"France's presidential campaign seems to have been in progress for months, but it has only begun officially this week", comments the daily. "The pace now becomes frenetic, as candidates criss-cross the country. Posters, election broadcasts and mass rallies now all come into play. ...The two frontrunners offer a classic mainstream left-right duel, of the sort France has long experience. But both have flaws. ... Dissatisfaction with these two candidates opens the door a little further for François Bayrou and Jean-Marie Le Pen. ... This is the most keenly contested presidential election in France for a generation. It is also, arguably, the most crucial, with implications not just for France, but for bilateral relations, the future of Europe and the transatlantic alliance. We look forward to a contest that lives up to the billing." (10/04/2007)

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The journalist Sylvain Besson considers that "the closer the French presidential campaign gets to its conclusion, the more unstable, muddled and unpredictable it seems. The polls, that set the proportion of voters who have not yet made their choice at 40 %, confirm impressions gathered among the electorate: six months of media hype, prime time TV programs and intensive 'pre-campaign' activity have not yet allowed public opinion to strike up a position. ... From now on, candidates are on an equal footing, or almost: Up until April 22nd, the amount of air time will be the same for each of the candidates and the distribution of posters and short films will smooth out the advantages that 'big' candidates had before. In 1995 and then in 2002, previous presidential election campaigns gave way to enormous surprises. Might things turn out otherwise this time?" (10/04/2007)

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"Keen to please voters who are more and more trigger-happy with the remote control and less and less structured, the contestants sometimes seem like headless chickens running around, left, right and centre, throwing words about and agitating flags before speeding off towards other horizons. This is not exactly reassuring", considers the editorialist Françoise Fressoz. "But from behind the visible muddle, some positive signs are appearing. First of all, the problems that are irking French society are being named: crisis of national identity, crisis in the suburbs, a broken social ladder. We may mock this general catharsis, but we are better off with it taking place in the campaign rather than in the ballot box. It is always easier for a remedy to be found after a diagnosis." (10/04/2007)

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Johannes Willms reports that none of the 12 presidential candidates can be sure of becoming the French people's "chosen one". "Not only the ups and downs of the poll results but also the rapidly changing themes in this campaign are an indication of how uncertain the outcome of the first round of the elections on April 22 still is. The discussion about national identity that flared up in late March has abated, as has the debate about domestic security triggered by the recent riots at Paris's Gare du Nord. The lack of a central theme is the predominant feature of this election campaign. On the one hand it is because of this lack that so many remain uncertain about who to vote for. On the other hand, this lack is leading candidates to try and outdo each other with promises which the voters know only too well cannot be fulfilled." (10/04/2007)

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In an interview with Bert Rebhandl, French philosopher André Glucksmann, who supports conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, attributes the success of centrist candidate Francois Bayrou to the "idealisation of rural France by both the left and right". "The third man, candidate Francois Bayrou, presents himself as a 'tractor', as 'the deep France'. Bayrou constantly stresses his country roots. However, from Proust we have learned that life in a village is also about cruelty, gossip and control. Bayrou embodies a kind of nostalgia. Not the Cannes Film Festival but the Agricultural Salon is France's most important festival. In France historians have always been what philosophers are in Germany. Since Michelet we have been living with an imaginary past. Bayrou is thriving on it." (10/04/2007)

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Ukrainian author Oksana Sabuschko describes the demonstrations by imported "Blues" on Kiev's Independence Square as a "third-rate simulation" of the Orange Revolution led by their opponents in 2004: "The saddest sight is when the 'blue' politicians [the supporters of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich] talk to the people from the stage. The answer is a confused silence. This silent square - above, the stage with the loud speakers; below, the silent masses - is such a glaring metaphor for the relations between the Soviet rulers and the Soviet people that you would think it was a grotesque event or an avant-garde film called 'Goodbye, Lenin 2'. The politicians of the blue camp actually appear to believe they can stage a counter-revolution to that which took place in 2004 with a load of extras carted in from the provinces. Their conviction that those in power (i.e. money) are capable of anything forms the basis of their view of the world - it is their substitute religion. Apparently they think this is how the revolution worked. Now they're trying to copy it and don't understand why it's turning into such a pathetic farce." (10/04/2007)

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The author and painter Nicole Muchnik offers a reflection on the position of victims in current society drawing on a book by Caroline Eliacheff and Daniel Soulez Larivière called 'Le temps des victimes' ('The era of victims'). "Mixing politics with compassion is a risky business. It is the exploitation of popular emotion after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that led the citizens of the United States to support the invasion of Iraq. The inextricable situation of the Middle East also depends on a constantly fuelled emotional situation, a victimisation revived by all the attacks perpetrated by both sides and that are perpetuated from one generation to another. A political force born of emotions does not set itself rational goals. This is why it can be extremely damaging for society. And it does not serve the purpose that should belong to all associations of victims: the reconstruction of the individual, of the intimate." (10/04/2007)

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On a visit to Tallinn the Swiss President and Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey described Estonia as an exemplary new EU member state - much to the surprise of the commentator of the Estonian news portal. "It's enough to take your breath away, particularly when you consider that relations with our Scandinavian neighbours have deteriorated owing to the wave of illegal workers; tensions between Estonia and Russia over the bronze statue have escalated, and that in Germany and Italy Estonia has a reputation for sheltering bank robbers and jewel thieves. According to a report published by the British weekly The Economist, although Estonia has the least reprehensible government in Central and Eastern Europe, corruption has proliferated under Ansip. So what is it that the Swiss find so commendable? Perhaps from that distance they can only discern the big picture but not the details. And if for once we took an objective look at ourselves from outside we would see that we are indeed doing pretty well." (10/04/2007)

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The newspaper criticises the UN resolution for a worldwide ban on the public defamation of religions passed by the UN Human Rights council in Geneva in compliance with the demands of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) at the end of March. Among other things, the resolution is widely regarded as a reaction to the Muhammad cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which triggered a wave of protest in the Islamic world last year. The EU rejected the resolution on the grounds that it was not compatible with the discussion about human rights. The Danish daily also sees the initiative as "a false message to the world". "The fact that this resolution was adopted is scandalous, even if it's supposed to be the last one of this type. The United Nations is undermining its own legitimacy in a free world with this kind of resolution. This is lamentable. To put it mildly, this world deserves a better UN, but this will only be possible if the democratic nations confront the undemocratic nations with the impossibility of their demands - both within and outside the United Nations." (10/04/2007)

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"In a series of four United Nations reports this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will spell out the huge impact of global warming, humankind's responsibility for it and what measures can be taken to prevent and reverse its effects" writes the daily. "The IPCC's second report, published last week, dealt with the impact of global warming on areas as diverse as water availability, sea levels, species survival. ... One of its principal conclusions is that these changes will predominantly affect poorer people all round the world who in fact have least responsibility for the carbon emissions which cause them. ... Last week's report identifies measures capable of reducing carbon emissions, mitigating their effects and making the transition to a sustainable economy which will not undermine the welfare of future generations. The panel's third report will spell these out in more detail next month." (10/04/2007)

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Rumjana Batschwarowa asks whether Bulgaria will become "more European" after the election of its MEPs on May 20th. "The first elections will show how interested Bulgarians are in European issues and problems. ... For those Europeans who are trying to understand the peculiarities of our nation it would be important to see what historical compensation EU membership will give Bulgarians - as opposed to forced membership in the Ottoman Empire or the Soviet Union. This question may seem exaggerated and too theoretical to modern Bulgarians, but it's important to recognise the echo in public opinion of historical and global events regarding the European Union." (10/04/2007)

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Belgium is one of the countries that chose to limit the number of workers arriving from ten new Member States of the EU after their accession on May 1st 2004. For Vincent Rocourn, "nothing justifies envisaging the arrival, in hoards, of Polish brick-layers or Romanian nurses on the Walloon labour market", he denounces "the paradoxical message given to these new European States who were supposed to completely open up their market for our companies whilst accepting restrictions on the number of their own workers entering our countries. In 2009, Member States will have to decide whether or not to lift the barriers which they, for the most part, have maintained up until now. It would be advisable on this occasion, for Belgium to stop accepting that in Europe there are citizens who can travel in first class and others who have to stay in second class." (10/04/2007)

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All available articles from » Vincent Rocour

The retired general Loureiro do Santos, former Minister of Defence, gives his opinion on how British soldiers held hostage in Iran for thirteen days have been given permission to sell the story of their detention. "From the point of view of military ethics, I see no drawback in their divulging their story, so long as this does not put national interests, or army security into question. Whether or not to sell these stories is another problem. It is no longer a military question. This is a symptom of our times. As for the fact that the Minister of defence has accepted to make an exception in allowing these testimonies, against official policy in that domain, it is no doubt due to the fact that the United Kingdom sees a sure advantage in it. Whoever authorized them to speak no doubt judged it beneficial for us to hear what they have to say." (10/04/2007)

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Artist and architect Jaroslaw Kozakiewicz will begin building a "bridge of ghosts" in the southern Polish city of Auschwitz this year. It is to be constructed in the Park of Reconciliation near the site of the former Nazi concentration camp. Kozakiewicz wants to encourage visitors to the bridge to reflect on the genocide of the Jews, writes Monika Malkowska, "The bridge spans a river and will have the form of a spiral, twisting 180 degrees. In the middle there will be a ten-metre-long tunnel. People crossing the bridge will disappear into the darkness at this point. Silence will increase the effect as the bridge's steel infrastructure will be covered with a layer of wood that softens the sound of footsteps. This is a moving, outstanding monument to the victims of the Holocaust." (05/04/2007)

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All available articles from » Monika Malkowska

According to a new survey, the majority of Hungarian respondents regard Hungarian culture only partially as part of Europe's cultural heritage. Judit N. Kósa comments: "Could this shocking result not be because we ourselves are unsure of what we understand by Hungarian culture? Since the fall of communism politicians have been fighting a bitter battle of cultures, politics is omnipresent in all areas of cultural education and Hungarian culture is being segregated. People choose books, films and music according to which political party an artist belongs to. As in the times of the dictatorship, theatre directors are chosen according to their party allegiance; plays are criticized for political reasons; we look for the political message first in sculptures, instead of just letting them work on us visually." (06/04/2007)

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The Franco-Algerian singer Rachid Taha is currently touring Europe. The playwright and freelance writer Mark Espiner went to his concert at London's Barbican centre last week. "Described by the broadcaster Andy Kershaw as Algerian music mixed with The Clash, Taha has been a voice of dissent in his exiled French home. His attacks on French politics and his heavy fusion of electric guitars and Arabic rhythms produce a potent mix of rousing power chords and politics. With bags of panache, decked out in a suave suit and a jauntily tilted trilby, he sauntered to the mike and spat out Arabic and French lyrics - such as in 'Barra Barra' ('Outside') - about the chaos of society. The crowd went crazy. ... Taha seemed to lap it up and it only encouraged the six-strong band to rock more.When things could scarcely have been more stirred up, though, he introduced his punk hero to the stage [Mick Jones from The Clash]." (10/04/2007)

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