"The EU and the US must make every effort to ensure that they do not split over whether to recognise Kosovo as independent without a Security Council resolution", considers the daily. "It is all very well for the two sides of the Atlantic to perform a 'good cop, bad cop' routine when dealing with Serbia, but they cannot afford this being shown up as more than mere show. ... Americans and Europeans may well have to decide whether the priority is to transfer Kosovo's administration to the EU by means of a UN vote or to recognise it as independent without a UN consensus. But it would be better for all concerned if that unenviable choice were never made. For now, in its search for a solution, the west must put a premium on unity – and a bit of ingenuity." (13/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Serbia

EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger has brought up the possibility of dividing Kosovo. Erich Rathfelder harshly criticises the proposal and points to the consequences: "Ischinger's proposal is scandalous in the extreme. It would overturn the international community's entire Balkan policy up to now - not only that of the EU, but also that of the UN, the OSCE, NATO and other international organisations. So far the borders of the former republics and autonomous regions have been observed in the division of former Yugoslavia - and for good reason. If one were to redefine the borders according to ethnic criteria, it would be tantamount to admitting that the warmongers of the most recent Balkan wars had been right all along. In this case, what would be the point of the war crimes tribunal in The Hague? (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Sudeste de Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Erich Rathfelder

Chris Patten, former European commissioner for external relations, is vice-chairman of the board of the International Crisis Group. He criticises the Serbian authorities for "hoping that by stalling and delaying Kosovo independence, the Albanians will resort to a unilateral declaration of independence that splits the international community or violence that makes the Serbs look good. In the meantime, the clock is ticking, and Kosovo needs answers. Kosovo Albanians have waited eight years for the international community to ... resolve their status. Although outnumbering all minorities, they have agreed to establish a multiethnic state with the strongest minority protection regime ever seen in Europe. ... Given the Kosovo people's overwhelming desire to be free from the state that tried to eliminate them and the lack of any realistic alternative from Belgrade, the international community has little choice but to give Kosovo its independence." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Minorías, » Serbia
Todos los textos disponible de » Chris Patten

Ceslovas Iskauskas points to the struggle for independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, as well of that of the breakaway territory of Transnistria within the Republic of Moldova. For Russia, an independent Kosovo would set a precedent for the way it deals with these territories. "Time is running out in Kosovo. Elections are scheduled for November and a referendum on the future of the country is in planning. By that time the international community must reach a fundamental agreement on Kosovo's independence without provoking another confrontation with Serbia. But what should be done about the post-Soviet territories? If Kosovo does become completely separate from Serbia, Moscow will work towards the independence of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. And that means we'll be facing a repeat of the Balkan situation on the territory of the former Soviet Union." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Rusia, » Ásia, » Europa, » Global, » Serbia
Todos los textos disponible de » Česlovas Iškauskas

"In this globalised world, with its tens of billions of interconnections, asserting national interests automatically leads to the violation of national interests," writes economist András Farkas. Yet he points out that the only solution to the main problems of European nations - climate change, terrorism, ageing societies and migration - is a global one. "The European nations have fought against each other for a thousand years. Even today, cooperation at a European level is like a veil which they throw off as soon as their national interests are affected. Do we really want to continue with this attitude? The traditional way of thinking within a national context is: our own interests come first, second, and so on, until we finally get to ten and suddenly remember: oh, right, we almost forgot Europe - hallelujah!" (12/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » Medio ambiente, » Europa, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » András Farkas

The English novelist and columnist Philip Hensher reflect on tourism after paying a recent visit to the Acropolis. "There was something extraordinarily moving about the numbers of people making the same journey, from all parts of the world: Japanese women very sensibly using parasols, Americans fanning themselves with their baseball caps, the unmistakably sticky-out legs of the English and elegant Spanish, South Americans and Indians, coping very well indeed with the heat.... in this secular age, the nearest thing to a holy pilgrimage for much of the developed world is a trip to see the Parthenon, the Louvre, the Duomo in Florence and the rest of it. A devout Muslim may make the haj; a Hindu will journey thousands of miles to see an ice lingam in a cave. We get on a plane to look at a broken-down temple brinking a city- centre mountain. Artistic pilgrimages have been a part of Western culture for a good long time now, but what is quite recent is the idea of their universal availability." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Arquitectura / Ciudades, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Philip Hensher

The Italian diplomat Ferdinando Salleo ponders the project of a mini treaty intended to replace the Rome Treaty. "We owe the institutional compromise found in Brussels to the entente between Germany, France and England ... . As far as the contents is concerned, there is a balance of different attitudes towards the EU: integrationist, sovereign and minimalist." Salleo considers that in the economic or commercial domain, "Europe remains a recipient for diverse and divergent orientations that will be difficult to combine... . Even in foreign policy the gap between the three countries is far from harmless in terms of conceptions of strategy and traditional alliances. The danger is obvious: an 'executive board of contradictions' could become a 'Chamber of compensations' for specific interests ... at the expense of a common project carrying an economic force and western, democratic and humanist values." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Constitución de la UE, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Ferdinando Salleo

The daily lists the affluent regions in Europe that would like to have greater financial independence. The editorialist Olivier Mouton deplores this situation. "The EU is the fruit of solidarity. Growing out to the rubble of World War II, it has always avoided any frustration that might cause rivalry. As it has expanded, it has given new-comers the means to take off financially. At the beginning of this millennium, selfishness and individualism are undermining the founding principles of peaceful Europe. ... Certain states should now have the courage to advocate reinforced integration. ... Everyone is always someone else's pauper. A human being who stumbles into a pit has a duty to do everything possible to get up and out as fast as possible. But this cannot be achieved without an outstretched helping hand. Basta. This is the founding European pact ... . By breaking it, you may see the demons of the past come storming back. " (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Política interior, » Integración, » Gran Bretaña, » Italia, » España, » Bélgica, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Olivier Mouton

In Sweden and Finland, secret service files and lists of names have triggered a debate about Swedish and Finnish citizens who worked as informants for the GDR's notorious state security service. Björn Sundell calls for the list of Finnish informants to be made public. "In this particular aspect it's like a dictatorship here in Finland. Researchers have virtually no access to the archives, and with each year that passes fewer applicants receive permission to search the files. We citizens aren't even being given the chance to find out what is written about us in the secret files. In Finland, the individual is denied the right to inspect his personal data. In this area it seems the security of the state or the manic efforts of the secret services to protect their own position take priority over all other ideals, even as far as historical material from the times of the Cold War is concerned." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de seguridad / Crisis / Guerras, » Historia, » Alemania, » Finlandia
Todos los textos disponible de » Björn Sundell

The Swedish secret police Säpo has confirmed the existence of files on around 50 Swedish Stasi informants. However, the names of the informants are not to be made public. Lisa Bjurwald asks: "Is it really appropriate... to expose people in such a way? At the same time I can imagine that this kind of material is highly interesting for research purposes. These reports reflect the hidden aspects of a society at that time... Because their crimes fall under the statute of limitations, those Swedes who collaborated with the communist reign of terror will probably never be brought to trial. But this doesn't necessarily mean one must refuse all calls for them to be called to account in other ways." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Alemania, » Suecia

Ireneusz Krzemiński, a Warsaw-based sociologist, delivers scathing criticism of the so-called "Fourth Republic" under Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński's collapsed government. "Yet another right-wing government has collapsed and failed with its revolutionary socio-political agenda. But this government is leaving behind a particularly disastrous scenario: a broken state with an idle administration, in which incompetent government officials and politicians have made their careers, and a divided society which lives in fear of oppression because it could also affect the innocent. The net results of this government are an extremely negative image of Poland all over the world and the infiltration of a language of brutal aggression into public life." (13/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Ireneusz Krzemiński

The journalist Xavier Febrés responds to an article published on August 12th by 'El Périódico de Catalunya' on the growing anxiety of inhabitants faced with the construction of minarets in different European cities. "Why all this anxiety? Muslims have the right to set up places of worship and get out of the prayer rooms set up in old garages and derelict shops. The fact that minarets may modify the face of our towns with their different shapes does not imply a multicultural transformation any bigger than the one we are already experiencing everyday. ... Multiculturalism in our towns can be of benefit for European society, so long as it appropriately integrates the energy and will to succeed bought by immigrants from afar with different religions." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Religión, » Integración, » Ideología, » España, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Xavier Febrés

Last week, a lack of liquidity forced several central banks to inject large sums of money into the stock market in order to restore confidence. On Monday, August 13th, the situation was on its way back to normal. "The positive response of markets reassured by the abundant arrival of money has commended the European Central Bank's policy of injecting massive liquidity. ... . Paradoxically, the speed with which calm has been restored can be explained by the recuperation of the principle of moral risk, which tends to favour creditor's benevolence towards debtors who don't always respect their obligations, so long as there is a body capable of resolving global financial difficulties. The fact that central banks have in this crisis played a role that normally lies with the IMF could lead to the reconstruction of the global economic framework." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Europa, » Global

The singers Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazón, Neil Shicoff and Elina Garanca have all cancelled their appearances at the Salzburg Festival. Renowned tenor Endrik Wottrich, who fell ill at the Bayreuth Festival and was replaced by somebody else, lashes out at the world of opera in an interview with Axel Brüggemann: "One is expected to perform beyond the humanly possible... It's not normal to regard the voice no longer as a sensitive human organ, but as a machine. We are forced to choose between performing and then being torn to pieces for hitting the wrong note or calling in sick only to come under attack because we're taking it easy on ourselves... Doping has long been commonplace in the music world. Soloists take beta blockers to soothe their nerves, some tenors take cortisone to give their voices a higher pitch, and alcohol is everywhere. Fear has become such a major factor that almost any means seems justified in order to live up to expectations. For most singers, this is the beginning of the end." (12/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Escenarios, » Alemania, » Austria
Todos los textos disponible de » Axel Brüggemann, » Endrik Wottrich

Every two years, Bucharest holds its Georg Enescu Festival. Florian Baiculescu pays homage to the Romanian composer who after the end of World War II lived in France. "At one of the concerts Master Enescu gave before the war in Bucharest a piece of music by Ernest Bloch - an interpretation of a vocal piece for the violin - was to be played along with pieces by Bach, Brahms and Yssaye. This was a time when nationalist students had become extremely active and aggressive. Enescu was therefore told it would be safer and wiser not to play a piece by the 'Jew' Bloch. Enescu would never have complied with such a request. At the concert he announced that the Block piece would not be performed. The audience applauded like mad, chanting 'long live the master!'. But once it had quietened down Enescu added: 'I'll play Maurice Ravel's 'Kaddish' instead. The audience froze, but no one dared to complain." (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Música, » Historia, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Florian Baiculescu

The torrential rain that poured down on French-speaking Switzerland last week has blocked the Berne-Fribourg-Lausanne railway connection. It could take weeks for it to be repaired. The editorialist Erik Reumann regrets that the problem isn't being taken more seriously on a federal level. "Trains are crawling in Berne and Lausanne: they are literally waddling from one bend to the next. When the German-speakers hear us complain, they immediately respond by saying 'But your landscape is so beautiful that it is worth slowing down to better admire it'. This is just the kind of condescendence ... that is really annoying. Especially now, when the line between Berne and Fribourg has been cut because of land slides. While the Swiss Germans get to boost their economy with high performance ... The French-speaking cantons are left to play the role of wildlife reserves where one can find calm and relaxation". (14/08/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Integración, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Erik Reumann