Nicolas Sarkozy stands little chance of being re-elected, nevertheless he has done more than many are willing to admit, writes the conservative daily The Times: "Compared with his record outside Europe, Mr Sarkozy's leadership in the Eurozone crisis has been less impressive. But he is credited with pushing Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, farther and faster towards a solution and his calls for stronger intervention by the European Central Bank were heeded. At the same time, he has been prepared to make politically difficult compromises to keep the process edging forwards. Mr Sarkozy has been a strong advocate of the market liberalisation that the French economy desperately needs, although his achievements have not always quite lived up to the rhetoric. ... For all his flaws then, Mr Sarkozy would be a loss from the world stage. But if he is going to avoid that fate, he will have to pull off one last great campaign." (16/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Wybory, » Francja

Nicolas Sarkozy got off to a good start as French president but has seen his profile and public esteem diminish considerably in the course of the crisis, writes the conservative daily Lidové noviny: "Sarkozy quickly fulfilled his promises. He prevented the unions from paralysing the country, limited the privileges of the civil servants and railway employees and led France back into Nato. But in the financial crisis the courageous reform president became a realpolitker. ... As the French economy lost strength he handed over leadership to the German chancellor. He gave his approval for the fiscal compact after calling it an unacceptable encroachment on French sovereignty just days before. Today, for the majority of the population he is a president of decline. Symbolic of this decline are the loss of France's top credit rating and the loss of clout to Germany." (16/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Wybory, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Lenka Zlámalová

In the campaign for the French presidency both candidates should be clear about the fact that it's Germany that calls the shots in Europe, the left-liberal daily El País observes: "The economic and financial crisis affecting part of Europe is changing the rules of domestic politics and forcing even Paris to recognise that notwithstanding France's fondness of casting itself in the most flattering role, the one who calls the tune is Ms. Merkel. And the candidates should bear this in mind. … Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande share the same obsession: Germany. But for now Hollande is presenting himself as the stronger option vis-à-vis the Chancellor. Since he has no miracle solution to the Eurozone crisis at hand, the Socialist candidate is vowing left, right and centre that with him at the helm the situation would change; that he will compel Ms. Merkel to renegotiate the fiscal compact she has just foisted on her partners." (14/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Wybory, » Niemcy, » Francja
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

According to recent polls, the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy is clearly trailing behind his Socialist challenger François Hollande, who as things stand now can expect to win 57 percent of the vote in the second round of the French presidential elections. Tough times lie ahead for President Sarkozy, writes the online business paper La Tribune: "The president himself knows that his track record won't particularly help him make up for his considerable lag behind his Socialist rival in the first and especially in the second round of the elections. ... Is the president and candidate of 2012 capable of recovering the esteem of a country deeply worried about rising unemployment and many other risks? That is the big question in the days ahead. Nicolas Sarkozy has two months to 'turn the tables' and transform from a hyperpresident into a hypercandidate. ... A candidate yes, but to do what? What he was unable or unwilling to do while he was in power?" (16/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Wybory, » Polityka, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Philippe Mabille

Germany's Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble on Wednesday called on Greece to provide guarantees that the country will abide by its promises to enact reforms even after the parliamentary elections planned for April. President Karolos Papoulias rejected this as an insult. The business paper Il Sole 24 Ore supports Schäuble's initiative: "Instead of interfering with Greek democracy behind the scenes it actually makes better sense to openly and clearly demand that the major parties form a grand coalition under the leadership of current Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has done. Moreover the reliability of the parties is compromised by the fact that the troika's recovery programme has failed to provide the hoped for improvement. The creditors will have to waive the interest on their loans if they don't want Athens to go bankrupt. So under such conditions is it really inappropriate interference on the part of the partner countries to propose that Athens form a grand coalition or a technocrat government?" (16/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka finansowa, » Wybory, » Grecja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Carlo Bastasin

The conservative business paper Naftemporiki firmly rejects the demands of several Eurozone countries that Greek politicians be obliged to pursue a stringent austerity programme, as well as other attempts to interfere with the democratic processes in Greece: "Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti is another European who has stated his opinion on the political situation in Greece. He indirectly rejected the idea of early elections and advocated the formation of an Italian-style government of technocrats. … The catastrophic mistakes we have made in accumulating debt and attempting to overcome the debt crisis are well known. But at least as regards democracy, we have no creditors but many debtors. We are talking about an 'asset' that was created in this country thousands of years ago, the fundamental components of which have been generously distributed across the globe." (16/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, grecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Polityka finansowa, » Niemcy, » Grecja, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Nikos Frantzis
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

The left-liberal weekly Der Falter has published several confidential protocols from the Ministry of Justice concerning the case of former finance minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, who is implicated in numerous corruption scandals. The weekly calls for a more professional approach to dealing with economic crime: "In Switzerland the economic crimes prosecution office in Bern also employs financial experts who work closely with the police. But Austria is still bumbling about, and our prosecutors have to teach themselves to read financial statements. ... What must change? Austria needs a federal office for economic crimes, a highly professional team of experts who understand economic dealings, benefit from a first-class international network and cooperate with politically independent economic prosecutors. Why has so much time passed without such a body being established? Because Austria's political and economic elite has no real interest in putting itself or its practices at risk." (16/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Przestępczość, » Sądownictwo, » Austria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Florian Klenk

The protests against the Acta anti-counterfeiting agreement have triggered a global debate about Internet piracy. In the daily newspaper Público, Princeton professor of bioethics Peter Singer suggests the piracy problem could be solved by charging low fees for downloads: "One marvel of the Internet is that some of my older works, long out of print, are now far more widely available than they ever were before - in pirated versions. Of course, I am more fortunate than many authors or creative artists, because my academic salary means that I am not forced to rely on royalties to feed my family. Nevertheless, it isn't hard to find better purposes for my royalty earnings than Kim Dotcom's environmentally damaging lifestyle. We need to find a way to maximize the truly amazing potential of the Internet, while properly rewarding creators. ... A user fee could pay for it, and, if the fee were low enough, the incentive to use pirated copies would diminish. Couple that with law enforcement against the mega-abusing Web sites, and the problem might be soluble. Otherwise, most creative people will need to earn a living doing something else, and we will all be the losers." (15/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, portugalski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Media internetowe, » Polityka medialna, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Peter Singer

According to preliminary estimates by the statistics office Eurostat, the Eurozone's fourth-quarter GDP in 2011 declined by 0.3 percent year on year. But although this decrease is less than expected the euro crisis is far from over, writes the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita: "Does that mean that as ever the analysts have exaggerated with their doom and gloom prognoses? It should be recalled that none of the problems lying at the heart of the crisis have been solved. The spectre of a Greek bankruptcy still haunts the markets, and talk is growing ever louder that Portugal will soon follow suit. In addition there has been no progress to speak of in the economies of Italy or Spain. The mountains of debt that have increased with every passing year of crisis can't be eliminated all that easily - not even with radical austerity programmes." (16/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, polski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » gospodarka, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Waldemar Grzegorczyk
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

The EU aims to counter economic imbalances with the fiscal pact passed on January 31 at its Brussels summit. But the pact is tailored solely to German requirements, Jens Berger points out in the blog Nachdenkseiten: "Why, for example, does a negative net external asset position amounting to more than 35 percent of a country's GDP represent an imbalance, while there is no limit whatsoever on positive external assets? … States like Germany with positive external asset positions are without doubt hugely dependent on economic developments in countries with negative external asset positions. If there's trouble there, the Germans might as well write off part of their claims and assets abroad, which would naturally have a negative impact on the German economy. … Europe has been told to become more German. But who is supposed to buy all the German exports if Europe becomes more German and its people have less and less money in their pockets?" (16/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Europa, » Azja Środkowa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jens Berger
Aktualne debaty » Sposoby na wyjście z kryzysu zadłużenia

The EU Commission wants to place under observation twelve EU countries where economic imbalances have been detected, EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn announced on Tuesday. Bulgaria was singled out among other things on account of its 30-percent rise in labour costs over the past four years. But Bulgarians earn on average just 350 euros a month, the daily Sega reminds him: "Olli Rehn's monthly salary, by contrast, is 22,122 euros, or 737 euros a day. What the average Bulgarian earns in a month wouldn't finance him through to lunch. The salaries of the eurocrats are perfectly in order because rather than increasing erratically, they've gone up regularly in line with EU regulations. ... The Bulgarians, by contrast, are very underpaid, but no one in Brussels is paying too much attention to this social injustice. The main priority is that the EU limit of a four-percent rise in labour costs is not exceeded. Even if that condemns the Bulgarians to eternal poverty, because unlike with salaries, there's no cap on inflation and the cost of living. So anyone who thought that entering the club of the rich would bring the Bulgarians prosperity and European living standards should think again." (15/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, bułgarski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rozszerzenie UE, » Polityka UE, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Europa, » Bułgaria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Svetoslav Tersiev

In Sweden roughly 170 children and youths have fallen ill with narcolepsy following the mass vaccinations against swine flu in 2009. According to the statistics of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) mortality rates in Sweden as a result of the disease were almost exactly as high as in countries where little to no vaccination was carried out. The liberal daily Göteborgs Posten urges a more carefully considered approach: "The vaccination was voluntary; certainly, each individual bears personal responsibility for his own actions, but we should not forget the power of collective psychology. … It would have been better to first vaccinate the risk groups and then offer the vaccination to anyone else who wanted it for a fee. This would likely have calmed the panic and led to a more genuinely voluntary response. … In the aftermath of the vaccination campaign the big issue for those affected [by narcolepsy] is damages. But what is really needed now is for politics and the press to undertake a thorough and self-critical assessment of their own conduct." (16/02/2012)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Zdrowie, » Szwecja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Abraham Staifo

The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions, SAK, signalled its agreement with plans to raise the retirement age to 65 a few days ago. The pension issue without doubt presents a major challenge, but before it is settled a few questions regarding working conditions need to be answered, writes the left-leaning daily Kansan Uutiset: "Right now no one can say with any certainty which agreements need to be reached to ensure that pensions remain at decent levels in the future. However it's obvious that at some point the money will run out and the pensions of the younger generations will sink if we continue on the current course. … So the SAK is now prepared to think about alternatives - but not under coercion. The top priority is to adopt measures that ensure that people have the energy to work for a long time, and feel comfortable with their work."    (15/02/2012)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, fiński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » społeczeństwo, » Finlandia