The weekly considers that "the political hue of either the regional movements themselves or the central authorities provides few clues as to possible future arrangements. Belgium's Vlaams Belang holds extreme right wing positions on many political issues. But other Flemish parties, ranging from Socialist to Liberal, also want to stretch their autonomy as far as possible short of outright independence. Italy's Northern League is firmly on the right; Basque separatists are on the far left, reflecting in part their anti-Franco history; while the SNP [Scottish National Party] is viewed as a centre left party. Perhaps the more pertinent distinction is whether the seceding regions are the weaker or stronger party, economically, within their respective federal systems. Arguably, poorer entities will tend not to want to secede from richer states, though richer regions--or those with natural resources to grab--may feel the opposite way." (01/03/2007)

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The chronicler Antoine Maurice notes that Spain is beset by the autonomist whims of several regions. "Thirty years after the Constitution, the federal or unitary constitution of Spain has once again become an essential poiltical issue, even a question concerning the survival of the nation. Historians consider that the Spanish nation is not so old ... . It is the Franco dictatorship that promoted the nation by crushing anything ressembling identity-based culture and individual histories on its way, something which, in a current context of hyper sensitive attitudes to History and memory, does not encourage love for the Spanish nation. The current debate, fuelled by bitterness, is double edged: firstly, it is a political debate, in the best sense of the term, on the institutional future of the nation. Secondly, it is an ideological debate that stirs emotional impetus rooted in a past that will not settle and a future that has yet to be written. In these times of terrorism and globalisation, old European nations are very far from securing a hegemony in international relations or in their own interior cohesion." (01/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Minorías, » Movimientos sociales, » España, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Antoine Maurice

This week , the daily published extracts of a 'Manifesto for French-speaking unity' developed by two former members of Belgian Parliament, Serge Moureaux and Antoinette Spaak, who warn against the separatist desires of the Flemish. "It is risky; maybe even perilous, to discuss a Flemish project for the future of Belgium, especially a 'unique' project that would gather votes from all Flemish decision-makers. Nonetheless, when the various points of view expressed in the North of the country are confronted, the outline of a minimal programme can be made out, underlying the action of politicians and business men who are campaigning in favour of a reinforced autonomy of the Flanders region. According to them, this autonomy, through increased emancipation, would give it a bigger role, improve its alleged economic prosperity and, in a way, allow it to fend for itself. ... The fragmentation of Belgium or its reduction to a confederal model, is on the agenda. ... The French-speaking population should be prepared for this. " (26/02/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Minorías, » Movimientos sociales, » Bélgica, » Europa

"The Prodi government has betrayed voters," Italian philosopher and leftist intellectual Paolo Flores d'Arcais explains in an interview with Petra Reski. He complains that Prodi is pursuing Berlusconian policies without Berlusconi. "One of his campaign pledges was that all the laws that were enacted to help Berlusconi out of his personal problems would be rescinded. Yet only one has been abolished - and even that was by the Constitutional Court rather than the government. Not a single judicial reform has been carried out. The only measure in this respect was a sweeping punishment amnesty. Everyone agreed on that - both the left and the right - because they both have colleagues against whom charges have been brought. But although the Prodi government has betrayed voters in every point of its election manifesto we must keep this government, simply because Berlusconi is not an option." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Italia
Todos los textos disponible de » Paolo Flores d'Arcais

As a match between a team made-up of the best European players and the Manchester United club is scheduled for March 13th, a few days before the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the French chronicler Thomas Ferenczi considers that football is a federating instrument in Europe. "When the French player Thierry Henry is in top form, the British Arsenal team is in top form too. When the Portuguese Pedro Pauleta is in doubt, the French team of Paris-Saint-Germain finds itself in a bad way. ... If there is one domain considered by numerous old-continent citizens as a common European area, it is unquestionably football. This popular sport, that television provides with a vast international audience, seems to represent the most Europeanised social activity that exists today. Ever since the best clubs of Europe have been facing up to one another to conquer the champion cup, the round ball has become the business of a group of aficionados who make light of frontiers". (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Cultura cotidiana, » Deportes, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Thomas Ferenczi

The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) was inaugurated yesterday in Vienna. Critics complain that the institution is only allowed to record data and that it has too few powers for the necessary leverage to ensure that member states respect fundamental rights. Adelheid Wölfi gives a possible explanation: "It's clumsy to create an institution before its field of responsibility has been fully defined and when there has been a lack of political cooperation from the very start. The delay and the dispute about the creation of the fundamental rights agency in Vienna are also a result of the failure of the EU constitution after the referenda in France and the Netherlands. This is because the fundamental rights charter on which the agency's work is based would only have become legally binding through the enactment of the EU constitution. It seems absurd that it's the charter that would have made social rights legally enforceable for the first time. This is precisely what opponents of the constitution wanted. The agency would certainly have had greater backing if the constitution project had gone ahead." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Adelheid Wölfl

"The strategic alliance signed on Wednesday, February 28th, in Paris by France and Cyprus is disturbing Turkey", reports the daily. "Increased co-operation, help for Cyprus 'in difficult times' and access to the middle East for France, this is an alliance that is sending a strong message to all those who would like to exercise exclusive control over the island: the British, the Americans and the Turks. With the crisis in Lebanon during the summer of 2006, Cyprus became a central intersection for sending important aid to the region. Thus, France and Lebanon will be able to communicate without difficulty via Cyprus. However, collaboration with France also involves training and swapping experience and knowledge in the field of military medicine, as well as co-operation in the Maritime sector, especially in matters of illegal immigration. This is all fuel for Turkey's jealousy." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Francia, » Chipre, » Oriente Próximo y Medio

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made a policy statement on climate change that will be the main issue for discussion at the first EU summit under Germany's presidency, which takes place on March 8 and 9. Vera Gaserow contends that Merkel didn't go far enough: "She disregarded the people. She didn't explain the demands the policy will make on people to effectively bring down the temperature nor did she say what European policies should be doing in addition to the tasks that are already on the list. It's only natural that a Christian Democrat head of government extol the virtues of wind power and preach about reconciling economy and ecology - people like to hear this... And there's nothing wrong with Merkel's words. There's just too few of them. Too little encouragement to make the most of current awareness, motivating people to reconsider their everyday behaviour, and too little vision to be more - as current EU president - than an arbitrator in the ping pong game of national climate protection blockers. If you want to be a playmaker you have to show it in public." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Medio ambiente, » Energía, » Alemania, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Vera Gaserow

The socialist Spanish government granted partial freedom to the former member of ETA (Basque separatist movement) José Ignacio de Juana Chaos who immediately decided to end his hunger strike that he had begun early last November. The conservative daily considers that Madrid has "humiliated" itself by giving into the "blackmail" of "terrorists". "Since yesterday, ETA has strengthened its position at the drawing board while that of the government has never been so weak, for the law has been submitted to a strategic pact with the terrorists. When Margaret Thatcher's British government chose not to give into the blackmail of the Northern Irish terrorist Bobby Sands [in 1981], who, unlike Chaos, went on a real hunger strike, it set down the fundamental basis of a strong post that then allowed, along with all the flaws and insufficiency of the process, the definite end to IRA violence [Irish Republican Army], without going so far as modifying the status of Northern Ireland, which has remained a part of the United Kingdom." (02/03/2007)

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Estonia will elect a new parliament this Sunday. The Finnish newspaper expects the ruling parties "Reformierakond" (the Reform Party) and "Keskerakond" (the Centre Party) to suffer heavy losses, owing in particular to the corruption scandals of the past few months. "The one thing in favour of the two major ruling parties is Estonia's economic development, which can be described as sensational. The country registered 12 percent growth last year. It also has virtually full employment and a national budget surplus. There's no doubt about it - Estonia is doing well. But it's different as far as the general mood is concerned because Estonian society also has its problems. Not everyone is profiting equally from the boom, and the gap between rich and poor is widening. But it's the rift between the capital of Tallinn and the provinces, as well as that between Estonians and the Russian minority that is growing most rapidly. The sharp rise in drug abuse and the resulting growth in the number of those infected with HIV are further items on the list." (02/03/2007)

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

After the Party for Freedom (PVV, far-right), the Liberal Party (VVD) is now taking its turn in asking Nebahat Albayrak, State Secretary of Justice in the new Dutch government, to give up his Turkish nationality. The daily condemns this behaviour. "Although the leader of the VVD party noted that Albayrak had rightly been chosen for his position, he still articulated an extra condition for his allegiance. This is not right. Once again he has raised the question of whether or not someone filling an administrative or representative post is allowed dual nationality. According to article 3, 'All Dutch persons are on an equal footing in the public service'. If anyone wants to change this, let them then take the initiative of amending the Constitution." (02/03/2007)

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

According to Liviu Antonesei, Romania's current system of government inevitably leads to disputes: "Our political crisis is not the result of our electoral system; it's the result of our constitution. It was passed in 1991 and slightly amended in 2003. This constitution was tailor-made to suit former President Ion Iliescu's needs rather than the country's. It was intended to guarantee 'our peace'. It created an inefficient and conflict-ridden hybrid - a semi-presidential government system - rather than a presidential republic. President Iliescu went too far with his precautions, because there were no problems. After all, he had the loyal support of his party and a prime minister who was just for show... Traian Basescu is in a much trickier position now. We need a new constitution that will change the political system and create either a presidential republic or a parliamentary republic with a one- or two-chamber parliament." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Liviu Antonesei

The EU wants to introduce a uniform corporation tax within the EU. Germany and the Swedish economy have welcomed the proposal, however, Sweden's Minister of Finance Anders Borg remains unconvinced. The newspaper agrees with the argument put forward by Borg that each country should preserve its independence through its own corporation tax. It adds: "Of course it's important to ensure that companies don't have to pay taxes in several different countries. This has to be regulated. But the power of competition should not be underestimated. It's good that there are different systems for the taxation of companies in Europe. Then we can see which system functions best." (02/03/2007)

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

Michael Billington, biographer of the playwright and Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, ponders a current proliferation of Pinter productions in the UK. "For a long time he was derided for what those on the right saw as his paranoid obsession with American foreign policy and its contempt for international law. ... If those attacks have largely disappeared, it is because recent events have tragically vindicated Pinter's world-view. In a speech in Turin in 2002 he warned that one result of our 'shameful subservience to the United States' might be terrorist attacks on the London underground. He also suggested that, in Iraq, 'the US and Britain are pursuing a course which can only lead to an escalation of violence throughout the world.' Once that might have looked like hyperbole. But who would dissent from that now? So if Pinter's plays are now being revived, it isn't simply out of guilt or respect for his years. It's a sign that Pinter's artistic and political vision increasingly coincides with our own." (01/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Literatura, » Escenarios, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Michael Billington

Ulrich Schmid reports on urban development in the Slovak capital Bratislava, which is to undergo an "extensive facelift" over the next few years. "Apparently, international investors have decided that the left-wing populist, xenophobic government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, which is unpopular in Western Europe, is either not to be taken seriously or will soon be history. None of the major construction projects has been cancelled; investment is as brisk as ever." As a prominent example he names " the 'Eurovea' project of Irish real estate giant Ballymore. The company plans to build an estate with around 250 residences close to the city centre, in the post-modern style you see all over Europe nowadays. The idea of reincorporating the Danube into the cityscape is particularly convincing. Unlike many cities of Central Europeof with their small rivers, the cities of the lower Danube are almost exclusively so-called one-shore cities. The river is too wide; it separates rather than uniting, and bridges are huge municipal projects rather than convenient links." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » Eslovaquia
Todos los textos disponible de » Ulrich Schmid

Cultural scientist Ivaylo Ditchev examines how Bulgarian popular culture has changed: "The new brand of popular culture was born in the 1990s... when the market was booming. The market demands banality, sex and the stylising of folkloric elements. For those who don't know it yet: the drunken Bulgarian starts by singing Macedonian songs and then moves on to Serb songs... As soon as the socialist-bureaucratic censorship disappears, he gives in to his impulse to sing at market places and in dives. Appalled, the educated audience reacts with the fear that it will gradually lose its social role. However, in reality the whole process is nothing more and nothing less than the profound transformation of a world in which political will no longer governs cultural development." (02/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Bulgaria
Todos los textos disponible de » Ivaylo Ditchev