"Magic Sarkozy didn't quite make the mark", comments Laurent Joffrin, director of the daily. "Before getting started, the state of grace is beginning to cloud over a bit. The president pulled off an incontestable victory. But France is walking into Sarkoland with its eyes wide open and a tad suspicious. This is good news for democratic debate, anyway. ... Despite considerable resistance in the ultimate ballot, the opposition's task remains difficult. This hybrid right-wing, more reformative than conservative, implies an attitude that is not Pavlovan. The wheat is going to have to be separated from the chaff: good reforms should be encouraged if they come along, while the unfair ones should be fought unflinchingly. No one should lock themselves into suicidal status quo. The temptation will however arise and be strengthened with the respectable number of left-wing members of parliament elected. It would be fatal to succumb." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Laurent Joffrin

For the conservative daily, the results of the legislative elections demonstrate a certain political maturity. "In his last mandate, Jacques Chirac introduced sort of self-destructive melancholy into the country, because the message he transmitted spread and deepened both want and the fear of change. The country seemed to be drowning irremediably in a sort of collective depression, in a panorama lacking any way out. A clear and decisive message from Sarkozy was enough to change the country's climate. ... All of the right conditions are in place for Sarkozy to introduce the reforms that France needs. ... Granted, this will not be easy, but hopes are high, given that the French society has measured up to the seriousness of the situation by giving the president the legislative tools necessary to try and resolve the crisis." (18/06/2007)

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

According to the newspaper, the main problem is not the open battle for the party leadership but the French Socialist's ideological orientation. "The PS is unique within Europe. On the one hand it claims to be a member of the modern social democratic family, but on the other it seems to be locked in the economic reality of the 1950s, with a rhetoric that could have come straight from May 1968. ... The French Socialists should tread the path of reform their sister parties in Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Denmark took long ago and accept the free market. ... Before new leaders can take over and create the strong, imaginative opposition France needs under Sarkozy's autocratic governance, the Socialists must admit the intellectual and ideological failure of their party." (18/06/2007)

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Tomáš Nídr believes the victory of Sakozy's UMP party in the French parliamentary elections will have a major impact on EU reform: "Over the coming months Nicolas Sarkozy will become a leading player in global politics. The parliamentary elections have secured him a majority in the National Assembly. Although the victory of the right was less spectacular than hoped, the new president now has a stronger position within French politics than any of his predecessors since Charles de Gaulle... Two years after the French gleefully trampled on the unreadable EU constitution, the Sarkozy-Merkel duo (provided they are able to persuade the pig-headed Kaczynski to back down at this week's summit) will be able to produce a shorter document that propels European unity forward." (18/06/2007)

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Todos los textos disponible de » Tomáš Nídr

The news that the public prosecutor's office in Bucharest has decided after a two-year investigation to bring corruption charges against former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase prompts Andrei Cornea to reflect on how Romania deals with guilt. Cornea is convinced that Nastase will not admit his guilt: "Here in Romania there is no consciousness of moral guilt. People don't feel guilty about committing criminal offences or about the way they live. It's always the others who are to blame, the foreigners, the enemy, those who are different from us. People don't think it's a bad thing to break the law, but they're embarrassed to be seen in handcuffs. It's not the act of stealing that is shameful but the arrest that proves one wasn't man enough to get away with it, because it shows that one didn't pay the bribes quickly enough or pay enough... As long as society regards the only mistake to be in letting oneself get caught, it will be difficult to build up a functioning judiciary that can make people assume moral responsibility. " (18/06/2007)

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

Henry Kamen, a British historian specialising in Spain, considers whether the Spanish national anthem should be given lyrics, adding to the current debate that is preoccupying the country. "What is clear is that the lyrics of an anthem should reflect an agreement on values both loved and hated. For the Spanish, who have never believed in patriotism and prefer to fight among themselves rather than against others, these shared values do not exist. Basically, there is no feeling of being a united nation and it is consequently impossible to agree on an anthem. ... Maybe the subject should first be submitted to a referendum. The Spanish should be asked if they think they are a nation and is if they should as a consequence have an anthem like in any other country. If they answer that they don't feel they are a nation, then the subject should be closed, since this would mean they have no desire to sing about an identity that doesn't exist." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » España
Todos los textos disponible de » Henry Kamen

Last weekend the East German Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the West German Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice (WASG) joined forces to become "The Left" party, thus expanding Germany's political party spectrum for the first time since the founding of the Greens. Eric Grujer takes a critical view of the new party's potential for reform. "Seldom has a party carried a name so undeservedly. The concept of the left is associated with progressive ideas and the desire to progressively change prevailing conditions. 'The Left', however, is conservative. It wants to maintain the kind of social welfare state that existed in the 1970s in West Germany. It clings to the model of an interventionist state with a large public sector that is more in keeping with the traditions of the second half of the last century. The demographic profile of the new party also fits in with its ideological backwardness: grey hairs feature prominently among both the members of the PDS and those of the WASG." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Alemania
Todos los textos disponible de » Eric Gujer

"Ireland may follow Britain and 'opt out' of a key part of the EU constitution that pools sovereignty in judicial and police matters", notes Jamie Smyth, European correspondent. "Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said yesterday that ... he expected that any deal offered to Britain would also be available to Ireland due to our 'similar legal systems'. ... 'In our situation, defending our common law tradition without the support of the UK, ... could leave us isolated,' he said. Ireland and Britain are fiercely protective of their common law legal system and fear that moves to harmonise judicial systems across the EU could undermine it. Both states, along with Malta and Cyprus, argue that their legal systems have fundamental differences from continental European systems." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Constitución de la UE, » Gran Bretaña, » Irlanda, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Jamie Smyth

"European Commission President José Manuel Barroso got a first-hand impression of the issues that are important to the people of Malta during a one-day visit to the island last week", notes the Maltese daily. "Mr Barroso said the size of Malta's search and rescue area - the size of the United Kingdom - needed to be realised at a European level and he even had words of praise for the Armed Forces of Malta for their sterling work. He assured the media that Frontex patrols will be in operation by the end of the month. Two concrete proposals were also made: to enact legislation making it a crime for employers to engage illegal immigrants; and for the EU to take political and diplomatic initiatives to introduce readmission agreements in the countries where the immigrants originate. ... We are also confident that the EU Commission President also returned to Brussels having achieved what he set out to do during his visit - reaching out to Malta and showing that EU solidarity starts at the top." (17/06/2007)

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

Sweden's government wants to facilitate immigration for workers from non-European countries. Its main trade union LO, however, opposes this proposal owing to fears that the more flexible laws could be open to abuse. The newspaper recalls the case of a Latvian construction company based in Vaxholm that was blocked by Swedish trade unions and eventually went bankrupt. It says the real cause for the LO's opposition is its "fear of losing control of the job market. This is what the Vaxholm conflict was all about - it wasn't about collective agreements or wage dumping. They were only concerned about their own interests, not the Latvian workers. In Vaxholm trade unionists shouted 'go home.' The LO leadership didn't express itself as openly or directly, but this is what it was thinking, and it supported that message. The organisation is adopting the same stance towards non-European workers: foreigners should stay in their home countries." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Suecia, » Global

"The video of Eric Boever, Belgian national television's news presenter who presented images of Nicolas Sarkoy's G8 press conference announcing that the president had obviously been drinking more than mere water, hasn't stopped being circulated" notes Guilhem Fouetillou , co-founder of the website Observatoire Présidentiel. "It is noteworthy that what had been considered a non-event by nearly all of the French media should end up being imposed as an event on the internet that is carried by internet Users around the world. Is this video not the first symbolic victory of the Internet over television as a form of mass media and influence offering access to images superior to those available on television ?" (16/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Medios de comunicación audiovisuales, » Medios de comunicación online, » Francia, » Bélgica, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Guilhem Fouetillou

Every ten years the "Sculpture Projects" exhibition takes place in Münster, where sculptures and installations change the face of the city. Henrike Thomson writes that once again, curator Kasper König has "put together an exquisite exhibition with works that are tentative, but at the same time precise and clever," including a luxuriously decorated public toilet by Hans-Peter Feldmann and an inverted pyramid by Bruce Nauman. "The spell that has taken over contemporary art in the tradition-steeped city of Münster is very delicate and almost invisible, more like a fine crack through which seeps the suppressed and the unwanted, but also new perspectives and poetry. The work most in keeping with this spirit is the string Mark Wallinger has tied around the old part of the city, high above the bustle of the streets and apparently passing right through houses. The question of setting boundaries, both for those without and those within, couldn't have been raised more nonchalantly." (16/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » Artes gráficas, » Alemania
Todos los textos disponible de » Henrike Thomsen

Laurent Wolf takes stock of the 38th 'Art Basel', art fair in Switzerland, that ended on June 17th. "Never before, in twenty years, has been so much painting. Never before have relations between painting and other modes of expression appeared so obvious and peaceful. The same themes are explored, the same leitmotifs: urban expansion, violence in the suburbs, the natural environment and its destruction, desire, the body. ... If it were becoming once again possible to place the theme or the work before experimentation, either because artists master new techniques well or because these new techniques have simplified their use. Added to this pacification of relations between modes of expression is a political and ideological turn. ... It seems that in art, like elsewhere, it is no longer a question of changing the world, but of looking at it as it stands and interpreting it, sometimes with some revolt, more often with panic and occasionally even with a touch of melancholy. Art has not become completely consensual, but has ceased to be aggressive." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Exposiciones / Museos, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Laurent Wolf

For Greece, the name of its neighbour, the" Republic of Macedonia", has been a problem ever since the latter gained independence, because for Greeks the name "Macedonia" refers to its own province of Macedonia. Novak Novev reports that the Republic of Macedonia has now indicated its willingness to compromise in the name dispute. "Because the young state wants to obtain EU and NATO membership as soon as possible, it has now signalled its willingness to change its official name to the 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'." The UN accepted the country as a member under this name, but until now the government in Skopje had described the name as unacceptable. "They are now hoping to overcome Greece's tough stance, which consisted in threatening to exercise its right of veto against Macedonia joining the EU and NATO as long as the naming dispute remained unresolved... However, the problem persists in the Macedonians' new biometric passports, which are supposed to be EU-compatible. They are printed with the words 'Republic of Macedonia' in Cyrillic and Latin script." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Ampliación de la UE, » Grecia, » Bulgaria
Todos los textos disponible de » Novak Novev

John Lichfield informs us that he owns a flat in Paris. "We recently attended the annual meeting at which the co-proprietaires decide how to manage the commonly owned parts of the building. ... I have covered EU summits, G8 summits, Anglo-French summits and US-Soviet summits. None seethed with poisonous undercurrents as much as a meeting of Parisian co-proprietaires. Seven people were present. An electronic calculating machine was needed to judge whether we had a quorum. By law, big spending decisions by co-owners - such as whether to buy a new letterbox - must be made by people who own at least two-thirds of the floor space.The calculator was required to work out how many square meters were at the meeting. (The EU's proposed 'double majority' formula for taking decisions in the Council of Minister seems elementary by comparison.) ... In the best tradition of European summits, it was finally conceded that no big decisions could be taken. We were 100 square metres short of a quorum. The meeting had lasted two and a half hours. Battle will be rejoined in February." (18/06/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Francia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » John Lichfield