Endre Aczél sees little hope for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "Brown's rare misfortune is that not he but his boss Tony Blair harvested the fruits of his greatest deeds. And he became boss when there was nothing left to win. ... But perhaps there is more to it than that. Blair was at the helm of the British government for ten years, and as long as he was there he inspired public opinion, something which the demure technocrat Brown, by far the less gifted speaker, is incapable of. This in turn rubs off on the party. The sentiment is spreading among voters that after so long, it is time for the Conservatives to have a chance. And Labour is now seen as being 'dull'." (05/05/2008)

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Patrick Roger speaks with Dominique Reynie, professor at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, about a right-wing shift in Europe after local elections in Italy and the UK. "I identify a shift to the right not only in Rome and London, but across Europe. We are seeing a spectacular mood swing among European voters. ... In some countries where the Left occupied important ground such as Finland, Belgium and even Greece, social democratic and socialist parties are racking up one defeat after the next. ... This confirms what we have been observing in Europe since 1996: a tendency for radical movements to spread. The right-wing is not only victorious; it is gaining ground with increasingly tough-minded programmes. The Right seems to benefit more from economic swings, regardless of what direction they take. When things are looking up, the demand for liberalisation and de-regularisation increases as well, which the Left - with few exceptions - seems unable to respond to convincingly." (03/05/2008)

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The Dutch daily concludes that the defeat of the Labour Party in Great Britain will not have immediate repercussions for the rest of Europe, pointing out that "these were 'only' local elections." But it adds that even so, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's position has been weakened. "Brown's mission to halt the fall of Labour which began under Blair has failed for the time being. ... What poses an even greater threat to Labour is that many middle-class voters who switched to Labour under Blair have now switched back to the Conservatives. ... And what is even more important in the long term is whether he [Brown] can make clear what he aims to achieve with his policies and how Labour differs from the Conservatives now that it has adopted the 'Third Way'. In this respect Brown's struggle resembles those of many social democratic parties in Europe. Wouter Bos [the leader of the Social Democrats in the Netherlands] will no doubt be observing him with interest." (05/05/2008)

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"The English and Welsh have taken the opportunity to teach the unpopular Labour government a lesson. ... Labour's results were so disastrous that many are already speaking of the end of a political era. The new centre, that broad coalition of workers and liberals which swept Labour to power a decade ago, is no more, and has outlived its inventor Tony Blair, who left office last summer, by less than a year. .... The political roadmap must be written anew. Labour has all but disappeared as a political force in the south of England. ... Gordon Brown took office just ten months ago. ... but now the party is aghast to see that rather than being the solution to its problems, Brown himself is the problem." (05/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Wolfgang Koydl

The Socialist Party in the Netherlands has demanded that Prime Minster Jan-Peter Balkenende apologises for the Dutch nation's role in slavery during his upcoming visit to Suriname, a former Dutch colony. The Dutch political weekly Elsevier criticises the proposal: "Any comment made by the Prime Minister on this subject could have undesirable legal consequences. 'Relatives' will start queuing up for 'compensation'. ... Without doubt, trading in slaves was an inhuman system of economic exploitation. However, ... Dutch slave traders accounted for only five percent of the transatlantic slave trade, and Africans played a key role in rounding up and delivering slaves. Besides, slaves were not treated nearly as badly as many believe, simply because of their economic value, and there were some slaves who later went on to keep their own slaves. ... But [socialist MP] Harry van Bommel prefers to bow to the pressure of the militant victim mentality of some Surinamese. He prefers to moralise rather than take historical facts seriously. He would rather punish his own country than tell these incessant moaners to finally stop their complaining." (05/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Oene van der Wal

In his blog, anthropologist Paulo Granjo discusses the referendum in Bolivia's richest province Santa Cruz for more independence from the central government: "It is very unpleasant to be a large landowner from one of the country's best families and then to wake up one day and find an Indian has been elected president simply because we did not kill as many indigenous people as our neighbours did." Granjo has the following to say on Evo Morales' election and socialist policies: "Things got even worse when the guy won the elections with an absolute majority and attacked civilised customs and the power of money. And even worse when he wanted to distribute national wealth among the population. It is time to call for autonomy, or even independence, and fast. With the support of other countries, of course. ... When Germany incited Slovenia to declare its independence a few years ago, it added fuel to the fire in the Balkans and started one of the most barbaric civil wars in Europe in the last century. How will things be in Bolivia? Or, like in Ruanda a few years ago and now in Darfur, will skin colour make everything less important?" (04/05/2008)

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Marius Laurinavicius appreciates that Lithuania risks isolating itself by blocking a partnership agreement between the EU and Russia, but nonetheless expresses sympathy with the stance of the government in Vilnius: "Lithuania would hardly be isolated if at least its neighbours Poland, Latvia and Estonia backed its course. According to critics, the decision of the government in Vilnius was consequently either short-sighted or at the very least poorly planned. It is therefore questionable whether our diplomacy has really successfully defended Lithuania's main interests. Nonetheless, in this case Lithuania cannot be accused of blocking decisions out of anti-Russian sentiment. Vilnius is simply demanding that Brussels also take account of Lithuania when it comes to matters that are important for this country." (05/05/2008)

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Commentator Verena Diethelm takes a look at the political situation in Russia following the official transfer of power next Wednesday: "Putin is still keeping his chosen successor and close confidant Dimitry Medvedev on a tight leash. ... Kremlin observers have no doubt that he will keep a tight hold of the reigns even after he gives up the presidency and for a long time to come." Putin obviously intends to endow his new position as prime minister with increased powers, Diethelm writes: "When he moves from the Kremlin to the White House Putin will not only take his closest colleagues with him, he will also take most of his powers along too. To this end, new posts have been created within the government apparatus and the powers of the prime minister extended by parliamentary amendment. ... Through these measures Putin aims to give himself more leeway for executing strategic tasks." (05/05/2008)

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Aleš Gaube comments on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's most recent Middle East visit. "Her mission during George Bush's two terms in office has never changed. The classic theme of promoting the peace process has always been part and parcel of her diplomatic agenda. Once Washington exhausted the possibilities of the bilateral approach of courting both the Israelis and the Palestinians and started to focus on the search for new starting points for negotiations on the battlefield instead, the process was kept alive through international peace conferences. ... The results of the summit in Taba ... and most recently in Annapolis, are an insipid cocktail of rehashed efforts and promises. ... This time too, Condoleezza Rice remained committed to the course of promoting the White House's efforts aimed at bringing about the signing of the world's most eagerly awaited peace accord in the Holy Land by the end of Bush's term in office." (05/05/2008)

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The paper's Paris correspondent Lluís Uría sums up developments a year after the elections that brought Nicolas Sarkozy to power: "Dizzying is the best adjective to describe Sarkozy's first year in the Elysée. He went at implementing his reform package at a vertiginous, almost frenetic pace. Equally dizzying - and radical - was how he changed his style of governing and of exercising power, and in doing so of making a public show of his private life. Finally, the speed with which he squandered the enormous trust his countrymen has placed in him ... was also just as dizzying. ... Even supporters in his own ranks criticise the roughly 50 reform laws passed so far for lacking the coherence and structure which would make them understandable and enforceable." (05/05/2008)

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Nikola Liebert comments on the withdrawal of Microsoft's offer for the online service Yahoo. "Competition is not always a good thing. Think of ... the subway, also in New York, built by two private firms. Lines crossed without transfer possibilities because the firms did not want to lose customers to the competition. ... What good does that kind of competition do us? Infrastructural needs should be consistently organised. They should never be left to a private monopoly, like the postal services in its time ... and Microsoft today. And with such a truly global project like the Internet, a national, state solution would also be unreasonable. Yet an alternative has long existed. It is called Open Source: software that is developed by a global community, and which anyone may freely use, copy and process. If you want to escape the tentacles of Microsoft and Google, turn to Linux, Open Office and Firefox." (05/05/2008)

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Ionut Popescu explains the fate of Romania's small shareholders with the example of Petromidia oil refinery. "Today the average share price is around 0.02 Euros. Four years down the road it is lower than at the beginning, even if the privatisation of the refinery was a success story. Meanwhile, the enterprise's principal shareholder has become one of the richest men in Romania, because he sold the pearls of the crown. The money of all those who invested alongside the Romanian entrepreneur four years ago has disappeared, although their majority partner was extraordinarily rich. By contrast, Microsoft owner Bill Gates' shareholders became rich along with him. In both cases we talk about legal business dealings. But the fate of small shareholders shows us what kind of capitalism we have in Romania and how much it differs from that in America." (05/05/2008)

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Claudia Morgoglione comments on an article in the Sunday issue of the British newspaper The Times and reports by the British news agency Reuters expressing concern that Rome's new right-wing mayor, Gianni Alemanno, wants to give the Rome Film Festival established by his left-wing predecessor Walter Veltroni a nationalist character. "As we all know, foreign newspapers tend to exaggerate things a little where Italy is concerned, and yet it is still unsettling when you read the title of the article in the Times: 'Gianni Alemanno to blacklist Hollywood stars to promote Italian films'. ... These are harsh words that show that these quarrels which are apparently internal and centred on Rome are being observed with interest by foreign media. Alemanno, however, remains unfazed: the film festival is for national productions, not for Hollywood stars, he insists." (05/05/2008)

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The newspaper reflects on the career of Albert Hofmann, inventor of LSD, who has died aged 102: "Albert Hofmann has now become the subject of hymn like veneration. The modest chemist was always uncomfortable with the cult around his person, similar to that of a pop star. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) - Hofmann's most influential if by no means his only invention - is a historical exception. Even its invention in 1943 provides ample material for later myths. It was a combination of laboratory accident and heroic self-experiment. ... The drug revealed its notorious revolutionary effects from its earliest use as a research tool in psychiatry and pharmacology. Depending how you view it, LSD can be a mind-altering drug, a medicine or a chemical weapon. It is unusual for a molecule to be so multifaceted." (04/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Felix Hasler

Local elections will be held at the beginning of June in Romania. Doru Buscu thinks it would be a good idea to have a German female candidate for mayor in Bucharest, pointing out that there is already a German mayor in Spain and that the most popular mayor in France is an Englishman. A German candidate for Bucharest "would represent a new beginning in Romanian politics and would be wonderful PR and a great opportunity for this paralysed city. ... However this option has been blocked here in Romania: the laws governing local elections do not allow European citizens from other countries to be candidates in Romanian elections. This could have been changed by governmental decree ... but it was not. Somewhere along the way the idea was scrapped, or maybe it just disappeared. Nonetheless, it could resurface in the future. Christian Ude, the 61-year-old current mayor of Munich, would be a good choice for 2012, or Petra Roth, 64 years old and currently mayor of Frankfurt." (05/05/2008)

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According to a study published by beer giant SAB Miller and based on a survey conducted in 15 European countries, the average Czech drinks his first beer at 18:12 pm. "The Czechs have managed to maintain their position as the leading beer-drinking nation in this comparison," Lenka Hloušková comments, adding: "They are very patriotic regarding beer. 91 percent prefer their native brew. That is twice as many as in other European nations. The Belgians came second regarding beer patriotism (81 percent), and the Germans third (79 percent). Meanwhile, 80 percent of Swedes prefer to drink imported beer. The Czechs go against the trend when it comes to where they drink their beer. Most of them go to the pub, while other Europeans prefer to drink their beer at home. (05/05/2008)

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All available articles from » Lenka Hloušková