigel Lawson, chancellor of the exchequer under Margaret Thatcher from 1983 to 1989, explains in the conservative daily The Times why he would vote for a "Brexit" in a referendum: "While never 'at the heart of Europe' (as our political leaders have from time to time foolishly claimed), we are now becoming increasingly marginalised as we are doomed to being consistently outvoted by the eurozone bloc. So the case for exit is clear. But would there be a heavy economic cost, making this unwise? There would indeed be some economic cost, partly transitional and partly as a result of the loss of the modest advantages of being within the single market. But in my judgment the economic gains would substantially outweigh the costs. ... It is widely recognised throughout Europe that, safely removed from effective democratic accountability, the EU has become a bureaucratic monstrosity. This imposes substantial economic costs on all member states." (06/05/2013)

» to the homepage (external link, The Times)
More from the press review on the subject » EU treaties, » Domestic Policy, » Economy, » United Kingdom, » Europe
All available articles from » Nigel Lawson