"The eventuality of European accession for Turkey may still seem remote, but the cultural links with this country can already be better strengthened", explains the daily. "The Turkish city of Istanbul has officially been proclaimed Cultural Capital of Europe for the year 2010. This decision was confirmed at a meeting of European Ministers of Culture. As well as Istanbul, Essen (Germany) and Pécs (Hungary) will also be European cultural capitals in 2010. Does this indicate that Turkey may become a member of the EU by then? No. On the contrary, negotiations with the Turks are slipping for the time being. But the rules have been stretched for some time now for the nomination of cultural capitals. And places situated outside of Europe can also find themselves being given this title." (14/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » Turquía

Bob Fiedler says the Pope's upcoming visit to Turkey [November 28th] will put the country's readiness for EU membership to the test. He points out that this is not just a country that wants to join the EU but also the country "that produced the man who last attempted to kill a pope and where a book with the subtitle 'Who's going to kill the Pope in Istanbul?' has been selling well since its release in May. Fiedler criticised the fact that only one state representative, Turkish President Ahmet Nectet Sezer, is scheduled to meet the Pope. "The official version is that Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan will not be able to meet the Pope because he's attending the NATO summit in Riga. The unofficial version is that it's because he 'has a problem with the Pope'- Erdogan was among those who was fiercely critical of the Pope's speech in Regensburg. Moreover, he probably thinks that a meeting with the Pope would hurt his chances of winning the elections next year. This raises the question of whether a country whose leader is deeply offended by an academic speech or who abhors the idea of shaking hands with the Pope can be considered to belong to Europe." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Religión, » Ideología, » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Bob Fiedler

The Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Gül, declared on Wednesday, November 15th, that his country will not give in to the EU's 'blackmail' concerning Cyprus. Georgios Delastic reacts to these statements by accusing Turkey of wanting to 'benefit from an a la carte accession that would only serve its own interests! So Gül says he is adamant and refuses to succumb to European blackmail. One may well wonder if it is not Ankara that is blackmailing with such declarations, while Turkey is still not capable of respecting European criteria. It is a classic case of a snake biting its tail. Once again the Turks are proving to be of ill-faith. They are announcing right now that the tune will change once the country enters the EU. Granted, some do consider this positive, but we risk moving towards an individualistic European dialogue. And if the vote on the European budget was already a test of strength for leaders, what will it be like with Turkey?" (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Política interior, » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Giorgios Delastic

Edurne Uriarte, Spanish professor of political science, criticises the 'Alliance of Civilizations' between the Western world and the Eastern world, an initiative proposed by the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero and supported by the UN. "The Alliance of Civilizations implies that fundamentalism is rising in the same way everywhere in the world and proposes that efforts to fight it be equally shared among democratic and non-democratic countries, as if the problem of fanaticism were the same in the West as in the East and the problem were a clash of civilizations rather than a struggle between democrats and fundamentalists. The tandem of democracy and freedom is not the reference. ... On the subject of Islamist terrorism, Zapatero's proposition is quite simply unacceptable. It is not clear who is really responsible, global injustice or terrorists. I can understand why Mohammed Khatami, the former President of Iran, is delighted by such a text, but not a Spanish democrat." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Global

Hungarian author Peter Zilahy has moved to Berlin. On his way there he got stuck in a traffic jam and spent the time meditating on the Germans and Europe. "The convoy moves forward as if driven by a collective will. But nobody is here because he thinks hanging out on this legendary German motorway is a good way to spend a summer afternoon – although it was built in the 1930s and has witnessed more historical events than any other in Europe. So there we sit, trapped in a moment that seems so unhistorical it almost hurts, and yet we've still created what is probably the most vivid image since reunification; a wonderful metaphor: the German autobahn, which has no speed limit and yet slows everyone down to the point where they can't help but arrive safely at their destination. Is this the secret of Europe's future?" (15/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Historia, » Alemania, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Peter Zilahy

The French Socialist Party members are due to choose today, Thursday November 16th, their candidate for the presidential elections. The daily remarks that the selection process has been "a bit like stumbling on an old jukebox in a musty, provincial bar. The tunes are all familiar, if a little scratchy, and induce a certain nostalgia. ... Laurent Fabius, the former prime minister and ageing rocker of the Socialist party, has been belting out some headbanging tunes from the 1970s: full renationalisation of semi-privatised state companies, increased public spending and a far higher minimum wage. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former finance minister, has been a smoother crooner from the 1980s trying to woo party members with his social democratic sweet talk and his ever-mobile eyebrows. And Ségolène Royal, the popular president of the Poitou-Charentes region, has been serenading the people with her saccharine 1990s love ballads about social justice and participative democracy... ." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Francia

In an interview with Raphaelle Bacqué, Laurent Bazin and Stéphane Paoli, the French historian and sociologist, Emmanuel Todd, taxed Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy as "empty candidates", who refuse to take into account "The very simple and brutal problems that touch people, that is to say an economic evolution considered catastrophic and unacceptable. ... What is very novel since the referendum on Europe and what explains the success of the 'No' Vote [in France on May 29th, 2005], is that a large part of the French middle class is moving towards dissidence. ... There is a dogma that is central to elitist thought, that is the dogma of free trade. We do not have the time to say that free trade once worked and works no longer. ... We are on the verge of a crisis. Things are going to move very fast. What is new is that we are moving towards a fracture in the system." (15/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Francia

According to Jacek Pawlicki, despite Warsaw's communication problems, Poland's veto against a cooperation agreement between the EU and Russia has its advantages for the EU: "The Polish veto came as a shock for the other EU members and Brussels. The Polish government didn't explain its reasons clearly enough and therefore hasn't been able to win any allies. But if Europe cranks up the pressure on Moscow – as the Finns have suggested – and gives us its support, the whole thing will have been worthwhile. ... Perhaps Poland will win this time. Sometimes it pays to take risks, but in the long term, diplomacy is more effective. We should not abuse our veto right, but rather keep it as a last resort to achieve things that are extremely important to us." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » Polonia, » Rusia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Jacek Pawlicki

The Stockholm-based newspaper calls on the countries of the EU to forge a joint energy strategy regarding Russia. The plans for the construction of a Russian-German gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea are the source of widespread concern in Sweden. Swedish experts have expressed their concern about the environmental repercussions of such a project, pointing out that the Baltic is already heavily polluted with waste and military equipment from World War II. There are also fears that the pipeline could be used for espionage purposes, and will increase Russia's military presence in the region. The newspaper concludes that the EU should focus more on its own energy resources: "There's no doubt that Russia will continue to be a major energy supplier for Europe. However, the EU should take more advantage of the fact that Russia is also dependent on the Union as an important customer. Moreover, it's high time that Sweden and all the other EU states started focusing more on nuclear power. There's no reason to make ourselves more dependent on Russia than absolutely necessary." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » Energía, » Comercio, » Rusia, » Europa

Not all 25 EU member states have reached a decision about whether to open their job markets to Romanians and Bulgarians in 2007. Györgyi Kocsis maintains that Hungary should definitely open its market to the new members. "Poland has already announced its willingness to do so, and Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia are not afraid of the 'Bulgarian plumber' either. ... Germany and Austria are barricading their doors and Hungary remains silent. ... Up to now the semi-official position seems to be that there will be restrictions for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens wanting to work here. However, this would be detrimental to Hungary's economy, unsound from a political point of view and entirely unnecessary. Hungary receives funding from the EU budget, and it's unlikely to start paying more than it receives at any point in the near future. Therefore, it's hardly in a position to give these new members, who are even poorer than Hungary, financial support. But by opening its labour market, Hungary could at least prove it has a sense of moral responsibility." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Europa, » Rumania, » Bulgaria
Todos los textos disponible de » Györgyi Kocsis

On November 26th, the Swiss will vote in a referendum on the granting of economic aid to the new Memeber States of the EU. This aid would be spaced out over five years, reaching around 630 million euros. A recent poll revealed a drop of the 'yes' vote in French-speaking Switzerland. "Is this part of Switzerland, reputed to be more open than the Germanic and Italian-speaking parts, beginning to resemble its neighbours?", wonders Joelle Kuntz. "What is happening to French-speaking Switzerland and progressively becoming apparent in the arguments sounded in this referendum campaign, is mental cramping in its political and economic space that is too small. Cut off from France by a principle of non-participation in Europe that was imposed upon it by the German-speakers, and cut of from German-speaking Switzerland by a language that prevents it from firmly expressing itself on the federal scene, French-speaking Switzerland no longer knows where its rightful place is." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Joëlle Kuntz

The European Parliament has approved the compromise solution for the Services Directive. Although it still contains a number of restrictions, the Estonian newspaper sees the decision as a sign of growing European integration. "The free movement of services from 2009 sends a clear message to our companies: the competition on the internal market may be growing more intense but at the same time there are more opportunities on a bigger market. In political terms, the approval of the EU Services Directive means an opportunity to move forwards. In view of the current EU constitutional crisis, this is an important development. Both the political elite and the general public must be convinced that it's possible to work together – whether it's with 25 members or 27 in six weeks' time." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Europa

Christian Jostmann notes that the removal of internal borders and the introduction of the euro were the most important factors in creating a common European identity, and bemoans the fact that the border posts are being left to go to ruin. "It's not that the border posts are of any architectural value that would make their preservation worthwhile. On the contrary, most of them are conspicuously ugly... But they symbolised the power of the state within the borders. They became an architectural expression – or owing to their lack of form, an architectural non-expression – of power. Europe's increasingly blurred borders are its defining feature. They stand for a peculiar lack of fixedness, a blurring in the distinction between centre and periphery, for distance and movement. Or we could just say: for freedom." (16/11/2006)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » Historia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Christian Jostmann