The way German politicians have overreacted shows that Mario Monti has hit a German sore spot with his thoughts on the rights of national parliaments, the liberal-conservative business paper Il Sole 24 Ore writes mockingly: "Where was and where is the army of the indignant when with the Six-Pack [which strengthens the European Stability Pact] and the fiscal compact gave the EU the right to intervene in budgetary decisions made in parliament? Why was there no protest when among others Angela Merkel proposed a fiscal union that includes the renunciation of state sovereignty? ... The sacrifice of certain democratic mechanisms is regarded as a vital tool in overcoming the crisis. Why does the desire to give Berlin greater leeway to react in a timely and cost-effective way to the crisis trigger such a scandal? Perhaps there is a special law in Germany for 'applying double standards' that allows it to impose on others what it does not demand of itself." (07/08/2012)

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Cobertura de debates » The row over debt mutualisation

Monti's technocratic stance reveals the lack of democratic thinking among EU elites, writes the liberal-conservative daily Die Presse, arguing that in the long term this will hurt the European project: "Monti and other enlightened rulers no doubt mean well. But their conception of politics is confined to somewhere between technocracy and autocracy. How else could Italy's prime minister seriously preach that every government has the duty to rein in its parliament? In 'Montiropa', not even rhetorically does power emanate from the people. The citizens and parliaments are just obstacles when it comes to saving the euro. ... If under the dictates of the crisis, democratic and constitutional institutions are pushed to the fringes, the project of Europe could in the long term suffer more damage than any dithering on euro decisions inflicts. Quite apart from the fact that even three years after the first signs of smoke from Greece were detected the European fire brigade somehow doesn't give the impression of knowing how to tackle the wildfire spreading across Euroland." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Política financiera, » Italia, » Europa
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Cobertura de debates » The row over debt mutualisation

Monti's words were directed at Germany because unfortunately it has become a favourite pastime to use Germany as a scapegoat, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino notes: "By ingeniously twisting the facts many agents are holding Germany and the Bundesbank responsible for the ongoing debt crisis. ... But the reality is different, and Prime Minister Monti knows this. But in a crisis everyone looks for someone to blame. Switzerland, which functions as an international scapegoat in the area of finances and taxes, has plenty of experience with this. The search for a scapegoat is an incorrect reaction that doesn't solve the problem and only seeks to shift the blame, one's own share too, onto others. … The austerity policy Germany is calling for no doubt also serves Germany's interests, but far more those of the Eurozone. Because the only chance it has of surviving is to reduce the mountain of debt, as Germany demands should be done." (07/08/2012)

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Cobertura de debates » The row over debt mutualisation

Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab fled the country on Monday and announced his defection to the rebels. In the eyes of the conservative daily ABC this is a further sign that the end of the Syrian dictatorship is drawing closer: "Bashar al Assad has reasons to feel the cold creeping up on him. The news that his own prime minister has defected is another clear sign that the pressure exerted by the Western powers - and above all the US - is making an impact and that, as a White House spokesman said yesterday, 'the momentum is with the opposition and the Syrian people.' Now that Obama has announced that he is authorising covert operations against the Syrians regime, Al Assad will become the target of attacks that don't necessarily require heavy arms but will begin undermining the loyalty of those who are closest to him. It's possible that the dictatorship will regain control of Aleppo by brute force, but this will only prolong a tragedy the end of which has been clear for some time now." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Crisis / Guerras, » EE.UU., » Siria
Cobertura de debates » Civil war raging in Syria

Sixteen Egyptian soldiers were killed on Monday when gunmen attacked an Egyptian border post on Sinai Peninsula. Israel has been faced with a dilemma since the power shift in Cairo, the daily Dagens Nyheter comments: "The unrest on the border also has far-reaching consequences for Israel. During the Egyptian election campaign this summer an amendment to the peace treaty of 1979 was discussed. According to the treaty the Sinai Peninsula should be a demilitarised zone. Each time Israel demands from Egypt that it improve security in the region, it can respond that that would require a permanent military presence that is not allowed by the treaty. Israel is thus caught between a rock and a hard place: either it lives with a neighbour that offers enemy terrorists increasing leeway or it accepts a stronger military presence on the part of a country whose president is a Muslim Brother." (07/08/2012)

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Todos los textos disponible de » Karin Svanborg-Sjövall

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta has reshuffled his cabinet after Interior Minister Ioan Rus and Minister-Delegate for Administration Victor Paul Dobre resigned on Monday. The impeachment proceedings initiated by Ponta against President Traian Băsescu were the background to these events. With the replacements made in the reshuffle the prime minister will increase pressure on the Constitutional Court, the conservative weekly magazine Revista 22 writes: "Rus understood that this is about the recalculation of the number of entitled voters - a major infringement of the law. ... It would have destroyed his career. His resignation drives a wedge between the [social democratic] PSD and the actions of [party leader and prime minister] Ponta. Now instead of Rus we have a die-hard party soldier, Mircea Duşă, who will carry out instructions without questioning them - unlike Rus, who thinks along the same lines as Victor Dobre. The latter will be replaced by Radu Stroe. ... Duşă and Stroe will trim down the electoral lists until the [ruling alliance] the USL has the desired amount of voters and then increase the pressure on the constitutional judges." (07/08/2012)

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Todos los textos disponible de » Andreea Pora
Cobertura de debates » Power struggle in Romania

The trial against Pussy Riot in Moscow demonstrates the boundless arrogance of the Putin regime, writes the Belgian-based Russian author Aleksandr Skorobogatov in the liberal daily De Standard: "Today the young mothers of Pussy Riot are being lynched by the state, tomorrow demonstrators will be shot at as in Syria. For the first time the regime senses that it is seriously threatened, and so it is sending the following message to the opposition: We will use every means at our disposal to combat you. We will secure our hold on power, cost what it may. I believe that is the true significance of the trial against Pussy Riot. For Putin it represents a sort of point of no return. The protest movement may become more radicalised by the shameful trial and the likely conviction of innocent women. Then when the state strikes back with full force, Putin's own Tiananmen Square [where Chinese protesters were brutally suppressed in 1989] is not far away." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Rusia
Todos los textos disponible de » Aleksandr Skorobogatov

The British-Dutch oil company Shell wants to transfer up to 15 billion dollars from Europe to the US, among other destinations, for fear of losses due to the euro crisis, as Simon Henry, Shell's Chief Financial Officer, told the daily newspaper The Times on Monday. An alarmingly candid warning signal, writes the business paper Financial Times Deutschland, even if objectively there is no reason for the move: "The perception of danger is always subjective, and is influenced by many factors: talk of countries being expelled from the Eurozone and the endless wrangling between politicians over the right strategy for the crisis. ... And the more people talk that way, the quicker the fears can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. However we're not there yet by a long shot. On the contrary: as a currency area, the Eurozone still shows more net inflows than outflows. ... Nevertheless it is uncommon for Royal Dutch Shell to be speaking so openly about its cash reserves transfer from the Eurozone. Until now, such movements were kept hush-hush." (07/08/2012)

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Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Portuguese bonds are currently Europe's most popular government bonds, according to the Bloomberg and European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies indexes. So far this year they have generated 28 percent yields. This is above all thanks to the government's reforms, writes the liberal business paper Diário Económico: "If investors continue to be as venturesome as they have been Portugal could even make its comeback on the capital markets in September 2013 as planned. Who would have thought it? Those who invested in Portuguese bonds on the secondary market this year attained yields of 28 percent - a profit margin that would turn even gurus like Warren Buffet green with envy. ... And what is the reason for this success? The radical enactment of the adjustment programme, which is not very popular here in Portugal but is music to the ears of those outside the country who invest in our government debt." (07/08/2012)

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Todos los textos disponible de » Pedro Sousa Carvalho
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Car production in July has dropped by 19 percent in comparison to the previous year in Poland. This trend is in line with the general trend in Europe, the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita notes and calls on the Polish government to take action: "When production falls to this extent it is fatal for any industrial sector. And for the automotive industry it's even worse because it has an impact on the suppliers. There is less and less talk of having new models roll out of Poland's factories. ... However not just our own automotive industry is in difficulties, this is a European problem. The cuts in production at [French] carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën and at Fiat could lead to half a million people losing their jobs. ... For the Polish government that could well result in an apathetic reaction. But this doesn't exonerate either the Ministry of Finances or the Ministry for Economic Affairs from the task of calmly reflecting on how to help the industry." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Empresa, » Industria, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Danuta Walewska

The rise in prices since the introduction of the euro in Estonia was unfortunately not accompanied by an increase in income, the tabloid magazine Õhtuleht notes, calling on retailers to act accordingly: "We are all experiencing first-hand how incomes haven't increased apace with the prices. … And the heating period with higher energy prices lies ahead: consumers will economise in other areas, which will lead to less turnover in the retail trade. The consumers' rush to cash in on special offers demonstrates that they're not willing to spend more money. But the retailers in Estonia can't live from Finnish tourists alone. They must have the courage to cut their prices to please consumers. The quicker the reductions in prices are made, the more hope the branch has of recovering." (07/08/2012)

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The Sziget Festival, one of Europe's largest rock music festivals, kicks off for the 20th time today on Budapest's Shipyard Island. Despite its comparatively small budget, the festival is internationally acclaimed, writes the business paper Világgazdaság: "Although Sziget won the prize for the best major European festival last year, for its 20th anniversary edition it can't boast the biggest names as participants. Unfortunately the festival still doesn't have the prestige - or the budget - to lure the stars who play at other international festivals. More than one hundred major festivals take place in Europe every year. To remain competitive in view of this diversity, a festival has to have something that singles it out. ... Sziget has adopted a very clever strategy, so it's not as if it had problems in this regard. ... This year, too, almost 400,000 people are expected to visit the island. The previous 19 Sziget festivals have attracted over five million visitors, with the number of foreign visitors reaching 85 percent in recent years." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Música, » Hungría
Todos los textos disponible de » Márton Vég

The US Mars rover Curiosity landed successfully on Mars on Monday, where it will search for traces of life. After the recent economic and military failures this success story is good for the country's morale, the liberal weekly paper Les Echos writes: "Just months before the presidential elections, this technological success comes at a good time. As a nation, the US can take all the more pride in this accomplishment given that in its other areas of influence it has suffered setbacks. The economy? Stuck in the crisis sparked at home in 2007. Military hegemony? Dashed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even their sporting supremacy is on the wane now that China has won more medals than the US so far at the London Olympics. Happily US technology, which changes people's lives and allows them to dream, from Google to the iPad and Curiosity, are factors of their 'soft-power', as is Hollywood when it comes to entertainment." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Ciencia / Investigación, » Sociedad, » EE.UU., » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Dominique Seux

The Erasmus student exchange programme at European Universities celebrates the 25th anniversary of its founding this year. Former EU Commission president Manuel Marín gives the project a positive rating in the left-liberal daily El País and warns against cutting its budget: "It is rare for a European programme celebrating its 25th anniversary to be still generally considered a success. ... It's true that certain aspects of the programme need to be revised and more stringent demands made of Erasmus students in terms of academic performance. Professors should not trivialise the programme by being more generous towards Erasmus students than their performance merits. It's clear that the level of language skills needs to be improved. But if the decision has been made to cut the funding for the Erasmus programme, it is because there is no money. It's better to state this clearly than to try and justify the cuts by pointing to supposed deficiencies in the programme. We should not make the mistake of throwing out the baby with the bathwater." (07/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Educación, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Manuel Marín

A Lithuanian fan has been sentenced to pay a fine in London for allegedly having made the Nazi salute among other gestures at an Olympic basketball match between Lithuania and Nigeria. The man has said his gesture was misunderstood. The director of the Vilnius Centre for Tolerance, Markas Zingeris, welcomes the zero tolerance policy at the Olympic Games on web portal lrytas.lt: "The Lithuanian fan with the yellow-green-red wig [the Lithuanian colours], who not only gesticulated vulgarly but also imitated the sound of apes, was not the only one to be fined for racism. Two Olympic athletes are in the same situation. There were reports about the Greek triple jumper Parakskevi Papachristou, who was prevented from competing - because of racist tweets -, and also about the German rower Nadja Drygalla. For those who blindly defend the Lithuanian fan, the latter case is hard to believe. The 23-year old rower herself has nothing to do with racism. ... But out of respect for the zero tolerance policy, every comparable case, even a rather harmless one like Mr. Leščinskas' [the Lithuanian fan], must be immediately punished." (06/08/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ideología, » Delincuencia, » Gran Bretaña, » Lituania
Todos los textos disponible de » Markas Zingeris