The daily El Mundo sees it as the EU's duty to take a hard line against Russia: "If there were still any doubts about Russia's motivation for waging war against Georgia, they were dispelled yesterday. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ... recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is clear to everyone now that this decision ... had already been taken when the tanks rolled into this country. ... It is now the duty of Europe and its allies to defend the territorial integrity of Georgia, a democratic neighbour that must be given access to NATO as soon as possible. In addition the leaders of the EU should move from words to deeds and adopt much tougher measures until Moscow returns to the path of legality." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Russia, » Europe, » Georgian Republic

In view of Russia's confrontational stance, die tageszeitung newspaper calls on the EU not to let negotiations falter. "Medvedev's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states makes it even more difficult to negotiate a solution in Georgia, because it faces the mediating powers - that is the majority of EU states - with a fait accompli. The EU's six point plan had stipulated talks on how to ensure security and stability in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Such negotiations can now be rejected as an interference in these states' domestic affairs. And a UN peace mission under the auspices of the Security Council is a long way off. [But] ceasing the negotiations on the Georgian crisis and adopting an attitude of confrontation with Russia would be a fatal error." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Russia, » Europe
All available articles from » Christian Semler

The current EU Council President Nicolas Sarkozy has summoned a meeting of EU heads of state and government for next Monday to discuss a strategy in the Caucasus crisis. The daily Der Standard writes that he is taking a risk in doing so: "What are the Europeans trying to prove to the Russian leadership? Bernard Kouchner and Angela Merkel, the French foreign minister and the German chancellor respectively, have already announced that there will be neither sanctions nor a cooling in relations. Russia is too important as a business partner. On the other hand there is a great danger that the 27 [EU states] make a great display of their dividedness and indecisiveness. After all, this would not be the first time. ... The EU special summit on the situation in Georgia could be a moral appeal to remember the value of political freedom and a declaration of solidarity with a country that forms part of the Union's 'Neighbourhood Policy'." (26/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Europe
All available articles from » Markus Bernath

In its leading article Le Figaro analyses the discord among European states about how to deal with Russia: "Some say it is smarter to appease the Russian bear. Others say Russia must be held in check. ... The voices of the first are above all to be heard in the 'Old Europe'. The second are primarily found in ... the UK, as well as Poland and other European countries that once bore the Russian yoke. ... The conflict is far from over. But one thing is clear: Europe has a Russian problem. Moscow's imperialism is one of the most important challenges facing the continent at the start of this century." (26/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » EU Policy, » Russia, » Europe
All available articles from » Luc de Barochez

The Dutch government wants Serbia to be offered European trade advantages only once all its war criminals have been handed over. The daily NRC considers this a dangerous approach in view of the Caucasus crisis. "One of the lessons to be learned from the conflict over South Ossetia is that ethnic conflicts on the Russian-European border are extremely dangerous. A situation where you have Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo on the European side and Serbia as Moscow's satellite state on the other is a recipe for disaster. As long as the dividing line between Russia and Europe runs straight through the Serb electorate and the pro-European ruling coalition remains unstable we should not take any risks. ... The Netherlands must reflect on whether the extradition of two war criminals is of greater national interest than security on Europe's eastern border." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Trade, » Netherlands, » Europe, » Serbia
All available articles from » Luuk van Middelaar

Smer, the social democratic ruling party in Slovakia, has presented the parliament with a proposal to honour Alexander Dubček, the leader of the Prague Spring. The proposal has met with opposition from the party's two conservative coalition partners. The liberal left-wing daily Pravda sees no reason for their opposition. "True, Dubček was not a strong character. He is one of history's tragic figures. To put it simply: Dubček was good, but weak. He was no leader but a symbol of his times. ... But the Conservatives' main objection that Dubček was a communist and communism was un-reformable does not hold up. The communists had to go a long way before they realised that this path led them nowhere. Dubček was instrumental in helping them realise this." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Weltanschauung, » Slovakia
All available articles from » Dag Daniš

After the Irish Minister for Europe Dick Roche spoke out in favour of a second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon - which the country rejected just a few months ago - new debate has broken out on Ireland's attitude to Europe. Mary Frances McKenna, director of the Business Alliance for Europe, criticises in the Irish Times the Euroscepticism prevalent in her country. "There are essentially two paths open to us, finding a way to remain at the centre of the EU, or beginning the lonely road of isolation and irrelevance. ... Euroscepticism is a game in which Ireland can only lose. ... Attempting to exist with limited engagement with the outside world has never worked for any country, and it will not work for Ireland now. Ireland has gained influence in the EU because we have always been part of the emerging consensus. ... And that is ... why Europe, and remaining at the centre of Europe, is the best option for Ireland by a long stretch." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Ireland, » Europe
All available articles from » Mary Frances McKenna

The conflict about the proper name for the Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the Greek region of Macedonia has been smouldering for years. The daily Le Monde analyses the dispute: "The disagreement dates back to the dissolution of the Yugoslavian Federation in 1992. Before that everything was simple. Macedonia was a constituent republic of the Yugoslavian Federation, and no one paid it the slightest attention. Everything changed with its independence. Greece denied Skopje the right to use the name Macedonia on the grounds that there was only one Macedonia, and that was in Greece. ... The conflict worsened last week when Nicola Gruevski, the prime minister of Macedonia, began bombarding the UN Secretary General, the President of the European Commission, ... the NATO Secretary General, heads of government and the EU with letters. ... In the 1990s the Greek Prime Minister Konstantin Mitsotakis suggested to [then French President] François Mitterand the designation 'Republic of Vardar', named after the river that flows through Skopje. Aren't you exaggerating somewhat? asked the French president, who had understood 'Republic of Barbarians'." (26/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Greece, » South East Europe
All available articles from » Daniel Vernet

Der Kurier newspaper comments on how the geopolitical conflicts of the past months, especially the Caucasus crisis and the recognition of Kosovo, have flown in the face of international law. Politicians now justify their actions almost as they please, the paper writes. "The Georgia conflict has flabbergasted experts on international law. It is stupefying to see how few legal arguments still hold. There is no end to the contradictions: how the EU and the US justified the independence of Kosovo, what Moscow said against it, and how both sides now talk about the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. What was valid in Kosovo is no longer valid in Georgia - and vice versa. ... This is the staggering thing about the current crisis in Europe: we no longer have any political principles. Countries justify their actions any way they please. ... Even if they do not find their way to a new partnership, the EU and Russia would do well to at least return to the basic understanding of the 1990s: changes in Europe's political map should only take place in the most extreme cases - and only peaceably. But President Medvedev's disregard for all warnings in recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia does not bode well for EU-Russian relations." (26/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Russia, » Europe, » Kosovo
All available articles from » Otto Klambauer

Meterologist Eero Holopainen of the University of Helsinki comments in the daily Helsingin Sanomat on new scientific findings in the area of climate change: "A group of Australian and American scientists ... published new information on climate change in the July edition of the reputable scientific magazine Nature, and according to the results ... the predicted scenarios on the warming of the oceans have been very accurate. They compared ... physical models with actual temperature measurements and concluded that over the past 50 years the results were very similar. ... This is important evidence that the models on climate change function properly ... and that means that the Earth is absorbing more thermal energy from the sun than it is reflecting back into space. ... This thermal energy is being stored in the oceans. ... This warming of the oceans causes the water to expand so that the water level is now rising by approximately 1.6 mm per year. ... Mankind, with its industry and transport, is the main cause for the warming of the oceans, ... the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the years 2001 and 2007 showed this. ... The new results validate the models that were used in the IPCC project." (26/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Global
All available articles from » Eero Holopainen

The ifo-business climate index for economic development in Germany has sunk for the third time in a row. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia voices concern over growth prospects for the German economy: "All economies in Europe are looking to Germany in an attempt to see a sign of hope for the future. The country is the locomotive of the community, and for good reason. It is the EU's prime exporter and the major customer of France, Italy, Spain and others. But the news from Berlin at the end of the holidays does not augur well for the future. ... The German government is sticking to its growth target of 1.7 percent - in the hope that the worst is now over. But the data published yesterday raises doubts over whether this is really the case." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Trade, » Corporations, » Germany, » Europe

In Italy the banking group Banca Intesa Sanpaolo has worked out a rescue plan for the ailing Italian airline Alitalia. The daily Corriere della Sera criticises the plan, which it says "apparently has moved even members of the government to reconsider the bid of [French airline] Air France which was haughtily rejected four years ago. In addition to costing taxpayers a billion euros [the problem with the plan is that] it would call for the competition rules to be disregarded, and this would set a dangerous precedent. ... In 2004 Brussels provided Alitalia with new funding on the condition that the money was not to be used to extend its market share. This is precisely what is happening now. ... Air France's offer [by contrast] would not cause problems with Brussels and would not cost anything apart from a small amount in compensation for surplus employees." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Corporations, » Italy, » Europe
All available articles from » Francesco Giavazzi

The 65th Venice Film Festival begins today. The daily La Repubblica takes this as a peg to comment on German news magazine Der Spiegel's accusations that the selection of films chosen by the Italian organisers of the event was biased towards Italian movies and film magazine Variety's complaints about the high cost of the event: "The oldest film festival is under attack. This evening it will present itself in a family holiday mood, without the presence of all the major international film distributors, as it has done for some years now, ever since it was rele gated to a ceremonial but comparatively poor position among the international film festivals." The newspaper writes that the screens on the Venice Lido are not only under attack from the media but are also under siege from a host of new film festivals "like the gigantic Toronto festival that starts in a few days' time with ten new screens, the South Korean Pausan Festival that caters to the entire Asian market and the newest and most richly endowed Dubai Festival." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Italy
All available articles from » Natalia Aspesi

A court ruling in Turkey that has now been rescinded banned access to the YouTube video portal because it showed a video containing offensive material about Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish state. Ioannis Grigoriadis, a lecturer for Turkish Studies at the University of Athens, comments in the Greek daily I Kathimerini: "Citizens are not seen as autonomous and individual beings but as little children. ... The state has assigned itself the task of protecting the 'endangered citizen' and thus become its father. ... But the 'loving father' soon changes into a not so loving master. The state decides what the citizen sees, ... what he reads ... and sometimes it censors the Internet, the greatest success of modern times regarding individual freedom." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Media policy, » Turkey
All available articles from » Ioannis Grigoriadis

Legalised squatting in the Netherlands is to be banned after 30 years. This is stipulated in a draft law supported by a majority in parliament. "Finally", writes the tabloid De Telegraaf: "These distinguished squatters are not above using violence, they abuse the property of others and attract troublemakers from other countries to terrorise house owners and entire neighbourhoods. Finally they are getting what they deserve. This has been far too long in coming. Thanks to the support of city council workers, many of whom also have a squatting past, the squatters were able to do just as they pleased for decades. ... This marks the end of a sombre era for which the state also bears responsibility. Because the large number of vacant buildings is a result of the mismanagement of our country, and a solution must be found. But the law will soon make clear: anyone who squats buildings and uses violence will go straight to jail." (27/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Social movements, » Netherlands