The business daily is sceptical about the scope for action enjoyed by countries in the euro zone. "[It is pointless] to think that the 13 countries can single-handedly tame the international markets and secure an exchange rate better suited to their economic needs. ... The rise of the euro is the consequence of factors over which Brussels and Frankfurt have no control, like the USA's current account deficit or the irresponsibility and selfishness of Beijing and Tokyo in obstinately undervaluing their currencies. These issues must be addressed in a concerted manner on the international stage. The first opportunity will be the G7 summit next week. Europe, and particularly the euro zone, must approach it with a clear, hard-hitting message that calls for the world's main currencies to strike new balance." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka gospodarcza, » Europa

In an interview with William Moray, Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, director of the France-based Centre for Futures Studies and International Information (CEPII), talks about fallout from the strong euro. "Petrol would cost much more with a weak euro insofar as we buy it in dollars. Conversely, the major drawback of the strong euro is that companies become less competitive on export markets. France has a particularly large balance of payments deficit, which explains our leaders' determination to push for a weaker euro. ... If the Euro Area countries managed to agree and speak and with one voice, they would have an impact on our partners. But I doubt whether that would be enough. I feel, for example, that it would particularly difficult to convince Tokyo to revalue the yen. Especially as it is not in Japan's interest to do so, with its inflation rate so low." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Francja, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, » William Moray

Klaus Georg Koch points out that there is no such thing as "the euro exchange rate" because the rate of exchange with the dollar determines only a certain proportion of the trading. "If you want a more precise estimate of the impact of the euro's exchange rate on exports from euro zone countries, you have take into account the weighted average of exchange rates with the different trading partners, and such an analysis will reveal several surprises. For different reasons some currencies like the US dollar, the Japanese yen and the South African rand have depreciated against the euro. The Russian rouble and the Swiss franc have also gone down slightly. Other currencies like the Swedish crown, the Danish crown and the Australian dollar have remained stable against the euro over the past few years. And then there are those that have gained in value like the Norwegian, the Czech and the Slovak crown. Turkey's currency is also on the up. Therefore there can be no talk of a general upvaluation of the euro." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Niemcy, » Francja, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Klaus-Georg Koch

The election campaign in Switzerland prompts Joseph Hanimann to reflect on how the populism of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and its top candidate Christoph Blocher differs from that of other countries: "While populism in other European countries appears rigid, belligerent, bitter and vulgar, the populism of Christoph Blocher and his SVP has a surprisingly professional and rational air about it that makes it particularly disturbing... Unlike Le Pen's Front National in France or the northern Italian or Flemish regionalists, the Polish nationalists or Haider's liberal patriots and other fundamentalist European movements against globalisation, the SVP has no need for aggressive slogans, deliberate provocations or sacred principles and instead always sounds somewhat too low-key. And precisely this quality makes it more audible than its sister parties and prompts moderate reactions even from its opponents in the name of common sense." (09/10/2007)

» Strona www (Link zewnętrzny, Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Ruchy społeczne, » Szwajcaria, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Joseph Hanimann

On the anniversary of the death of Ché Guevara, Johann Hari writes against his lingering status as a revolutionary icon. "The myth of Ché Guevara is seductive and lush. It's the story of an Argentinean rich-boy who was so shocked by poverty he became a Robin Hood fighting alongside the poor, until eventually he was murdered by the CIA. But the reality of Ché Guevara is very different. The facts show that he was a totalitarian with a messiah streak, who openly wanted to impose Maoist tyranny on the world. ... None of these facts are seriously disputed by historians; they are simply skidded over by Ché's defenders, who stick to romantic generalities about how he stood for 'honesty' and 'revolution'. But Ché Guevara is not a free-floating icon of rebellion. He was an actual person who supported an actual system of tyranny, one that murdered millions more actual people." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Ruchy społeczne, » Historia, » Ameryka Łacińska
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Johann Hari

The case of Arigona Zogaj, a 15-year-old Kosovar girl who has gone into hiding to escape deportation, has triggered vigorous debate in Austria. The Zogaj family has been living in Frankenburg for five years and is well integrated into Austrian society. Alexandra Föderl-Schmidt criticises Austria's asylum and residence law, which, unlike that of other countries in Europe, makes no provision for illegal refugees: "Austria needs to accept that it too is a country of immigration, and that people come to live and work here. Those who are integrated should be allowed to continue living here regardless of the reasons for which they came. Austria can afford to grant amnesty to the 3,000 people or so living with families here and under threat of deportation. Such figures wouldn't upset the system or destabilise the constitutional state or the minister of the interior." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, niemiecki)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Migracja, » Integracja, » Mniejszości, » Austria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Alexandra Föderl-Schmid

Martin Kala fears the rise of populism in several European member states could hinder the adoption of the EU reform treaty this autumn. "Populist politicians convey the impression that Europe is an elite club. Nationalist slogans, protectionist measures and widespread distrust are gaining ground. In some member states, the message is increasingly that the focus should be more on the nation's own interests and the 'true concerns of the people'. What kind of message have the Polish leaders sent to Brussels in recent times? Only that its people are primarily concerned about the future of Poland rather than that of Europe." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, estoński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polska, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Martin Kala

Two-thirds of those arrested for criminal offences in Rome since the beginning of the year are Romanian citizens. The mayor of Rome has now declared war on the Romanians in his city, while the Italian parliament is discussing the reintroduction of the visa requirement. Bogdan Chirieac is appalled: "The obsession of certain Italian politicians and the press with seeing all Romanians as criminals is in no way compatible with the spirit and values of the EU. There are currently two million Romanians living in Italy, the majority of whom work hard to maintain themselves and their families. The newspapers of the Italian Peninsula are full of reports about Romanian gypsies allegedly committing terrible crimes. ... But convictions and mass deportations won't solve the problem. ... Since the visa requirement was abolished for Romanian citizens on January 1, 2002, the Romanian Roma have become a pan-European problem." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rozszerzenie UE, » Polityka UE, » Rumunia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Bogdan Chirieac

The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to three scientists on Monday, October 8th, among them Britain's Sir Martin Evans, for developing genetic stem cell research methods. The daily hails Dr Evans' pioneering research that promises both medical progress and ethical dilemma. "On a practical level, Sir Martin's work has established the notion of the mouse, most of whose DNA is identical to humans', as a viable test bed for human genetic research. It has also provided the basis for a huge leap forward in our understanding of disease and cellular development. It is hardly surprising that he has spent his career at the forefront of ethics as well as science. He has forced us to confront new questions not only about stem cells as the building blocks of human life, but also about laboratory animals as means towards improving human life." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, angielski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Zdrowie, » Nauka/ Badania naukowe, » Wielka Brytania

The Spanish daily takes a fresh look at the arrest on Thursday, October 4th of 23 alleged leaders of the banned political party Batasuna, the political wing of the Basque separatist group ETA. "Why did the arrests take place now and not sooner? The party's leaders could have been captured at earlier secret meetings. Even [high-profile anti-terrorist] judge Garzón said that surveillance had been going on for over one year. ... Yet the three years without assassination suggested that Batasuna could play a role in bringing ETA leaders to peace. ... We then saw that it was not possible, but it was logical to harbour doubt as long as the truce lasted. And it was also logical that during the same period the law should be applied more flexibly. ... Things are different now that Batasuna's leaders meet to back and justify a new spate of violence announced by ETA." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, hiszpański)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Hiszpania

Teachers in Bulgaria are striking for better payment and better schools. Rumen Petrov concludes that without school reforms there can be no major changes within Bulgarian society: "This is because interpersonal relationships are based on false foundations which favour only the totalitarian paradigm. There is no modern vision for schools. They have no influence over society. They also lack possibilities for self-administration, as well as skilled personnel and teaching methods based on the principles of cooperation, tolerance and support." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, bułgarski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Bułgaria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Rumen Petrov

In an interview with Riccardo Barenghi, the left-leaning Italian journalist Michele Santoro, who comperes a controversial programme on a public TV channel, says that he thinks "Prodi and Berlusconi are the same when it comes to the media. The only difference between them is that in his time Berlusconi had my show stopped. ... I am now back on air and this time it is Prodi who cannot tolerate freedom of information. ... He attacked my show, describing it as 'non-professionnal', while admitting that he had not seen it. I think that such an attitude is very serious coming from the prime minister. ... We are up to our necks in what I call the sickness of the democratic system. Politicians on the right and on the left cannot come to terms with the idea of a free media that acts as a counterweight to political power." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, włoski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Włochy
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Riccardo Barenghi, » Michele Santoro

"Is Francophone theatre a ghetto or a creative space where aid has enabled artists to develop their work in favourable conditions? The question once again raised its head as the 24th Francophonies festival [which celebrates French-language artists who are not French nationals] in the Limousin region in western France came to a close. Since it was created in 1984 the festival has been a forum for all kinds of debate", stresses Fabienne Darge who quotes the playwrights Wajdi Mouawad (Lebanese-born and living in Québec) and Koffi Kwahulé (an Ivoirian based in Paris). "Being locked in the ghetto of Francophone authors is no longer bearable, they assert. For years, when we took our work to theatre producers they steered us towards the TILF [the former name for a Francophone theatre in the Villette area of Paris] or Limoges [the city where the Francophonies festival is held] ... There were playwrights who wrote in French and those who wrote in Francophone and were supposed to stay where they belonged." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Literatura, » Scena, » Francja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Fabienne Darge

Josée Zeimes describes the cross-border drama festival Total Theatre, which opened with a play entitled 'Now here and nowhere'. The characters speak several languages - German, French, English, and Luxembourgish. "In one significant scene two women are talking, one in French, the other in German. Although they do not understand each other's language, they understand the emotion conveyed. A language not only serves to communicate through words, it also comes to life in the expression of feelings. ... Yet language comes up against boundaries and contributes to identity, as do other factors. In the end the characters in the play miss each other. They dance round in the same endless circle: they remain foreign to each other and, above all, to themselves. [It is] an unusual play about the multilinguistic Luxembourger identity." (04/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, francuski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Scena, » Luksemburg
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Josée Zeimes

100 volunteers planted 10,000 seedlings in the Romanian mountains last week. Dragos Bucurenci welcomes the battle against deforestation: "Romania's timber industry in is in the hands of Romsilva, the country's largest timber trader which at the same time administrates the forest stand. This represents a massive conflict of interests. Normally one would have a governmental forestry commission to control the number of trees felled, and companies that were obliged to work under the supervision of this authority. There are plans for setting up this kind of control for forests classified as nature reserves, but unfortunately the foreseen measures are totally inadequate. ... We are all to blame for failing to act. Every time we go on a picnic we should take seedlings along and plant them - then we could hope for a future with fresh air. If we continue to wait until the state takes action, the green lung will further deteriorate and our own lungs will also suffer." (09/10/2007)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, rumuński)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Środowisko, » Rumunia
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Dragos Bucurenci