The newspaper Le Figaro sees even worse times ahead for the British prime minister: "Gordon Brown has little to celebrate on his first anniversary in Downing Street ... not even his most recent political victory. The ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon by the House of Lords last week may have brought him the congratulations of Nicolas Sarkozy, but it also raised the ire of the British, who wanted to express their views in a referendum. ... To a certain extent, he presented himself [earlier] as a sort of anti-Tony Blair. After the opportunism and the charm of New Labour, his calm, solemn attitude inspired admiration in the first crises he faced. ... The 'bad' Brown reared his head when he first hesitated then decided not to hold early elections at a time when the Conservatives were gaining new ground in the polls. ... The downturn predicted for the British economy, together with the considerable risk of a recession and high inflation, will certainly not help Brown regain popularity." (25/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Cyrille Vanlerberghe

Columnist Polly Toynbee expresses the wish in The Guardian that Gordon Brown be replaced: "Older MPs are imploring young ministers to ... topple the leader. It is hard to blame them. ... No Lazarus has ever come back from a political grave this deep. ... Here is the imaginary scenario: three or four cabinet ministers backed by senior backbenchers go to the prime minister to say it's over. Most ministers are just waiting for someone else to break the glass. An election between several candidates would be no bloodbath but just what Labour needs to regain public attention. ... Let's be clear. This is not happening. ... No one need bother urging any new leader to step up to the plate unless they have a better answer to this: what's Labour for and what is it definitely against?" (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Polly Toynbee

The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper sees no alternative to Gordon Brown: "The twelve months at the helm of the British government have proved a complete disaster for Brown and his Labour Party. ... But the party has little alternative. It can no longer replace Tony Blair's replacement. It will have to save itself from this predicament with Brown - or go under with him." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Peter Nonnenmacher

For Austrian daily Die Presse, the tarnished reputation of Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown is an indication that the Conservatives will soon take over power. "It all started going wrong when good results in opinion polls seduced the Labour leadership to speculate unnecessarily about early elections. Brown let the game go on, but then decided against elections - and earned a reputation for being a ditherer. Never before had a politician suffered such a devastating defeat in an election that was never even held. ... Brown has turned out to be a Blair without the charisma. This will be his downfall. ... In power since 1997, Labour has ... exhausted its substance, its finances, and its human resources. By the time of the next elections, forecast for May 2010, Brown will be 59 compared to the 43 years of his challenger David Cameron. It seems likely that the opposition will be the first to achieve self-renewal. The local elections debacle in May, when Labour lost even 'ultra-left' London, points to the future." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Axel Reiserer

The Italian government has proposed fingerprinting all Roma living in the country. In a leading article, The Independent has harsh words for the plan: "Italian voters knew what they were getting when they returned Silvio Berlusconi to power in May. The former leader's partners were the notoriously xenophobic Northern League. And, in a pitch designed to pander to the national hysteria over crime, Mr Berlusconi had promised to get 'tough' on foreigners, in particular, Italy's 150,000 Romany gypsies. ... It is estimated there are more than a million foreign domestic helpers in the country; most of them have an irregular immigration status and stand to be ejected under Mr Berlusconi's new law. ... Every act of popular violence against foreigners, every instance of official discrimination against the Roma, diminishes the country's claim to be regarded as a civilised nation." (27/06/2008)

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

The ruling Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) wants future EU treaties to be ratified by referendum. That could also hold for the Treaty of Lisbon in the event that it is significantly changed after Ireland's No. The newspaper Die Presse comments: "The question is, what consequences will this have at the EU level? At a time when the Union's standing among its citizens is very low, it could start a trend. One hears in diplomatic circles that people are talking along similar lines in Finland, the Netherlands and even Greece. Certainly, it is problematic that the Austrian initiative is torpedoing any new attempts in the EU to hold Europe-wide referendums on important matters. Yet that would mean not holding a national vote, but a pan-European one. ... If at some point in the future 27 EU states have to hold referendums to adopt a treaty, there is hardly any chance at all of it being approved." (26/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Constitución de la UE, » Austria, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Doris Kraus

Jorge Volpi, a Mexican writer living in Spain, comments in the daily El País on the new EU Returns Directive: "Enough hypocrisy: the Right has won the day when the Left does not even dare to defend those who simply want to improve their living standards and whose only crime is not to have been born in the right country. A few months ago I travelled from Mexico to my current place of residence, Barcelona. ... For the first time an immigration officer asked to see my return ticket and insulted me when I was unable to produce it. I have been living in Spain for almost five years, and have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this is my country too, even if I have no papers to prove this - and probably never will. If I did I would have voted for the Socialists. And now it is twice as painful to see that they have forgotten and betrayed us." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Migración, » España, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Jorge Volpi

The Latvian daily Latvijas Avize expects France's EU presidency to produce some new initiatives on the topic of immigration: "France plans a pact which is directed against the influx of illegal immigrants and will raise the issue to a European level. For the latter, Europe is certainly no Eldorado because they are generally exploited by human traffickers and restaurant owners, for example. ... The EU leaders want a controlled form of immigration, determined by economic requirements. However, such a selective form of immigration never has and never will be sufficient to cover the demand, not even in Canada or Australia. ... The demands for immigrants to integrate into society coming from countries like France could in the end prove decisive for the future of democracy in Europe. And we Latvians should also consider a similar form of immigration and learn from others' mistakes." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Migración, » Integración, » Desarrollo demográfico, » Francia, » Letonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Uldis Šmits

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson writes in today's edition of the Slovenian daily Delo about the EU-Russia Summit which takes place today: "At the centre of the apparent permanent tensions between the EU and Russia is a communication problem. There are those in Russia who are convinced that the Union wants to put a spoke into the wheels of a revitalised Russia or exploit it economically. Many Europeans, on the other hand, are asking themselves whether Russia is not turning its back on the international community and choosing different political values. The resulting tensions, which have already caused a few political crises, seem to suggest that all efforts to improve our relations are in vain. But the opposite is true. We must commit ourselves to improving relations otherwise we will end up going backward instead of forward. Today's EU-Russia summit is an opportunity to add new dimensions to our relations. For in the 21st century businessmen and entrepreneurs, rather than diplomats, ministers and commissioners, will play a key role in strengthening the economic and political ties between Russia and the EU." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Política de la UE, » Comercio, » Eslovenia, » Rusia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Peter Mandelson

With an eye to the failed referendums on various European treaties, Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, calls for a return to language that European citizens can understand. "It is idle to ask why [the Europeans] regularly give the cold shoulder to the EU through referendums. ... One ... reason for the rapid decline of the idea of Europe is no doubt the technical language we use when describing European processes and decisions. It is simply easier and more convenient to talk of Schengen or the Maastricht criteria than to make yourself clearly understood with precise statements. ... Instead of asking if citizens agree to this or that treaty, we should ask people across Europe if they are for freedom of travel or for controls at border crossings, if they are for or against the European single market, and if they want Europe to play a bigger or smaller role in world affairs. ... The list of fundamental questions could be extended at will. We should face the citizens of Europe with their responsibility by asking them the right questions." (27/06/2008)

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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 » Jean-Claude Juncker

Journalist Lucian Mindruta of the Romanian weekly Dilema Veche sees nothing but expensive cars in his neighbourhood, and asks whether Romania is on its way to becoming a rich country: "Our cars demonstrate exactly the opposite: that we are poor but do not want to show it. This idea was tested in an American study carried out among Africans and South Americans, social groups that are clearly poorer than average. The authors observed the same trend among both groups. People with less money spend 25 percent more money on cars, clothes and jewellery than the majority. This money has to come from somewhere. The people studied spent less on their own education and entertainment, putting their money into things you can see. ... You buy a watch instead of an encyclopaedia. ... Clearly, we in Romania are Europe's South Americans. Poorer than the rest and yet determined to forget this fact, we are terribly anxious to appear rich. ... That only shows how poor we really are, as people and as a nation." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Ideología, » Europa, » Latinoamérica, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Lucian Mindruta

The deadline set by the European Commission for Poland to present a concept for restructuring its three shipyards expired on Thursday. The newspaper Polska criticises the Polish governments since 2004 for wasting so much time. "The [last three] governments under Marek Belka, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczynski respectively failed to come up with a restructuring programme for the shipbuilding industry that could meet Brussels' expectations. ... And only just as the offices of the European Commission were closing did the respective documents submitted by [Donald] Tusk's government arrive. ... Is it normal that the date on a postmark decides whether ships will be built in Gdynia, Gdansk and Szczecin? Unfortunately, yes. Practically everything is done in the last minute. In the game about Poland's shipbuilding industry what matters are not the billions in contracts or the thousands of jobs, but who is in power. What matters is whether the PiS [the nationalist conservative party] replaces the SLD people [the social democratic party] and then the PO [prime minister Donald Tusk's party] replaces the PiS. All this chaos only works to the benefit of the competition and private investors." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Economía política, » Polonia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Andrzej Godlewski

The Hungarian daily Népszava compares the strikes in the Czech Republic with the situation in Hungary: "It is an irony of fate that a centre-right government with only a slim parliamentary majority is in power in Prague. It is forced to perform the same kind of balancing act as [prime minister] Ferenc Gyurcsány's socialist minority government here in Hungary. ... The Czech government has made an incredible mess of preparing the way for the reform package. It, too, failed to consult the doctors regarding what they think about the health service reform. And on top of that it has done virtually nothing to explain the individual steps of the reform to the people - exactly the same as was the case here in Hungary. ... In the Czech Republic the reforms have led to a decline in the government's popularity. If elections were held today, the opposition Social Democrats [CSSD] would gain a lead of at least ten percentage points over the ruling Civic Democrats [ODS]. Nonetheless, it is necessary to implement unpopular measures to reduce the budget deficit. A little understanding for this would not be amiss. The same goes for us." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Salud, » Movimientos sociales, » Hungría, » La República Checa
Todos los textos disponible de » Tamás Rónay

Bulgaria's first "Gay Parade" will take place tomorrow. This has caused the Bulgarian National Alliance (BNS) to organise an "Intolerance Week". Dnevnik newspaper comments. "One should not expect a great street party. The parade invites people to 'Come have a look', but this sounds almost like 'Come take a punch'. The homosexuals will run up against the nationalists. We shall see how their interests clash, and how this 'Intolerance Week' wakes society up from its passive, narrow, formal and ethnicised tolerance. The event will certainly swing between social protest, party and police intervention. ... Finally, the parade will show the indifference that passes for tolerance and the hidden conformism and self-repression for what it is." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Minorías, » Bulgaria
Todos los textos disponible de » Stanimir Panajotow

According to the Dutch daily Trouw, the Dutch nation's Euro fatigue is also the consequence of the lacking interest shown by the media: "Television is adapted to short, individual events, brief quotes, moving images, emotions, simplification and the recognition factor. These are all characteristics that do not fit in with the EU. ... The EU is boring and sluggish, yet the visual media should still assume their responsibility and seek to counter this with creativity. Naturally, television producers are afraid of losing their viewers. Even for the public broadcasters viewers have top priority. And yet they should at least cover important news about the EU. ... News programmes must be made more creative and strive to make clear the impact of the complex legislation from Brussels. ... Why should an entire editorial department of 20 people in The Hague be covering the skirmish over Rita Verdonk's one-person-party while not a single person is covering Brussels' plans for the free market economy?" (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Medios de comunicación audiovisuales, » Holanda, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Ardy Stemerding

The Romanian parliament in Bucharest has voted in favour of a draft law which requires that news programmes broadcast on television and radio contain positive and negative news in equal amounts. For the newspaper Romania Libera this is bad news: "It is an insult to media consumers that they believe the vigilant arm of the law can protect us against 'bad' news. Bad for whom? For society? For an oligarch? Professionally produced news reflects reality - unadorned. We had news that was only good or very good in communist times. ... To manipulate the media via a law that aims to produce an ideal balance between good and bad would be the worst news for a democratic society." (27/06/2008)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de los medios de comunicación, » Rumania
Todos los textos disponible de » Iosif Klein Medesan