The communist daily Il Manifesto describes the deployment of soldiers on the streets of Italy's major cities as a "surreal scene in a hot summer. With their uniforms the soldiers inspire more fear than the criminals among tourists. ... This muscle-flexing display that makes Italy's Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa so happy not only highlights the negative side of pointlessness and powerlessness, it reflects the image of a country that has given in to its lowest instincts, one that in the name of security is appealing to an authority without knowing where the real danger comes from. A country that is willing to sacrifice law and democracy just to make it to the proverbial end of the month, which has become an empty leitmotiv. Everything is accepted in silence while the rest of the world watches the rise of an anachronistic dictatorship in Italy." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Mariuccia Ciotta

El País expresses concern over the deployment of troops it Italian cities: "Even if the measure is legally irreproachable - because the parliament approved it in July - it nevertheless casts a pall over the country's image, it establishes a worrying precedent and is by no means sure to succeed. Why not deploy more and better-armed police officers, as the Left is justified in asking? ... But the most worrying aspect is that the soldiers seem to be there above all to go after suspected Roma, Africans and Romanians. Berlusconi must believe that the army can solve everything. And that is wrong." (06/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Minorities, » Italy

In its lead article, Le Monde draws parallels between France and Italy: "To deal with the country's problems - the rubbish in Naples, the afflux of illegal immigrants, from the major fires this summer to the fight against petty crime - Silvio Berlusconi has deployed troops alongside the police. ... Whether you see this as demagogy or a necessary measure against crime, the topic of security has been at the centre of political debate in Italy for months now. Among the left it is no longer taboo. But the right-wing parties that feel much more comfortable on this terrain have made it their hobby-horse, helping them to win the parliamentary elections in April. Today they are merely keeping their election promises, while the parties on the left are having difficulty getting their message across, just as they are in France." (05/08/2008)

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The daily Die Welt pokes fun at Silvio Berlusconi's security measures: "The Italian media mogul and part-time Prime Minister Berlusconi has now deployed the army to bring security to the country. Only a short while ago parts of the Italian constitution were stolen, so that Berlusconi was forced to make his own laws. To prevent anything like that from happening again, soldiers are now being deployed to protect, among other things, the Cathedral in Milan. So far they have been successful because the building has not yet been stolen as is common at this time of year. Otherwise, however, the deployment has proved a failure. In Pisa Berlusconi's special forces were unable to prevent traffickers from dangerously tilting the tower. Things are particularly bad in Pompeii. Despite heightened security, criminal elements there have reduced the bathing resort to rubble and ashes. ... And a gruesome sight welcomes visitors to Rome, where thieves have hardly left a stone standing in the Forum." (06/08/2008)

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Czech President Vaclav Klaus has spoken out against over-ambitious goals for the Czech EU presidency scheduled for the first half of 2009. The parliament in Prague, he says, should not focus exclusively on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon as long as the Irish say no to it. The left-wing newspaper Právo suspects Klaus's remarks are motivated by personal interests: "It would be helpful if Prague made an effort to persuade the Irish [to ratify the treaty], particularly now that the British Conservatives and the last Polish hussar, President Kaczynski, have given up their battle against Lisbon. ... Klaus's talk of national interests and preserving national sovereignty conceals an unspoken message: it is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. This is the secret behind his opposition to integration." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Jiří Hanák

Pierre Lequiller, chairman of the French parliament's EU delegation and member of parliament in the ruling UMP party, criticises in Le Figaro the mood swings of the French Socialists regarding the European Union: "For a month now France and its partners have been developing their priorities for the Europe of tomorrow. ... The French EU presidency has everything going for it. But to achieve the European identity we are striving for, our projects must be cohesive. ... This duty to cohesion also applies to the political leaders of our country. A topic like Europe must be the subject of unanimous agreement among all political players. ... In this sense it is increasingly difficult to understand the incessant mood swings of the Socialist Party. ... The French EU Council presidency is not that of a single party: it is the presidency of all French, and all Europeans! ... France needs the united commitment of all ... to shape the Europe of tomorrow." (05/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Pierre Lequiller

A ruling by the European Court of Justice which stipulates that non-EU citizens married to EU citizens can move around within the EU unhindered and take up residence wherever they like with their partners has called the legality of Denmark's stringent laws on family reunification into question. The daily Politiken criticises Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen for insisting on upholding the country's current restrictive immigration policy, which was largely the work of the xenophobic Danish People's Party. "The gap between the dogmatism that is prevalent in [the seat of government] Christiansborg and the somewhat more liberal reality which the immigrant authorities may now be forced to allow is widening. As long as the [liberal right-wing party] Venstre, the conservatives and the social democrats refuse to admit that their policy contains certain untenable elements one thing is for sure: the Danish People's Party will have a field day and Denmark's Europe policy will be constantly regarded with suspicion. ... If a change in direction does not come soon, another victim will be added to the already numerous victims of our immigration policy: Denmark's relationship with the EU." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Tøger Seidenfaden

The daily I Kathimerini criticises the way the Greek authorities treat the country's Albanian minority, which accounts for 40 percent of all immigrants in Greece: "Mass deportations, brutality ... and savage exploitation when it comes to wages. ... Many Albanians have applied for Greek citizenship but [only] a few have been granted it. ... Greece is battling valiantly to show the Albanian migrants ... that they ... are its enemy. Not even Greece's worst enemy could create a rift between the Greeks and Albanians as great as that which the [Greek] authorities have created in the past 16 years." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Migration, » Integration, » Minorities, » Greece
All available articles from » Nikos Mertzos

Alan Greenspan, former chairmain of the US Federal Reserve, sketches in the Financial Times a gloomy picture of the ongoing bank crisis, yet warns strongly against further state intervention: "This crisis is different – a once or twice a century event deeply rooted in fears of insolvency of major financial institutions. ... There may be numbers of banks and other financial institutions that, at the edge of defaulting, will end up being bailed out by governments. ... Globalisation is at the root of the past decade's unprecedented surge in world economic activity. ... The economic edifice - market capitalism - that has fostered this expansion is now being pilloried for the pause and partial retrenchment. The cause of our economic despair, however, is human nature's propensity to sway from fear to euphoria and back, a condition that no economic paradigm has proved capable of suppressing. ... We can fend off cries of political despair which counsel the containment of competitive markets. It is essential that we do so. ... The danger is that some governments, bedevilled by emerging inflationary forces, will endeavour to reassert their grip on economic affairs. If that becomes widespread, globalisation could reverse – at awesome cost." (04/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Alan Greenspan

Journalist Dan O'Brien defends in The Irish Times the democratic structures of the EU: "Though the EU has many flaws, a democratic deficit is not among them. The proof is easily demonstrated. If you are on the sharp end of a democratic deficit, be it in today's Russia, the Northern Irish state of yesteryear or countless other examples, you do not have to be a political scientist or legal theorist to know it. Your rights are ridden roughshod over and woe betide you if you attempt to do anything about it. ... This is patently not the case in Europe today. Over a half-century of European integration one will not find any country or group who has suffered such a fate, even among the smallest and most powerless countries, Ireland included. And it is not mere happenstance that the EU functions as it does. The reason is simple: manifold checks and balances. The most important is the hawk-like manner in which 27 member countries look out for their interests and watch the actions of the other 26. ... The EU's most urgent task is not to deal with an illusory democratic deficit, but to close its yawning legitimacy deficit whereby voters are willing to believe wild and often baseless accusations against it. ... As recent referendums in Ireland, France and the Netherlands have shown, this is not easy. Unless it can be addressed more effectively, the union's long-term future may be in doubt." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Dan O'Brien

Within a few weeks the price of oil has sunk around 20 percent from its all-time high. "This is good news for investors in stock markets and the sorely tried car drivers at petrol stations," comments the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. However it adds that the times of cheap raw materials have nonetheless come to an end: "The prices are going down because demand for raw materials is likely to grow slower than expected following forecasts for a marked slowdown in global economic growth. Should the economic forecast worsen, a further decline in raw material prices cannot be ruled out. Yet people would be ill-advised to start hoping that the times of cheap raw materials will return. The entry of densely populated newly industrialised countries like China, India, Brazil and Russia into the global economic division of labour is irreversible. They will join the ranks of the world's greatest consumers of raw materials ... in the foreseeable future. The decline in oil prices over the past few weeks does nothing to change the fact that people must learn to produce and live in ways that are more energy efficient." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Gerald Braunberger

The Bulgarian farm industry is suffering from a lack of workers. The only solution is importing labour from Asia, writes the daily Standart. "Finding capable workers in Bulgaria is becoming increasingly difficult. Demand has long outstripped supply on the labour market. The situation in the countryside is especially difficult. Farmers prefer to make do with the produce from two or three thousand square metres of land and a couple of cows, rather than looking for work. Investors in agriculture and other areas have long had no alternative in their choice of workers. ... It is well known that agricultural work is not attractive, and that salaries are under 500 - 600 euros. People in the sector should now look to the Asian market for a solution, as many other countries have done." (06/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Rusi Chernev

A commission comprising members of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities has initiated a programme for rebuilding churches and mosques on Cyprus. The Cypriot newspaper Politis welcomes the initiative: "Good will ... can improve many things, and do much to soothe the tragic memories of the catastrophe of 1974 [the Turkish invasion of Cyprus]. We welcome this attempt, which engenders feelings of trust and mutual respect on the political level regarding the history of the Greek and Turkish inhabitants of Cyprus. These feelings were ... brutally destroyed, primarily by the Turkish army, which has systematically attempted to abolish every trace of the history and culture of the Greek Cypriots in Northern Cyprus." (05/08/2008)

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Because it is so easy to get a loan, an increasing number of Estonians are sinking deep into debt. The daily Eesti Päevaleht complains that nowadays you can even get flash loans per text message and in corner shops: "Although such loans violate the money laundering law, even newspaper kiosks are now offering loans nowadays, in addition to magazines and drinks. Bearing astronomic interest rates, the loans are faxed on from the kiosk. There have already been complaints in the past that the advertising for these loans is too aggressive and people are inadequately informed about the conditions for repayment. What next? The path to credit hell is growing ever wider." (06/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Labour market / Services, » Consumers, » Estonia