Jean-Pierre Denis, chief editor of the weekly, reminds us that "it is because our continent was fatally wounded that it created the union, a utopian gesture, an impossible bet waged against the selfishness of civilisations in the name of their very own interests. Despite this, Europe has rarely loved itself and if until now it has always known how to project itself into the future it has done so jerkily and with wobbly compromises, empty chair policy and botched summits. Now that, for the first time in History, nations are willingly sharing their sovereignty, this laborious audacity, this mixture of stasis and big strides is becoming wearying. In a way, Europe is doing so well that this doesn't show anymore. It need only turn to other projects now." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jean-Pierre Denis

"Fifty years represent so little on the scale of History", comments the chronicler Jacques Pilet. "And yet it took less than this half-century for Europe to lead a radical Copernical Revolution: a change from a confrontation of nations to a union of nations, by sheer force of reason. ... If Europe's founding fathers of fifty years ago were to come back, they would smile at our torment regarding the failure of the Constitution and even at the quarrelling over the Union's boundaries. They would applaud the success of the edifice. They would believe in its necessity in the new century. And they would delight in seeing Europeans travelling more than ever before in their history, from one town to another, seized by a thirst for culture and pleasure. 'Emotion counts as well as reason', we were wont to say. There are poisonous emotions that make us shrink away, but beautiful ones too, that urge us forward." (15/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jacques Pilet

March 25th is an "anti-constitution day of remembrance", writes legal expert Christoph Müllers ironically in his guest commentary. In their Berlin declaration honouring the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the EU heads of state won't even mention the constitution. According to Müllers, this should prompt us to reflect on the failure of the project once more. "The content of the draft constitution was good, but certainly not revolutionary. It dealt with institutional improvements which wouldn't really reshape the interaction between member states and societies... But why should the umpteenth redraft of the European treaties suddenly be referred to as a constitution, or in other words be given a title we associate with the democratic and revolutionary act of founding an institution?" (16/03/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Europa

"We have become preoccupied with external borders, when the true concern of citizens across Europe is the internal divisions - the social boundaries that have created immigrant ghettoes, windy cavernous no-go areas on the fringes of our cities", writes the journalist Roger Boyes, "The European Union, to be worthy of its name, needs to become more active in its minority policies; it has to target urban youth. This is not, obviously, the only challenge facing Europe, but it does help order the priorities. If the EU is to assert its political primacy (indeed, if it is to survive another 50 years), it has to build on the principle of intercommunal and international solidarity. We don't all have to develop at the same speed, or even march in step, but we have to prevent a situation where there are more losers than winners within the EU. Everything else - a credible European foreign policy, further expansion, an intelligent use of resources - follows from that sense of social cohesion." (19/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Roger Boyes

Commenting on the European plan to create a manual of common history, the Spanish historian Julian Casanova wonders what such a work might be like. "Of course Europe was never a territory free from violence before 1914 or after 1945, but it happens that the events that gave this period such an exceptional character have left particular traces. ... The examination of this complex past requires a critical vision that cannot accommodate a version of History aimed at highlighting certain points held in common. Politicians and governments may well stimulate consensus and common culture, by selecting events from the past, concealing what displeases them. But that is not what history is. This is why recent debate on traumatic periods, whether concerning victims of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship, Soviet Gulags or the Stasi in the former German Democratic Republic is still dividing the societies concerns." (15/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Historia, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Julián Casanova

What's worse, communism or capitalism? Paris-based Romanian author Matei Visniec talked to a French communist about the different views in East and West. "Our communists are very different to your communists..., my French friend told me... I, on the other hand, can't even utter the word 'communism' without shuddering with fear... The hangmen of the former communist states often got away with their lives - some even died peacefully in their beds. No international court was set up after the fall of communism to bring these people to trial... At this point my friend got angry. And what about the victims of capitalism, he asked me. Did anyone ever count them? Capitalism, which systematically turns people into animals and citizens into consumers and replaces people's souls with an obsession for money. Don't the victims of capitalism and colonialism also crave justice?" (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Historia, » Filozofia, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Matéi Visniec

The EU is being weakened by France's struggle for power, observes Hungarian-French political expert Péter Kende in an interview with Júlia Vásárhelyi. "In the global race France has pinned its hopes on Brussels in order to preserve its role of counterbalance to the last remaining superpower, the US. This isn't working because up to now political unity within Europe has been defeated by the member states' distrust of each other. France shares this distrust and is even partially responsible for it. The fact that two EU member states are permanent members of the UN Security Council leaves no room for a united Europe, because France and Great Britain refuse to give up their votes in favour of the EU. Since reunification, Germany has overtaken these two countries both economically and politically. After years in quarantine Germany has returned to the world stage, and the French are desperate because their efforts to win back their old influence within Europe are failing." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Péter Kende

Thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany yesterday, which was National Day in Hungary. Viktor Orbán, leader of the opposition alliance Fidesz, accuses Gyurcsany of democratic failings. According to György Bugyinszki, Orbán himself is breaching democratic principles with his efforts to change the government programme through a series of referendums and to incite the people to violence, as well as by failing to distance himself clearly from right-wing extremist groups: "Viktor Orbán claims the people have the right to topple the government. If the government doesn't step down voluntarily after the referendums, according to Orbán it must flee the country. What does he mean by this? The protest campaigns of the opposition had nothing to do with the mob loudly proclaiming Nazi slogans, but yet again the opposition failed to distance itself from that mob." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, węgierski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Węgry
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » György Bugyinszki

In the run-up to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's two-day visit to Poland, the newspaper's Berlin correspondent, Piotr Cywinski, says the way Merkel deals with Russia will be the acid test for German-Polish relations. "Merkel insists on keeping up her painstaking balancing act. On the one hand she defends Germany's interests, because the pipeline is a lucrative deal. On the other, she doesn't regard Putin as a 'perfect democrat' and can see what direction things are taking in Russia. Before the elections in 2005 the chancellor announced the snuggling up with Russia would be replaced by objective dialogue and that Poland's interests would be taken into account. Now she has the chance to prove this. The way the energy supply problem is dealt with and Germany's stance in the disputes with Russia, which is constantly trying to play the partners of the Union off against each other, will determine whether there can be a genuine partnership between Germany and Poland." (15/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, polski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Rozszerzenie UE, » Niemcy, » Polska, » Rosja

The daily considers that the lustration process launched in Poland on March 15th is a "witch hunt" with authorities asking hundreds of thousands of Poles if they collaborated with former Communist secret services. "This measure, the first of its kind, goes against European doctrine in matters of human rights and against the respect of individual freedom present in all democratic systems. This is the latest chapter of an anti-communist and nationalist crusade launched by the extreme right-wing party Law and Justice (PiS), serving the Kaczynski brothers, a hub of the worst xenophobic tradition in Eastern Europe. ... These absurdities are clearly embarrassing the EU. The time has perhaps come to give Poland the same treatment that Austria was given [in 2000] when it was being run by the Christian-Democrats and the extremist Jörg Haider, in order to cool down its fervour." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Historia, » Polska, » Europa

Carlos Zorrinho, Portuguese co-ordinator for the Lisbon Agenda, would like to see an ambitious Portuguese presidency of the EU in the second term of 2007. "Portugal was not one of the founding countries of the EU and does not carry significant economic or demographic weight. Its strategic potential for the EU is nonetheless much greater than a cold analysis of the country would have us believe. ... [Portugal can be] part of the solution for European problems, as was the case in 2000, when our country gave a strong impetus to the EU with the Lisbon Agenda, the European answer to the challenges of globalisation. ... The world is once again going through a period of transition and strategic re-balancing. A crucial country with privileged relations with European partners, but also with the United States, Africa and emerging powers, it can offer an important contribution to less strained international relations with the EU, affirming itself as a reference of tolerance and assertion". (16/03/2007)

» Dalsze informacje (Link zewnętrzny, portugalski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka UE, » Portugalia, » Europa

"Can impressionism be reinvented?" wonders Jackie Wullschlager, the daily's chief art editor, as the work of two impressionists goes on show in London this March 17th. "The late 20th century golden age of the global block-buster, fixed the heavyweights Monet, Degas, Cézanne et all for a generation on both sides of the Atlantic. Such overarching historical inclusiveness will never, in our times of rocketing art prices, cash-strapped museums and terrorist panic, be equalled. So the early 21st century is delivering something else: the tangential , unexpected scholarly coda that refines the edges and attacks the fringes of these great reputations, flattering as it does so today's more sophisticated audiences with ripples of transformation and provocation, and promises of rarity in well-trodden terrain. The National Gallery's current display of Renoir landscapes is one such success. Yet more surprising and audacious is the Royal Academy's move in The Unknown Monet to reposition impressionism's virtuosos of spontaneity as a draughtsman and pastelist who worked on paper to prepare, explore and anticipate ideas and techniques on canvas." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Wystawy / Muzea, » Sztuki piękne, » Wielka Brytania
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Jackie Wullschlager

The Palais des Beaux-Arts and the architecture magazine 'A+' asked a selection of architects from around the world to think about the future of urban planning in Brussels as capital of the EU. Guy Duplat presents their conclusions. "The construction, without any real guiding vision, of a European stronghold, in a neighbourhood where inhabitants were banished from their homes which were in turn demolished, is a catastrophe. And the authors of this study want to change this radically. In order to mark this change, they want to perform a highly symbolic act: mow down [the Brussels branch of] the European Parliament, which for them characterises all urban and architectural horror. This act of demolition would be an 'event' destined to heal, so they say, the 'trauma' of the European neighbourhood. ... He intends to get the European presence in Brussels out of its isolation by creating public sites that, for the first time, would throw a bridge between European inhabitants and institutions." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Architektura / Miasta, » Belgia, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Guy Duplat

In 1932, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler was made a German citizen in Braunschweig (today Lower Saxony) so that he could run for public office. At the time, naturalisation was dealt with by the Länder. Now the SPD faction in Lower Saxony's regional parliament wants Hitler to be denaturalised. Burkhard Müller-Ullrich asks: "If Hitler wasn't German then what was he? The Austrians don't want him. Does this mean it was a stateless person who plunged the world into suffering, a nobody for whom nobody feels responsible?... If Hitler wasn't a German then we needn't feel responsible for what he did! So if the back-flip with his citizenship works out, it could be argued that since Hitler wasn't a German he couldn't be elected as Chancellor of the Reich. The Third Reich never happened. The Holocaust was a legal error. National Socialism was simply null and void." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Historia, » Niemcy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Burkhard Müller-Ullrich

Paul Jandl expresses his concern about the survival of Austrian German in Europe. "The world of Europe is multi-centred, but so is the German language. In it, Austrian High German, as well as Swiss High German, are not secondary phenomena. At least that's what philologists say. But try telling that to Europeans. Only slowly did Austria find its way back to its language after the Second World War." Jandl describes how Austrian German can sometimes cause problems in EU committees: "An Austrian official's announcement that illegal border crossers had been 'betreten' (kicked) caused a commotion at an EU plenary session. A tumultuous half hour ensued because there were fears that in Austria human rights were literally being trampled on. Eventually the misunderstanding was cleared up: in Austria if someone is 'betreten' it means he's caught in the act." (16/03/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Styl życia, » Austria, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Paul Jandl