Max Arhippainen analyses the results of Finland's parliamentary elections and speculates on the constellations for a coalition. "It's easy to discern the winners and the losers. The Coalition Party has achieved a spectacular victory and its best results ever while the Social Democrats have delivered the poorest performance in 45 years. The Centre Party is winner and loser at the same time because it has lost seats but remains the most powerful party, and its candidate will become prime minister." Arhippainen reflects on whether a coalition between the Centre Party and the Coalition Party wouldn't require a third coalition partner: "It would be good if a small party were to join and cement the coalition, but it remains unclear which this could be. The Greens are an option, but so is the Swedish People's Party." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Finlandia
Todos los textos disponible de » Max Arhippainen

"Even if it attracts less attention in the headlines or opinion columns than Ireland or Spain, two other European countries that EU accession has afforded successful modernisation, Finland, having joined the EU in 1995, is also a success", considers the daily. "Long considered a poor relative of the other Scandinavian countries, Finland was obliged to reinvent itself as a country after the end of the Soviet Union with which it shared a delicate border during the Cold War. It has managed by investing in research and development, as well as technology, a choice supported by a big majority of the population. ... In this context of self congratulation and consensus, electoral upheavals are rare and last Sunday's electoral results are unlikely to bring about big political changes. We should nonetheless note the advancement of the conservatives in the National Coalition Party, whose progress corresponds exactly with the regression of the Social Democratic Party." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Finlandia, » Europa del Norte

According to the Estonian daily, the elections in Finland are a continuation of the move to the right already seen in Germany, Sweden and Estonia, where conservative parties have recently either come to power or been re-elected. "It's difficult to find things for which you could criticise Vanhanen... The main weakness was his foreign policy, which was characterised by passivity and a lack of creativity: This could also explain why the Conservatives gained more votes. As a coalition partner for the Centre Party they could bring fresh blood into the government. This would be good for Finland and particularly for its role within the EU." (20/03/2007)

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

According to Reinhard Wolff, the strong desire for consensus in Finland is concealing the fact that the country also has its problems. "Judging by the statistics, Finland is doing better than ever. But at the same time the number of those who aren't benefiting from this prosperity is growing. Over the past ten years the gap between those above and those below has grown considerably. The unemployment rate is twice and in some cases even three times higher than in the rest of Scandinavia, and it seems to be settling at this level. Over the past few years governments have nibbled away at the welfare state. If a centre-right coalition is formed - without the Social Democrats - this trend will become even stronger. Finland is currently living on credit. Politics without vision can take swift revenge under such circumstances." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Finlandia
Todos los textos disponible de » Reinhard Wolff

"No matter which parties form a coalition in the new government, Finland enjoys an enviable degree of stability," comments Jürg Dedial. "Naturally, Finland has also experienced turbulent times. The years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, during which Finland's room for manoeuvre was severely limited, led to sweeping social and economic reforms. This demanded great sacrifices from many Finns. But the country is now reaping the benefits of these drastic measures. Finland has the strongest economic growth of all EU countries, one of the lowest unemployment rates and enviable tax revenues. Moreover, there are hardly any controversial issues in its foreign policy. These are the pillars on which the country's political stability rests and which produce a new consensus every four years." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Finlandia
Todos los textos disponible de » Jürg Dedial

The Spanish journalist Andrés Ortega, a specialist in international relations, regrets that the success of the European project is masked by current crises. "A sad birthday, that is what the EU is preparing to celebrate this Sunday, when 50 years of the Rome Treaty are to be commemorated. And yet this is a construction unprecedented in History, of the greatest contribution brought by Europe to political systems since the Nation State, a big, original success from many points of view - including in terms of peace and prosperity - within a union that has known how to give priority to will over force in order to preserve identities. The vision of Post Second World War political architects was right. But now there is a lack of vision: Europe, built up against the Cold War wall, now has nothing to build itself up against and has to learn how to build itself in a positive way." (19/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Historia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Andrés Ortega

Questioned by Christian Troubé in relation to the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the Polish historian and MEP Bronislaw Geremek analyses how young generations consider Europe. "They take peace among the different European nations for granted. So how to make Europe attractive when the failure of the constitutional treaty shows that the Union is at a crossroad ? The young generations need to find acts in the European project that trigger the imagination. Let them be given the opportunity to regain a European way of behaving: according importance to human dignity, to democracy, to tolerance, to human rights. Let there be a real European syndrome founded on the refusal of any authoritarian regime, any enclosure and any compartmentalisation. On the drawing board of the young generations we should find the notion of opening up, creating an open European society without denying our diversity." (15/03/2007)

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

The journalist Pascal Martin signs an editorial in which he regrets the lack of folly in the EU half a century after its creation. "Europe has become extremely complex and everyone understands that it will take more than worshipping the spirit of the founding fathers to spur it out of its current immobility. One frequently suggested solution is to activate new, reinforced co-operations. Otherwise said, the same sort of mechanism implied by the euro or Schengen and that could be reproduced in various domains: the environment, defence or immigration. Several countries would unite to set an example and inspire ambition among their partners. In reality, a crucial element is lacking: what Louis Michel [European commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid] calls 'momentum', the moment not to be missed. Europe's impetus was rooted in the ruins of the war, but what is most difficult at the time of its jubilee is to give it a new thrust to boost it forwards." (20/03/2007)

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

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin openly criticised the US's plans for a missile defence shield at the Munich Conference on Security, the project has become the subject of intense debate in Germany. While Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has called for the defence system to be integrated into NATO structures, the Deputy Chancellor and leader of the SPD Kurt Beck warns of a new arms race. Stefan Kornelius sums up the debate in Germany as follows: "It's about whether we want Russia as friend or foe, because Moscow has given the impression that the decision will have to be made very soon. It's about armament or disarmament because the SPD is conveying the impression that we need to prevent a new Cold War now. It's about the next division of Europe (after the war in Iraq) because neighbouring states want to satisfy their desire for security without consulting others. And as always in Germany, it's about all or nothing, war or peace, but at the very least about the predetermined breaking point of the coalition, because the war in Iraq has shown how easy it is to get the country all fired up about complicated matters of security policy." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Política interior, » Alemania, » Rusia, » EE.UU.
Todos los textos disponible de » Stefan Kornelius

Political expert Cristian Pirvulescu comments on the "lustration law" - a Polish law that requires members of certain groups of the population to reveal former collaboration with the communist secret services - in the context of the efforts of other countries of the former Eastern Bloc to review their communist past. The law entered force a week ago. "Anti-communism is definitely on the political agenda in the countries of Eastern Europe, albeit to differing degrees. In those countries where governments have been formed on the basis of coalitions with former communist parties (Hungary and Bulgaria) the passion for 'lustration' is relatively weak, whereas in other countries you have the opposite situation (Poland and the Czech Republic). In Romania, enthusiasm for confronting the past has ebbed since the country joined the EU and the political crisis has finished it off: not a single moral reform or political project that had to do with lustration has been carried through. The president's condemnation of communism was just an exercise in rhetoric." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Polonia, » Europa del Este, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Cristian Pîrvulescu

The editorialist François Ernenwein makes a contribution to the debate on the reform of French institutions relaunched on Sunday, March 18th, by Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate for the presidential election who has pronounced herself in favour of a 6th Republic. "There is no doubt that institutional practice has been modified over time by keeping presidents repudiated in ballot boxes in power, by the acceptance of cohabitation, confusion regarding the roles of President of the Republic and Prime Minister and the diminution of Parliament. But this crisis is not yet institutional. It is moral. Doubt among the French is not the fruit of badly adapted constitutionals texts, but bad habits where left and right have shared responsibilities. Rather, therefore, than changing Republics, we would do better to first revise customary practice. It goes without saying that a new structure will then be necessary. But first things first." (20/03/2007)

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Todos los textos disponible de » François Ernenwein

Ian Mayes is readers' editor for the daily newspaper 'The Guardian' and author of the book 'Journalism Right and Wrong' about to be published, dealing with the question, "was the Guardian right or wrong to publish what it did, or in the way that it did? ... The intention has been to render normal or natural a running and public debate on the ethics of journalism between the readers of the Guardian and its journalists. This is still an unusual enough phenomenon anywhere in the world of journalism ... unaffected by editorial edict or embargo, often about matters that the majority of news organisations would still consider too embarrassing to mention. ... Teachers at the journalism schools where I have spoken in the past few years have also said that something like it would be useful. Many students on courses in Britain now come from countries where this kind of conversation and scrutiny simply does not take place. Perhaps it will in the future." (19/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Medios de comunicación impresos, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Ian Mayes

The online exhibition 'Literarni algoritmi' by Slovenian net art pioneer Jaka Zeljeznikov, set up at the Bezigrad Gallery in Ljubljana, prompts Petja Grafenauer Krnc to reflect on this form of modern art: "Net art, or art on the Internet, highlights the fact that an object of art doesn't require real space or time. It is no longer necessary to be physically present in a concrete space to consume a work of art. Of course, there's still the requirement that a room with a computer be available, which puts a large part of the world at a disadvantage... The playfulness of certain projects and the power of criticism which the Internet puts into people's hands brings to mind the visual poetry of the 1960s - a major art movement that transformed Slovenian art and literature. Now, however, with the aid of technology we can open up spaces to which a local institution could never give us access." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Exposiciones / Museos, » Eslovenia

On the official day of 'Francophonie' that celebrates the practice of the French language around the world, Laurent Moyse regrets the way that the International Organisation of French-speaking Communities (OIF) has evolved. "It has only accentuated the attitude of those who are folded in upon themselves in defence of a language, in competition with others in order to maintain supremacy in the world. It is interesting to note in this context that 44 writers have launched a manifesto [published by the daily 'Le Monde'] in which they salute the fact that the main literary prizes in 2006 were awarded to foreign authors, which, according to them, signifies 'the end of francophonia' and the 'birth of world-literature in French'. We do not know if this sort of cultural condescendence is coming to an end, but such a movement has in any case the merit of reviving a global debate which, though it has never completely stopped, has not always developed as it should have." (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Literatura, » Política Cultural, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Laurent Moyse

Przemyslaw Szubartowicz has listened to the new album 'Citizens of the Fourth World' by Polish band Masala Sound System and was happy to hear that representatives of rock and alternative music have now joined the battle against the ruling Kaczynski brothers. These musicians "shout out what they think about the prime minister's insulting an increasing number of social groups. ... In the history of free Poland no other political party has been the target of such hard and unambiguous protest songs as the Kaczynskis. All politicians have to put up with criticism - and a lot of it. But up to now it's always been rather generalised, along the lines that all politics is immoral and that power corrupts and leads to lies and exploitation. There have seldom been teenage protests in which those in power have come under direct attack." (19/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Música, » Movimientos sociales, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Przemysław Szubartowicz

Suzi Feay, the daily's literary editor, informs us that "Muriel Gray, novelist, television presenter and this year's chair of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (for which male writers are not eligible), accompanied the announcement of the longlist with an accusation that, by and large, the writers this year's panel assessed lacked imagination, and focused too narrowly on their own lives and personal issues. Women writers don't work hard enough to escape from their own gender and circumstances - in short, says Gray, they're failing to make things up, surely a prerequisite for good, absorbing fiction. ... Should 'escaping from your gender' be one of the key roles of fiction ? It is strange to see Gray citing this as a self-evidently good thing. Generally writers, male or female, are not at their best when cross-dressing. It's unconvincing at best, absurd or embarrassing at worst - remember Martin Amis's female police officer in Night Train ? Or Sebastian Faulks's Charlotte Gray, perpetually fiddling with her historically researched underwear ?" (20/03/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Literatura, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Suzi Feay