In an extended interview with Wyborcza publishers Adam Michnik and Jarosław Kurski held shortly before his visit to Poland today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to convince Poland to give up its blockade against an agreement on the EU constitution: "I come as a friend and European to friends and Europeans, to say: we must save Europe together to overcome this lethargy... You are a large country and must work together with Europe's other large countries. One of Europe's larger nations can't just say: I have less responsibility, I will block an agreement. This is why two days before the presidential elections I was the only candidate to say that, if I won, there would be no referendum on the constitution. That was difficult, but I did it because I am convinced that France can't block the EU. And Poland can't block the EU either." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Constitución de la UE, » Polonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Adam Michnik, » Jarosław Kurski

"In the debate over a new European constitution Warsaw has now deprived itself of all room for manoeuvre," writes Wolfgang Böhm, after Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Gusenbauer left Warsaw yesterday without having made any progress. "Kaczynski & Kaczynski may still be enjoying the procession of leading European politicians knocking on their door, but they still haven't found any partners. With the exception of Prague's particularly Europsceptic president, Vaclav Klaus, none of the EU politicians are willing to renegotiate the distribution of power stipulated in the EU constitutional treaty, which Warsaw has criticised. The Kaczynskis are the only ones to insist that their influence on EU decisions should grow while Germany's is reduced." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Constitución de la UE, » Polonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Wolfgang Böhm

The newspaper's Poland correspondent Thomas Urban contends that the Kaczynski brothers are not anti-European. "The twins are just trying to achieve two goals within the EU: firstly, they want Poland to become very strong and secondly, they want Germany to be as weak as possible. One can hardly criticise the former: every country wants to strengthen its position. But the second is problematic. After all, you can hardly formulate this goal openly. So in Warsaw they've dug up a formula that was long ago rejected for the EU constitutional treaty: the voting mechanism should not be based on the number of a country's inhabitants but on the square root of that number. Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga openly proclaims the goal of this complicated arithmetical problem: the aim is to end 'German hegemony' within the EU because this would halve Germany's influence on decision-making processes." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Constitución de la UE, » Polonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Thomas Urban

Jan Cienski in Warsaw and Bertrand Benoit in Berlin analyse Poland's criticism of EU voting strengths, which looms large over next week's summit. "[In Germany] many believe that Poland has replaced the UK as the main obstacle to putting the constitution back on track. ... Poland insists that the constitution's double majority voting system for the EU Council of Ministers, under which laws would be passed if supported by at least 55 % of the EU's 27 member states and covering at least 65 % of its population, is unfair and biased towards its largest members. ... Poland insists that its proposal, under which each country would have as many votes as the square root of its population, ... is fairer to small and medium-sized countries. ... the German argument is that re-weighting the voting system is only one aspect of broader compromise extending to the European Parliament ... and the extension of qualified majority voting to new policy areas." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » Polonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Bertrand Benoit, » Jan Cienski

Russian journalist Sonja Margolina, who lives in Germany, compares the new authoritarianism in Russia with the times of the Great Terror under Stalin 70 years ago. "Against this background it's as if the script for the Kremlin's 'presidential successor' operation, involving an escalation of the power struggle and reprisals against a harmless opposition, had been written exactly 70 years ago. The fact that this is taking place in a totally different historical context only serves to reinforce the sense of déjà vu. Just as in 1937, the main reason for the Kremlin's panic is the impossibility of a democratic change of power. The mere existence of the constitution exposes the illegitimate character of the usurpation of power by a non-elected clique." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Rusia
Todos los textos disponible de » Sonja Margolina

On Friday, June 15th, Spain will be commemorating the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections in the post-Franco era. Interviewed by Gilles Heuré, Emilio Silva, a sociologist and Spanish journalist, founder of the Association for the recuperation of historical memory (ARMH), considers that work on memory is not yet over. "The socialist government, the first to have really made things evolve, is still too timid, and the responsability of Franco's state in the massacres has yet to be solemnly and officially established. The right, however, has an absolutely cynical attitude to the memory of the civil war. On the one hand, it says that old wounds shouldn't be opened up while on the other it pays an emotional tribute to Franco's soldiers who fought in the Azul division, side by side with Nazis on the Eastern front. ... It is essential for Spain to shed light on the dictatorship and evaluate the scope of the trauma. This is vital for our democracy, because nothing has been soothed or healed yet. To think that the right still refers to the left as the 'reds' !" (13/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » España
Todos los textos disponible de » Emilio Silva, » Gilles Heuré

"The amnesty for illegal immigrants approved by the Dutch parliament this week will benefit an estimated 30,000 people. Most of those refused asylum before 2001 will now be allowed to remain", notes the daily. "There are arguments for and against such amnesties. Opponents say they only encourage more people to try their luck and boost the ill-gotten gains of people-smugglers. But Italy, Spain, France and Belgium have all enacted amnesties, without dire consequences for themselves - or for the European Union. Even those who reject the moral reasons for legalising illegal migrants of long standing must accept that the practical arguments are unimpeachable. Amnesties bring clandestine workers into the legal economy, increase tax revenue and allow migrants to live more settled lives. This is why the British government should follow the Dutch lead and take the political risk of broaching an amnesty." (14/06/2007)

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

The National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS), whose members are appointed according to the principles of party proportional representation, has failed three times to elect a new president. Each time not enough members of the council attended the voting session. But according to Florian Bichir, the vote is the least of the council's problems: "Ten politicians have been given carte blanche. They have been cleared of having collaborated with the Securitate - although there was controversial evidence to the contrary. The council argued its point with legal pretexts and explanations, one more childish than the other. This investigative council is an institution in which each representative makes sure that either his boss or his political allies aren't exposed: if I'm allowed to keep this file you can keep that one. Up to now there has been no inquiry into the activities of the council, and the control committee which was set up a year ago hasn't worked a single day so far." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Historia, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Florian Bichir

José Manuel Barosso, president of the European Commission, yesterday announced that the EU's progress report, due to be published on June 27, will contain sharp criticism. Political scientist Vladimir Shopov speculates on what action the EU intends to take. He contends that enacting the safeguard clause would not be a "productive measure". "The idea of the safeguard clause is only complicating the debate about what form further reforms can take now that the EU lacks effective instruments to push through reforms in justice and domestic policy... The EU seems to have resigned itself to the fact that the most that can be achieved in Bulgaria is stabilisation at a low level. Beyond the world of politics, Bulgarians are reacting with a mixture of resignation, shame and hope that someone will turn up who is able to establish some measure of order in this regime of criminal-political networks which appears to have settled in for good." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Ampliación de la UE, » Bulgaria
Todos los textos disponible de » Vladimir Shopov

Piero Fassino, Secretary-general of the left-wing Democrats (DS), the main group in the coalition in power, would like to see a revival of 'the Battle of Ideas' as defended by the Communist Party in its time. It is with this objective that it organised a meeting of the most pre-eminent figures of the Italian intelligentsia in Rome on June 13th. Pierluigi Battista looks back on the political engagement of intellectuals throughout history. "Seeing as the birth of the Democratic Party [the party of the alliance of left-wing] has already been very tumultuous in itself, was it really necessary to bring back the old communist rite of gathering together the Secretary-general and artists, poets, writers, political scientists and advertising agents... ? ... Relations between the Party and intellectuals were difficult at the time, sometimes conflicting, but always essential. ... We have reached an end of an era that no meeting of intellectuals and the Democratic Party will be able to resuscitate". (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Italia
Todos los textos disponible de » Pierluigi Battista

Yves Leterme, leader of the Flemish Christian-Democrat Party, is the candidate running for the post of Prime Minister after the legislative elections in Belgium. He is advocating greater autonomy for Belgian regions (Brussels, the Flemish region and the French-speaking region). The Spanish daily assesses this. "The message is clear: the Flemish want to keep a distance, and even be separated from the French-speakers. Leterme ... has exploited desire, widespread among the Flemish, to reduce the financial transfer of Flemish riches to the poor French-speaking regions... . Now, with 18.5% of the votes and 30 seats out of 150 in Parliament, Leterme is obliged to find allies. ... He will have to seduce parties representing French-speaking Walloons and modify his propositions without giving up the 'State reform' that he has promised. ... As a minimally realistic measure necessary to conquer power, Leterme is presenting the idea of a 'Belgium built on an historical compromise' between the Frech-speaking community and the Flemish, something that appears more and more difficult everyday." (14/06/2007)

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

The behaviour of Nicolas Sarkozy at a G8 press conference on June 7th has become a central topic of conversation. Was he really drunk? The video of his address has also been widely broadcast on the Internet, notably by YouTube. Richard Werly, who was present that day, gives his version of what happened. "Sarkozy arrived late, in a hurry. Tipsy? That didn't occur to me. He didn't stagger. He seemed rather surprised to find himself there, thrown before the journalists. ... To tell the truth, I found him rather off the mark. Not under the influence of alcohol. More over-vitamined. As if on drugs. His words sounded false. He wasn't the French Head of State that night, but rather 'Sarko' the energetic, well-meaning politician who is acting for your own good, smiling nervously, full of tics and bringing everthing back to himself: the victory snatched from Bush on the climate, the end of suffering in Darfour... ... What really shocked me was that Sarkozy didn't talk about the state of the world. He told us about himself, his 'frankness', his 'agenda' his 'cool'. He was drunk on his own words, his own powerful position." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Medios de comunicación online, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Richard Werly

Pierre-Antoine Delhommais reveals, that as soon as Nicolas Sarkozy was elected, he took back the criticism of the European Central Bank (BCE) that he had voiced during the electoral campaign. "Mr. Sarkozy swiftly realised that is wasn't so easy for the dunce of the Euro Zone's economic class to give monetary lessons to those who are stacking up good grades. ... A diplomatic offensive to lower the value of the Euro would imply a consensus among the States of the Euro zone that is difficult to imagine today. In particular, it would require the support of Germany, whose vigorous Euro hasn't stopped record-breaking commercial surplus, a Germany that has never been willing to part with a strong currency ... . To weaken the Euro, it would paradoxically be necessary for the Franco-German couple to function again, for Europe to be strong and united, endowed with a powerful and efficient economic government capable of obeying the ECB, but also of discussing matters with the United States and Japan on an equal footing." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Francia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Pierre-Antoine Delhommais

Lech Majewski's video installation 'KrewPoety' (Poet's blood) and his film "Szklane Usta" (Glass Lips) are big hits with the audiences at this year's Venice Biennale. Majewski, one of Poland's most renowned directors and video artists, talked to Justyna Kobus about his work. "I have my own, very personal experiences, and I tell people about them. I try to penetrate deep into the human psyche. I often discover light and dark sides to my own psyche which are impressive in the diversity of their meanings. I firmly believe in the non-depictability of this world - of the experiences, views and images which make people what they are. This is why I seldom offer the viewer messages in words, which directly suggest an idea. I have a growing dislike for words. Words can restrict our freedom through their linearity and through their abuse. I don't use words in either 'KrewPoety' or 'Szklane Usta' and this expands their range of meaning." (11/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Exposiciones / Museos, » Película, » Italia, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Justyna Kobus, » Lech Majewski

The Czech biotechnology company Genomac has published a DNA calendar according to which the Czechs' genes are only half Slav. The majority of the remaining genes have their origins in Ancient Rome and the Germanic countries. Josef Gres is amused by this discovery, which prompts him to reflect: "Genomac was founded six years ago in a garage in the Prague district of Brevnov. Today it has American patents for cutting-edge medical technology and is among the leading companies of its kind in Europe. The genetic calendar was more of a hobby for them, and a good way to finally attract more attention from the public. There are now 70 companies of this type here in the Czech Republic. Quietly and unobserved, they are working their way to the top. Biotechnology is a field which can combine high-performance technology with rapid commercial success." (14/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » La República Checa
Todos los textos disponible de » Josef Gres