The Times makes a plea for fair judgement of China's accomplishments in organising the Games: "There is a danger of the Chinese perceiving the world as a 'bad guest' at their Olympics. Intensely proud of what they see as a glorious national achievement and the symbolic emergence of their nation on the world stage, many people would feel a lasting resentment if outside views were solely negative. ... For very many Chinese, the Games will be their first experience of the outside world. Engaging with a formerly closed society can only encourage greater openness and freedom - and this legacy will not be easily suppressed when the Games are over. Equally, it is sobering - and, to many, thrilling - to realise that in 17 days' time all talk of the next Olympics will refer to London. Britain would do well to watch, study and learn from Beijing. Who now can tell what fevered talk will fill the air in London four years from now? But for Beijing the long wait is over. Let the Games begin." (08/08/2008)

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On the day the Olympic Games begin in Beijing the daily Dziennik publishes an open letter written by 19 Polish intellectuals harshly condemning the International Olympic Committee (IOC). "Awarding the Olympic Games to China was a disgrace for which the functionaries of the Olympic Committee are responsible. Their claim that they do not want to interfere in politics is cynical and hypocritical. Respecting human rights is a universal norm of civilisation that only communists and fascists fail to observe. We do not condemn the athletes who participate in the Olympics - they did not choose the location. ... But we are expressing our displeasure with all those politicians who, by their very presence in Beijing - regardless of their verbal statements - are supporting a dictatorial state. Above all we want to show our solidarity with all those who are being deprived of their freedom and fundamental rights in China. We are convinced that any dictatorship - even that of a powerful state - must be condemned." (08/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Ryszard Bugaj, » Czeslaw Bielecki, » Antoni Dudek, » Kazimierz Frieske, » Jadwiga Koralewicz, » Krzysztof Krauze, » Ireneusz Krzemiński, » Grzegorz Miecugow, » Paweł Śpiewak, » Grażyna Skąpska, » Aleksander Smolar, » Magdalena Środa, » Wojciech Kilar

Per Ahlin, author of the leader in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, stresses that the decision to award the Olympic Games to Beijing has served to focus the world's attention on the situation in China. "I think that what has been said and done in the past year could have a lasting impact. A well-known example of this is how Beijing, afraid that a widespread boycott could ruin the celebrations, toned down its opposition to international involvement in Darfur. But more important in my opinion are all the looks that have turned towards China - looks that would otherwise have been turned elsewhere. As a result it is no longer possible to talk of China's economic miracle without mentioning human rights and the destruction of the environment. The other side of the coin has become more visible to all thanks to the Olympic Games. The Chinese leadership did not reckon with this when it rejoiced over the decision to award the Games to Beijing." (08/08/2008)

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With an eye to the Olympic Games the daily Latvijas Avīze criticises the EU's conduct towards China: "Was it really necessary for Nicolas Sarkozy, as current EU president, to brush aside all doubts so quickly and promise his symbolic presence at the opening ceremony? The majority of French believe otherwise, and this is no doubt a consequence of the fact that none of the conditions that Sarkozy set for Beijing have been fulfilled, particularly regarding Tibet. And we should also recall that after heated debate in the European Parliament Sarkozy had planned to bring a list of political prisoners to the games. What a waste of time and effort." (08/08/2008)

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Dnevnik newspaper regrets the loss of the true Olympic ideal, complaining that small countries can hardly afford to organise the games nowadays: "At the end of the 19th century when the Olympic Games were reintroduced, no once could have guessed where the Olympic idea would take us. For example tug of war and fire extinguishing were important disciplines back then. ... Today the games have become a global project. ... Huge sums of money are spent in organising them, even though with a budget of 40 billion dollars the Chinese have set an example that will be hard to follow. ... Sport has now been eclipsed by a political, economic and cultural campaign aimed at showing the world how modern and how open to the world China has become. ... No one knows where the upper limit lies, but the fact is that the budgets for organising the Olympic Games will soon be impossible to top. Even now the struggle between the rich countries to stage the games resembles a tug of war." (08/08/2008)

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EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso wants to use a development fund to channel a billion euros in unused farm subsidies from the EU budget to African farmers. The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung criticises this proposal. "Barroso's conduct does not throw a good light on the Commission. Obviously this authority regards the European Union's budget as its own private budget. Instead of striving to make the Community cut its costs and return unused funds to the member states, it is thinking of ways to spend them. ... One can always find a good cause. ... But experience has taught us that the member states must impose tight limits on the Commission's urge to set up new programmes, take over new powers and spend money. Otherwise there is the danger that the authority undermines the right of the member states to stipulate the EU budget. So the first task in hand is to defend a well-founded principle." (08/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Hendrik Kafsack

Following a military putsch in the West African country of Mauritania, which lies very close to the Canary Islands, a council of state has seized control of the country. The daily ABC comments on the significance of this coup for Spain: "The military putsch which has ousted the Mauritanian president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, and the prime minister, Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef, puts an abrupt end to the promising process of democratisation in this impoverished African country, and this is lamentable in every respect. Spain has numerous interests in this neighbouring country, for example [joint] control of fishing and illegal immigration. Political instability in this country is bad news because our policy in the North African region largely depends on there being the greatest possible stability there to propel the economic development of its society." (08/08/2008)

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The German Social Democratic Party (SPD), part of the ruling coalition with the conservative CDU, is deeply divided: the chairman of the party in the state of Hesse, Andrea Ypsilanti, hopes to become premier with the support of the controversial Die Linke (The Left) party. As a result Wolfgang Clement, a former economics minister and deputy chairman of the SPD, has advised against voting for his own party in the state elections, a move for which he is now threatened with expulsion. Even if the attempt to expel him from his party fails, writes the Corriere della Sera, "it will be far more difficult to overcome the breach that this surreal procedure has sparked. The party is divided. On the one hand is the old guard from the days under Gerhard Schröder, who support Clement and the party's 2010 reform agenda. On the other is the impatient new radical wing. What is at stake is the leadership of the party and the ultimate verdict on the Schröder era. ... Andrea Ypsilanti has broken a taboo. She established contacts with Die Linke against the wishes of her party, and hopes with their support to oust the conservatives and become state premier. That would indeed be an earthquake for German politics and for the SPD." (08/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Mara Gergolet

Gianni Alemanno, former youth leader of the Italian neo-fascists and now mayor of Rome for the right-wing National Alliance, wants to implement draconic measures against the city's homeless. The daily Die Presse takes a dim view of the plans. "Now he has declared war on the old and the homeless who rummage around in rubbish bins for something to eat. The ludicrous justification: in their search for food they drop too much rubbish onto the street, which could cause infection. Social organisations responded that the mayor's ideas are themselves infected. But what of it? Eternal Rome has outlived Nero, the Vandals and the Borgias. Alemanno, the scourge of the homeless, will be no more than a footnote in history." (08/08/2008)

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In the liberal-left weekly Magyar Narancs political scientist Anna Unger sees the future of the EU in a federalist structure: "In the past eight years political integration in the EU has come to a standstill. The last major reform was carried out under the auspices of the 'Treaty of Nice' (2000). Apparently the current system for decision-making within the EU is unable to provide adequate responses to global problems, and this only fuels Euro-pessimism. European integration has reached its limits under the current system. In its present form it cannot progress any further. ... The system of EU institutions is appallingly complex and lacking in transparency, and EU citizens are quite right to reject it. ... The time has come to make a great leap forwards. The current political UFO should be transformed into a genuine federation. ... German or US federalism could serve as a model: it must be clear which powers lie with the federal government and which belong to the states. .... It is indispensable that we create a federalist system if we want a competitive EU. .... Europe's citizens have rejected both the so-called 'constitutional treaty' and the 'Treaty of Lisbon. Why should they say yes to a federal Europe? Because there is no alternative." (08/08/2008)

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Le Monde analyses the European future of the Balkans: "The arrest of Radovan Karadžić, the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, ... should give new impetus to the process of EU accession. The EU has given priority status to the accession of the countries of former Yugoslavia and neighbouring Albania. ... EU expansion in the Western Balkans is viewed by Europeans as the best means of securing stability and development in the region. ... According to experts at the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels, the difficulty for the European Union consists in balancing two strategies. The first is maintaining order in a region which is not yet entirely peaceful. The other is securing the transition of the Western Balkans to Europe. ... To ... permit a true 'Europeanisation' of the Western Balkans, ... the Union must demonstrate its unflinching commitment. ... Yet both sides harbour doubts as far as the political will of the other is concerned. The time has come to dispel these doubts. We must speak clearly, to establish mutual trust and make the 'European perspective' a reality for the countries of this region as soon as possible." (07/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Thomas Ferenczi

On 23 July the Spanish head of government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered speeches virtually simultaneously on the economic crises in their respective countries. For the daily El País the fact that the Financial Times dedicated a leading article to Merkel's speech while not even mentioning Zapatero's words is clearly indicative of the respective policies of the two heads of government. "It appears to me that this difference is proof that Europe's most important economic paper is indeed able to distinguish between what is relevant and what is banal, between a declaration of political and economic significance and demagogical trivialities, between an expression of strong leadership and the lack of such. ... Merkel ... is a clear example of a reformer: a reform-oriented politician goes two steps ahead and openly explains the situation to society without attempting to conceal the difficulties and the costs involved. A populist politician, on the other hand, first tries to keep the problem under wraps, then plays it down and then keeps quiet about the costs." (08/08/2008)

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All available articles from » José Ignacio Wert

The British housing bubble seems to have burst: The most recent figures show the largest slump in housing prices since 1992. The Times finds that this has "clear benefits for the economy": "If we are now set for a prolonged period of modest, or negative, returns from housing, then this should encourage a more rational allocation of household wealth. People will think more seriously about the attractions of renting rather than owning their home. With a larger and more active rental sector of the housing market, people will be freer to move home in order to take up attractive new jobs for which they are suited. There will consequently be fewer people who commute long distances to work. That will lessen the burden to them, and reduce the costs to the environment. ... Those who have invested heavily in property have not been 'greedy': they have made rational decisions given the bias in our economy to owner-occupation. That bias has real costs, and there should be few tears if it is now passing." (08/08/2008)

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Salvatore Settis, Director of the Normal School for Advanced Studies in Pisa and advisor to the Italian Ministry of Culture, criticises cuts in the state culture budget. In an opinion piece published in La Repubblica, Settis comments on an article that recently appeared in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The cuts of over a billion euros mean a drastic restriction of the activities of the Culture Ministry. ... Even before the cuts, the culture budget was one of the lowest in Europe at 0.28 percent of the GDP. Anyone who voices concern at this measure is accused of etatism. ... Meanwhile, however, our neighbours are forming their own judgements, which will be pitiless. ... Yet behind every word lies a wholehearted love for Italy and its culture. Not only do the budget cuts put the future of our cultural heritage at risk, they also badly damage our country's image." (08/08/2008)

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Four years after the acclaimed Olympic Games in Athens, the self-image of the Greeks has undergone major changes as a result of domestic political problems and the economic crisis, the daily Eleftherotypia writes. "The success of the Olympic Games and the positive reviews from abroad raised self-confidence to a maximum level. ... The problem is that Greece and the Greeks are now in a situation which is entirely different from 2004. ... There is a general sense of misery, ... a lack of creativity and .... expectations are low. ... Our international image does not even bear thinking about. The international media is full of reports on bribes, corruption, ... the name dispute with [the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia] FYROM, which only few can understand, and the economic and political crises." (08/08/2008)

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