For The Independent, the resignation of the Israeli prime minister comes too late: "A long overdue departure. ... Mr Olmert has been a weak leader ever since the Israeli government inquiry blamed his bad planning for the botched invasion of Lebanon. ... Little can be achieved in the two extra months he has given himself in office. The peace talks with the Palestinians and Syrians will stall, despite assurances to the contrary. The ruling party will be plunged into a succession battle at a time of heightened tension over Iran's refusal to abandon its nuclear programme, on which Israel has hinted at air strikes. ... He could have done more. ... Peace is inevitably negotiated by strong leaders and Israel cannot afford to have a weak one. ... Ehud Olmert would have done his country and the region a service had he stepped down much earlier." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Israel

Israel's domestic political situation is extremely unclear following the resignation of Ehud Olmert, writes La Repubblica: "Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister and leader of the opposition, wants to take advantage of Olmert's resignation and is pushing for fresh elections. ... Netanyahu is striking while the iron is hot. If elections were held tomorrow he would be the new prime minister." Meanwhile, Olmert's Kadima party is seeking a replacement: "Only two of the candidates seem likely: foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is considered a dove, and the hawk Shaul Mofaz, a former defence minister who cut a less than fine figure as advisor to Olmert in the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. ... But regardless of who succeeds Olmert a majority government is anything but certain. And in the event that a coalition fails, fresh elections are the sole alternative." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Israel
All available articles from » Renato Caprile

Ehud Olmert's resignation announcement comes at the wrong time, writes Delo newspaper: "Although he is an experienced politician ... he will go down in history as one of the weakest and least successful of Israeli prime ministers. ... In fact Ehud Olmert ... should have resigned as prime minister long ago. Now, however, his departure comes at an inauspicious time, above all because of the peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians, which he initiated with the help of Turkish mediation. Clearly, peace with the Palestinians will not be quick in coming." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Middle East, » Israel
All available articles from » Branko Soban

The daily Le Monde has little hope that Israel will find a way out of the crisis after the resignation of Prime Minister Olmert: "Ehud Olmert's mandate at the head of the Israeli government ends as it began: with a whiff of scandal. ... Shortly after he took office, the former mayor of Jerusalem was widely criticised for his poor leadership in the Lebanon War. ... Even later there was no end to the accusations and charges of corruption. Abuse of power, favouritism and bribery: the allegations mounted. ... Even the Palestinian leadership is not far from sharing this critical stance. Since the mandate of Yitzhak Shamir not a single Israeli Prime Minister has made it to the end of his legislative period. ... Even if the foreign minister Tzipi Livni, the favourite of the civil rights activists within the Kadima, should come to power, her praiseworthy diplomatic goals could be endangered by the weakening of the party in the Knesset." (31/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Israel

The EU Reform Treaty has been unanimously approved by the Italian parliament. The daily La Repubblica welcomes the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon: "The anti-EU Lega Nord, which during the election campaign pushed for a referendum on the ratification, has joined ranks with the majority and the opposition. ... The Italian ratification is the only way to get the process of European integration which came to a standstill following the failure of the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands in 2005 going again. And at a time when for the most part Italy earns criticism and warnings from the EU, this unanimous approval does it good." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Italy, » Europe
All available articles from » Anais Ginori

The presumed war criminal Radovan Karadžić appeared yesterday before the custodial judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung stresses the need for a quick start to the trial, and rejects the idea that Europe should offer a premature reward to Serbia. "It is high time the proceedings began, before new Serbian myths take root and the crimes Karadžić is accused of fade into the past. Legends are already growing up around the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who managed to hoodwink everyone by adopting a false identity. ... All of this deflects attention from the indictment, which also suits the leadership in Belgrade. But we cannot allow Karadžić the war criminal to be remembered by all as the excentric guru and benevolent miracle healer Dr. Dragan Dabic. ... [The Serbian government] was quick to deliver Karadžić to The Hague, and now expects a reward from the West. It is to be hoped that the EU will remain firm and implement the Stability and Association Agreement, the first rung on the ladder to EU membership, only once Ratko Mladić has also been taken into custody. Brussels must not be too quick to let go of this lever. Serbia is reliant on the EU, and not the other way round." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime and Law, » Europe, » Serbia

After the deaths of two women at the hands of their partners in Portugal this week the daily Diário de Notícias takes a look at domestic violence in Europe: "The number of cases of domestic violence that end in death is on the increase in Portugal, and also in Spain, France and England. ... Not only is the number of cases growing but also the level of violence involved. Consequently other countries are changing their laws: In France the punishments for perpetrators are to get tougher while England is testing the possibility of giving milder sentences to people who were subjected to violence by their partners and killed them [as a result]. In Portugal nothing is changing. Since a pilot experiment ... in which the public prosecutor's office appointed a team to investigate cases of domestic violence, nothing else has been done." (31/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Crime and Law, » Portugal, » Europe

Patrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace International, argues in Die Welt for the sustained use of atomic energy to achieve climate protection goals. "Today I firmly believe that the campaign against nuclear energy was misguided. We made the mistake of putting nuclear weapons and nuclear energy in the same boat, as if everything nuclear were evil. ... We could not distinguish between the beneficial and the destructive use of nuclear technology. ... Environmental organisations alleging that wind and solar energy could replace the major nuclear and coal-fired power plants are irresponsibly misleading public opinion. It is simply impossible to supply power to hospitals, factories, schools and homes with energy sources that do not function for days at a time. ... Even if you factor in the consequences of Chernobyl, nuclear energy remains one of the safest industries in the world. ... Is it not time the environmental movement accepted that nuclear power is not a threat, but a promise of safe, clean energy that uses the most powerful technology we possess to replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions?" (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Energy Policy, » Social movements, » Global
All available articles from » Patrick Moore

The former Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi reflects in the news magazine Figyelő on relations between Central Europe and the European Union: "As far as Central Europe is concerned, the past two decades have been mainly successful. The spiritual essence of Central Europe and its cultural and intellectual community, which have matured over the centuries and which Central Europe's intelligentsia proudly upheld even in times of crisis, crystallised into economic and political reality within the framework of cooperation projects [Visegrád, CEFTA]. In due course the region was successfully integrated into the European Union. ... Contrary to certain views the democratic systems of the Central European countries do not perform much worse than those in Western Europe. However the Western press seems to take little note of this; reports on the region often focus on political extremes. Yet in none of the central European countries is there a right-wing extremist party or movement that counts on as much support as many ultra right forces in Western Europe. ... The countries of Central Europe must recognise that it is in their vital interest to successfully further European integration. For if European integration goes awry it would be a great loss for the world, for Europe, but above all for Central Europe." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Weltanschauung, » Central Europe, » Western Europe
All available articles from » János Martonyi

Since it became known that EU subsidies for Bulgaria are to be cut, the farmers directly affected by the move have been organising protests. But according to the daily Dnevnik it is not those in Brussels who are to blame: "The real reason behind the farmers' strikes is that for years the work of the ministry of agriculture has been unsatisfactory. Unlike Romanian farmers, for example, who receive funding on the basis of how many livestock they have registered, the Bulgarians receive none because the country has no system for recording the information. This also puts grain producers at a disadvantage, who a year after the promised date have still not received compensation for the droughts in 2007. But farmers working in the SAPARD projects are even worse off and this is owing to the lack of supervision by the authorities [regarding the administration of funding]." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Agriculture, » Economic Policy, » Europe, » Bulgaria

The daily Kurier does not find the rising number of registrations in Europe of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) - an object of hate for environmentalists - particularly worrying: "Late as it was in picking up on this trend, Europe's automotive industry did its own bit towards demonising [these vehicles] by first launching the big, lucrative SUVs needed for markets like the US and Russia. It was only with the second wave that the models developed for European dimensions were introduced. The image of martial petrol guzzlers that are much too big and driven by arrogant polluters continues to dominate the debate. A look at the statistics shows how distorted this image really is. The growth [in this segment] is being driven by cars like the Nissan Qashqai or the VW Tiguan, which buyers like because they see them as an comfortable alternative to station wagons and many of which are ordered without all-wheel-drive. The big models, on the contrary, are in decline. But for the purposes of statistics they are all lumped in the same SUV category." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Corporations, » Europe
All available articles from » Bauer, Horst

The Catalan football club Barça (FC Barcelona) has set a trend all of its own in matters of regional pride by cancelling a flight with the German airline Air Berlin because the latter's management expressed criticism of Catalonian language policy. The Spanish daily El Mundo says the club has gone too far: "Today [Catalan society] should be ashamed of the embarrassing impression the club made by cancelling an Air Berlin flight. It was acting in protest at an article recently published in the press by the president [of Air Berlin]. In the article he complained about discrimination against the Spanish language on the Balearics and accused the regional government of putting the airline under pressure to have its crew speak in Catalan. In response the Barça management refused to fly with Air Berlin even though the tickets had already been paid for and decided to book a charter flight with another airline to get from Pisa (Italy) to Chicago, where Barça is playing its preseason games." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Minorities, » Corporations, » Sport, » Germany, » Spain

To mark the anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupying forces in 1944, the editors in chief of the Polish dailies Polska, Dziennik, Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita have published a joint appeal to President Lech Kaczyński and the Polish government to keep their promise to hold a screenplay competition and finance films on the Warsaw Uprising. "Unfortunately, 20 months have passed since these welcome words about films on the Warsaw Uprising were spoken and nothing has happened. Therefore we call ... on Polish politicians to bring the work already done on the competition to conclusion. We know that this requires considerable funding, perhaps even millions of złoty, but we believe that independent Poland needs to make this investment. ... In everyday life we are divided by our political views and our visions for Poland's future. ... But we hold the view that there are ... issues and subjects in Poland's collective memory that require a joint approach. The Warsaw Uprising is certainly one of the most important among them." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Film, » Cultural Policy, » History, » Poland
All available articles from » Paweł Fąfara, » Jarosław Kurski, » Robert Krasowski, » Pawel Lisicki

The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo recently sacked the cartoonist Siné for a column considered anti-Semitic. Siné had speculated whether President Sarkozy's son, Jean Sarkozy, would convert to Judaism before his wedding. The political weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur criticises this reaction: "What we are seeing here is the very French left-wing anti-Semitism in a satirical weekly that wanted to remain 'dumb and dirty' ... but has become an institution. ... What has [Siné] done that others have not done much more vilely before him? Nothing other than lampooning someone. I find it highly interesting that a newspaper which stops at nothing should accept the idea that certain borders may not be transgressed. And I find it no less remarkable that a liberal newspaper like Libération agrees with [the publisher of Charlie Hebdo] Philippe Val on this point. What has happened in France? The answer is clear. This matter concerns Jews. And in the past humour at the expense of Jews has been known to end badly." (30/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Print media, » Religion, » Minorities, » Weltanschauung, » France
All available articles from » Jean Daniel

Romania is currently suffering from a series of floods. The daily Romania Libera calls for more solidarity: "We are used to blaming the authorities when there are floods instead of showing solidarity with each other. ... One of the first gestures of solidarity came from unexpected quarters: 500 prisoners from [the Romanian city of] Botosani donated a daily ration of bread to the victims of the floods. ... There have been flood disasters in Germany and Austria, too. ... Do these countries have no money? They do, but it is virtually impossible to predict where the water will break the dams and when the weather will go crazy. ... In this kind of situation the government can do nothing but focus on saving lives. But we could change our attitude regarding helping one another: at the first sign of flooding volunteers should help the victims and the authorities should be equipped with what is necessary to save human lives." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Environmental Policy, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Petre Mihai Bacanu

Just a few days before the Olympic Games in China begin, Jussi Pekkarinen, a researcher with the Finnish Foreign Ministry, reflects on the fact that Finland is seldom referred to by its Finnish name "Suomi" but mostly by its English designation "Finland" abroad: "The Finns see sport events as a good opportunity to improve Finland's image. But do our athletes represent Suomi or Finland? This question comes up every time there is a major sport event. ... The goal is to make the Finnish name for Finland socially acceptable. 'Suomi (Finland)' should just be an intermediate step." (01/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Public Culture, » Sport, » Finland
All available articles from » Jussi Pekkarinen