Walter Veltroni's Democratic Party, which six months ago lost both elections against Berlusconi's coalition, is slowly waking up, writes the daily Dnevnik: "With its independent performance the Democratic Party wanted to show that it is the leading force of the opposition and that it is capable of governing the country. ... Saturday's demonstration at least on the surface appeared to be a major rally of democratic Italy. ... But it was academics, Italians who are against racism and an authoritarian style of leadership [and] those who wake up in the morning and discover that while they were asleep at night somebody has curtailed their rights who took part. ... Italians love collective protests and are masters at organising them. It looks as though the time has come to turn back in search of solutions. Walter Veltroni is convinced that he is the solution. Yet with the mass rallies on Saturday all he obtained from his voters was the right to be re-examined at the next elections." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Italy
All available articles from » Andrej Mrevlje

The daily Le Figaro thinks the political Left in Italy and its leader Walter Veltroni are still of only marginal significance: "The Democratic Party (PD) is just a year old. With its 33 percent it is the country's second strongest political formation after [Berlusconi's] Forza Italia. But its voice can scarcely be heard ... against Berlusconi who dominates the entire political scene ... In his grey suit and open-necked blue shirt Veltroni conducts his meeting as a speaker who copies the methods of [US Democratic presidential candidate] Barack Obama. He speaks quickly and without notes; in a loud voice he is alternately outraged, scornful, contemptuous ... That will not be enough to reassure those who criticise his political line from the left. ... Berlusconi, by contrast, sees this demonstration simply as a means 'to conceal the disintegration of the Left.'" (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Italy
All available articles from » Richard Heuze

The left-wing liberal daily La Repubblica condemns Berlusconi's reaction to the mass demonstrations as as contempt for democracy: "To describe the demonstration as an assembly of windbags and to advise the leader of the opposition to take a holiday and leave the government to get on with its work in peace is tantamount to showing contempt for the rules of fair play in a democracy and for the political opposition. ... His angry words conceal a totalitarian vision of political dialectics. It is not only impatience with any form of dissent, it is also intolerance towards what Antonio Gramsci called the democratic siege:  namely, that forces with ambitions to govern must rigorously criticise those in power and propose an alternative, and that is exactly what the party has done ... The 25 October has shown that a different policy is not only possible but necessary. That is the mission of the PD." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Italy
All available articles from » Massimo Giannini

The business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore confirms the success of the demonstration staged by the left-wing opposition, but doubts whether it will have any long-term political impact: "The Democratic Party can be satisfied. ... The reformism of the masses of which Walter Veltroni speaks in order not to be accused of populism remains an ideal. A goal with interesting possibilities, but a goal that was not defined in the Circus Maximus [the place where the demonstration was held]. This also shows the uncertainty of the slogans. It is correct to say that a different Italy is possible. But it would be a mistake to claim that the country is better than the Right that rules it. The Right was elected by a majority of Italians in April.[These are] the same Italians that the PD is now attempting to win over. The old scheme of things, whereby left-wing Italy is supposed to be morally and anthropologically superior to right-wing Italy, is not an ideal way of going about converting people ... Now it is time to start making policy again. And that happens in parliament with concrete proposals." (26/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Italy
All available articles from » Stefano Folli

The leader of the Kadima party Tzipi Livni has called for early elections in Israel. The liberal daily The Independent believes her chances of beating opposition leader Benjamin Netanjahu are slim: "Ms Livni, even if only for pragmatic reasons, has at least persuaded herself that the survival of Israel as a Jewish state depends on the creation of a Palestinian state as soon as possible. Now, however, she must march into elections next year with the odds weighted in favour of her right-wing rival, the Likud leader Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu. If the great friend of the West Bank settlers sweeps back into office, it takes no great powers of prophecy to predict years more of sterile and sometimes bloody confrontation. ... It is still possble Ms Livni will beat Mr Netanyahu. But the polls do not look hopeful. If she doesn't get her chance to make a difference, it will have been a missed opportunity." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Israel

In the second round of the Czech Republic's elections to the Senate the conservative Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) led by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has once again suffered a crushing defeat. The pressure on Topolánek is thus mounting. But the business newspaper Hospodářské noviny is not so negative about his prospects of political survival: "Time and again people have said that a major defeat in a 'minor' election (as opposed to a 'major' parliamentary election) would be the death blow for the prime minister. What should [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown have said when he lost the local elections and by-elections to the Conservative Party? What should [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel have said after the lousy performance of her party in the elections in the German states of Hesse and Bavaria? If we were to believe all the doomsayers, Czech prime ministers would only be in office for two years until the 'minor' elections took place and would have to avoid doing anything unpopular that hurt the voters' wallets." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Tomáš Němeček

At a meeting of NATO defence ministers in London the expansion of the defence alliance was discussed. The weekly Revista 22 notes that future entry into NATO does not necessarily lead to EU membership for a country. "In keeping with their motto the Euro-Atlantic democracies have extended the security zone in Eastern Europe to a new 'border' that stretches from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. But two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, are [also] unexpectedly making a bid for entry into NATO and EU membership. To categorically reject the two new candidates would contradict the founding principles of the Euro-Atlantic security structures according to which any country has the right to choose an independent [military] alliance. In the past a country's entry into NATO was often followed by accession to the EU. For our new neighbours this parallelism is no longer considered either urgent or obligatory. Accession to NATO gives new member states an extremely valuable guarantee of security without putting pressure on Brussels to grant the countries in question EU membership as well." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU enlargement, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Russia, » Europe
All available articles from » Nicolae Filipescu

Communities along the Dutch border want to close their coffee shops - places where so-called soft drugs are sold legally - in a bid to put an end to drug tourism from neighbouring countries. The Netherlands can no longer afford to adhere to its liberal drug policy, writes the business newspaper NRC Handelsblad: "Cannabis has long since ceased to be the soft, elite drug it was in the 1970s. Its chemical composition is much stronger now, and consumption has become more problematic. ... In the opinion of the police and youth welfare services cannabis aggravates the problems of the weakest adolescents in the poorest neighbourhoods. But under the current policy legal soft drugs are still seen as a useful instrument against hard drugs. The drug policy must be revised and new facts and insights weighed up against each other. A further tightening of the law is inevitable. Drug policy is in principle a transnational issue. Therefore a new policy on drugs can only be a European policy." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Health Policy, » Netherlands

The forthcoming consecration of one of the largest German mosques in Duisburg prompts the architect and vice-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Professor Dr Salomon Korn to write about opposition to building mosques in Germany and in other European countries: "In Germany there is always a surge of protest when there is talk of building Islamic prayer houses, places of assembly or schools . ... The less Moslems in Europe are considered part of the respective social majority, the greater the opposition to their mosques. ... Seen in historical terms, the public controversy in Europe about the integration of Moslem immigrants and their mosques has only just begun. And as the controversies about the building of neo-Islamic synagogues in nineteenth-century Germany amply illustrate, even with the social changes that have taken place today, much time will still have to pass before it becomes normal for mosques to tower besides city or village churches. If the day should eventually come when in the collective memory of the Europeans the Turks are no longer standing before the gates of Vienna, and the Moslems who live here declare their unreserved allegiance to Europe and its values, then the onion domes of Baroque churches and the geometric ornamentation of mosques could bear witness in an unbiased manner to something that is still insufficiently anchored in the consciousness of the West: namely, for how long the Orient and Islam - above and beyond art and architecture - have already been part of European history and of the cultural heritage of the Occident." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » Integration, » Minorities, » Weltanschauung, » Germany, » Europe
All available articles from » Salomon Korn

The respected Slovenian climate researcher Lučka Kajfež Bogataj reflects in a guest editorial for the daily Večer on how people's eating habits can protect the environment: "60 percent of Europeans believe that the trend towards climate change is reversible. Just as many sort their rubbish and save energy and water. ... Yet few people are aware that we also waste energy through our eating habits. ... In 1970 an average citizen in the industrialised countries consumed 65 kilograms of meat a year, today that figure has risen to 80 kilograms. Yet intensive livestock breeding uses up 17 times as much land, 14 times as much water and 10 times as much energy as cultivating crops. ... But CO2 is also produced by growing vegetables and grain. Our shops are full of potatoes from France, Spanish onions, Dutch apples, Chinese garlic, and all these vegetables don't make their own way to Slovenia. Even more energy is consumed transporting drinks, for we buy mineral water from neighbouring countries, not to mention wine and beer ... If we were to eat only fresh, local products, we would save a lot of energy. The food we choose to eat thus has an impact on climate change. If we really want to do something to counter climate change, then it is not sufficient only to do this behind the wheel or to install solar panels. Let us begin with what we put on our plates." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Environmental Policy, » Public Culture, » Slovenia, » Global
All available articles from » Lučka Kajfež Bogataj , Dr.

As a result of the financial crisis the German-Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline will be even more expensive than originally planned. The liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza writes that this makes the gas pipeline under the Baltic even more questionable from an economic point of view. "During the three years in which the project has been in the offing the costs have doubled and now amount to 14 billion dollars. These are just rough estimates, because the complete calculations for the 'Nord Stream' have not been made public. The astronomic cost of building the pipeline along the sea floor will translate into higher gas bills for EU customers. There is still time to cancel our participation in the project. The construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to Europe would by cheaper and entail fewer risks for the environment if it were built on land rather than under the sea. For three years now several different Polish governments have been presenting such proposals." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Energy, » Economic Policy, » Poland, » Russia
All available articles from » Andrzej Kublik

Ireland is resisting the EU's instruction for full disclosure of EU subsidies in the future. The daily The Irish Times believes, however, that taxpayers have a right to know where their money goes: "In Ireland's 35-year membership of the European Union the State has been a substantial net beneficiary of EU funds. During that time we have received twice what we have contributed to the EU budget ... EU citizens, as taxpayers, are the paymasters of the European Union. They have every right to know how their money is spent, whether it is being well spent, who benefits and by how much. Those who receive public money must be held accountable. State payments, whether made to the legal profession for legal aid work or to doctors and pharmacists under the public health scheme, are fully disclosed. Publication of the data is not seen as infringing a right to privacy. There is no legitimate reason why payments from Europe should be regarded differently." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Agriculture, » Ireland

On account of the financial crisis some economic leaders have become sceptical about the economic efficiency of democracies and are pointing to the economic success of China. Yet China, like all the other countries of Asia, has now become part of the global economy, writes the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "The Chinese economy ... has not got to where it is today on its own strength but through major foreign investment. ... China's economic boom is based on the success of free economic and political systems. Therefore there is no reason for the West to hide its convictions on this point in its dealings with China. And there is just as little reason in these times of crisis-induced fear to doubt the advantages of a political order based on freedom. We need to prop up not only the financial markets but also the decline in the belief in freedom." (25/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Global, » China
All available articles from » Beat Wieser

In the alternative Copenhagen district of Vesterbro the play "Pretty Woman A/S" is currently on show. It has attracted criticism from both cultural and political circles owing to the fact that a prostitute plays the leading role. The daily Berlingske Tidende comments: "Artists enjoy the same freedoms and rights as everyone else and are therefore entitled to provoke and spark debate on controversial issues. ... Whether the performers will indeed succeeded in 'depicting an inhuman sale situation and influence the public, the media and the decision-makers', which is the justification that has been given for staging this provocative production, remains to be seen. Judgements based on aesthetic and moral considerations should only be pronounced once the general public has formed an opinion. As far as one can tell at this point, nothing immoral or ethically reprehensible is taking place. Those working on the production, as diverse as their backgrounds may be, are all being paid for work they do of their own free will. Those appointed to act in the name of culture should be guided by this fact alone instead of playing the role of judges of good or bad taste in the name of art and prostitutes." (26/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Stage, » Cultural Policy, » Denmark

The debate over the Czech writer Milan Kundera, who allegedly denounced the anti-communist activist Miroslav Dvorácek to the police in 1950, has increasingly been taken up in the Slovak press. In an interview with the liberal daily Sme Peter Třešňák, a journalist with the prestigious Prague weekly Respekt from which Kundera has demanded an apology, expresses surprise at the growing support for Kundera. "I find it surprising that the focus in this case has shifted in a different direction. I would have thought ... that it was time for some explanations. But no one is asking Mr Kundera such questions. So far his comments have been very vague. But no one is interested in his explanations. Our work, on the other hand, has been heavily criticised. This is testimony to the unbalanced relationship between Czech intellectuals and the past." (27/10/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Czech Republic
All available articles from » Peter Třešňák