Corriere della Sera sees the problems Irish budget airline Ryanair is facing as the end of the "dream of flying for a euro.".The European Commission's decision to include domestic European flights in the emissions trading programme will deal cheap airlines the final blow: "The low-cost era has come to an end; rising prices will bring budget airlines to their knees. Since the beginning of the year 24 budget airlines have gone bankrupt and the remaining airlines have drastically cut down their routes. ... In sum: fares will no longer be as 'low', expansion projects will collapse, airlines will close down or be bought up by more stable companies. ... The death blow will come from the EU: from 2012 on civilian air services will be added to the list of traffic sectors that must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions. This will cost airlines around three billion euros and means certain death for budget airlines." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Energia, » Infrastruktura / Komunikacja, » Przedsiębiorczość, » Turystyka, » Europa, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Danilo Taino

The Times takes a nostalgic look at the achievements of cheap air travel: "The advent of budget carriers, which ferried 45 million Britons around Europe last year, has done more to build friendship and understanding between nations than any grandiose EU project. No-frills carriers have opened up Europe, by enabling more people to fly more often, and by putting entire regions on the tourist map for the first time. ... By filling almost every seat, and using more modern aircraft, budget airlines are arguably less polluting per passenger mile than legacy carriers. ... Sadly, there is no way around the fact that higher fares are needed to make air travel better reflect its environmental cost." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Energia, » Infrastruktura / Komunikacja, » Rynek konsumencki, » Turystyka, » Europa

The business newspaper Financial Times Deutschland is predicting tough competition among budget airlines amid falling profits: "Given the gloomy economic prospects in Britain, Ireland and other European countries Ryanair .. can no longer rely on low-earners regularly booking weekend breaks. Both Ryanair director O'Leary and Ryanair's competitors like Easyjet will thus have to find an answer to the question of how to increase passenger numbers in the face of escalating costs and higher ticket prices in a pretty much saturated market if they are to keep  investors sweet.  ... But unlike Air Berlin it is not a make or break situation for Ryanair despite the sobering prospects. ... If the high price of kerosine propels a consolidation of the market Ryanair will be a potential buyer, while Air Berlin already looks like a candidate for a take-over. The days when you could fly to half Europe's destinations for 19.99 euros are over. Anyone who constructed his business model on that assumption now needs more than a good showman at the top." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Energia, » Infrastruktura / Komunikacja, » Przedsiębiorczość, » Rynek konsumencki, » Turystyka, » Europa

The Turkish constitutional court yesterday began its consultations over a ban on the governing AKP party. The liberal newspaper Sme thinks the fears that the AKP will Islamise Turkey are exaggerated: "Turkey has never been a secular society in the Western sense of the word. The dominant Sunni Muslims have always had a major influence, indirectly on the state as well, illustrated, for example, by the curtailing of the rights of members of other religions. Not only those of Christians but also those of the Shiite Alevites who make up a quarter of the population. ... Even after a degree of re-Islamisation Turkey would still be a relatively democratic state with which the West could cooperate. A different question is whether a Turkey of this kind, in which there might be even less religious freedom, rights for minorities and freedom of opinion, would be able to become a member of the EU." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Rozszerzenie UE, » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Religia, » Europa, » Turcja
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Peter Morvay

A few days ago the ruling British Labour Party lost its traditionally strong seat Glasgow East in a by-election. Le Monde believes the crisis in the British government is conditioned both by the economic situation and by Gordon Brown himself: "The electoral defeat that Labour suffered in Glasgow East is simply another blow to the British prime minister. ... Months go past and the austere Gordon Brown suffers ever more setbacks. ... He is now even considered to be a liability in an election. ... When he came to power in June 2007 the new prime minister inherited an economic and social situation that was much more fragile than people thought. Blair's golden decade has given way to a recession marked by a grave crisis on the property market, rising inflation and increasing problems with the state budget. ... Yet the figure of Gordon Brown is still central to understanding the extent of the crisis. ... In words that are less than complimentary the British press has drawn a portrait of a statesman who can neither lead, nor delegate nor communicate. That is a lot of faults for someone holding a post where the ability to lead and a desire to convince others are crucial." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Wielka Brytania

Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitri Rogozin has proposed a new security concept that would focus on pan-European institutions rather than NATO. "Russia's conduct is obviously paradoxical," writes El País commenting on the proposal. "On the one hand Moscow announces that the Cold War ... has come to an end. On the other it spares no expense on boosting a military power that goes far beyond what is necessary for defence purposes. ... It is arguable whether it is a good idea to expand NATO to include Georgia and Ukraine, as are the plans to set up a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic. But Russia has still not understood that all these countries are free to make their own independent decisions about how best to ... defend their security interests. Ultimately what lies behind these proposals ... is the old Russian desire to shape its relations with Europe to suit its own purposes ... [and] Europeans are quite right to refuse play this game." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » Rosja, » Europa

In La Libre Belgique the engineers Servais Pilate and André Payln come out in favour of nuclear power as a safe form of energy: "Nuclear energy offers very long-term prospects. If it is used properly, it constitutes an enormous energy reserve. If one goes on using the uranium that is in the reactors at the same levels as today the reserves will be used up in about 50 years, according to OECD figures. ... But if we were to use fast-neuron reactors, which have already been tested, these resources could be recycled and produce 60 to 100 times as much energy. In a world-wide research programme scientists are currently trying to design the reactors of tomorrow: fourth-generation reactors that are simultaneously economic, ecological and safe. The countries after Russia that are in the best position to build this kind of reactor are France, Britain, Japan, the United States and maybe soon China and India. Here there is enormous untapped energy potential. One can describe this energy source as virtually inexhaustible and there is still sufficient time to further develop other ways of producing energy like nuclear fusion." (28/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Środowisko, » Energia, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Servais Pilate, » André Payln

João Marques de Almeida, a member of the cabinet of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and international relations expert, compares in Diário Económico US President George W. Bush's foreign policy approach with that of US presidential candidate for the Democrats Barack Obama: "I cannot resist the temptation to draw comparisons between Bush's foreign policy and the statements of Barack Obama. There are the same warnings for Iran, the same support for Israel, the same goal for Iraq. ... And the same commitment to Afghanistan. But there are differences: Obama calls for Europe to increase its military engagement in Afghanistan - in his words: 'A mission like that of the USA'. Another difference is that everyone says 'no' to Bush and has no trouble doing so. In Germany 200,000 said 'yes' to Obama. Did they have any idea what they were supporting and what awaits us? Or are we heading for a fatal love affair? We will know by the beginning of next summer." (28/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka bezpieczeństwa / Kryzys / Wojna, » USA
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » João Marques Almeida de

Ireland has given up its plans to increase its use of bio-fuels nine-fold. The Irish Times welcomes the decision: "For some time now, it has been obvious that biofuels will not provide the anticipated panacea to cope with rising carbon emissions and global warming. The amount of land that would have to be cultivated to provide the necessary raw materials to meet EU targets represents a major impediment. But, more importantly, the knock-on effect on world food prices makes the exercise morally and economically suspect. The production of alternative fuels should not be allowed to contribute to growing hunger in developing countries. ... This is not to say that experimentation in the growth and development of biofuels should cease or that materials should not be recycled so as to minimise our dependence on oil. But there should be a clear recognition that the production of ethanol as an alternative transport fuel is not the answer to rising oil prices." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka wewnętrzna, » Środowisko, » Energia, » Irlandia, » Cały świat

Les Echos warns in its leader that if France continues to behave undiplomatically towards China it will suffer economically: "It is just a small signal and will perhaps never be officially confirmed. Beijing's mayor has decided ... to ban French investments on his territory for at least three months. ... There can be little doubt about the reason for this move: the storm that has shaken relations between the two countries since this spring has entered a new phase. ... The images of the clashes while the Olympic torch made its way through Paris and Nicolas Sarkozy's hesitance about attending the Olympic opening ceremony have deeply annoyed [the Chinese]. ... [France] will be the only country that is likely to suffer economically because of the political tensions. ... If French firms are put at a disadvantage it will mean that France has not played this game very skilfully." (28/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Sport, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Francja, » Chiny
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Dominique Seux

The EU has designated 2008 the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Among other things this move is aimed at promoting European identity. Večer is skeptical about the chances of achieving this goal. "Many different documents and meetings have been conceived under this leitmotiv even though it is difficult to decipher what exactly it means. Is it a new and practical cliché or a serious thesis and promising breakthrough in all the political documents of today's Europe? ... Studies have shown that culture barely figures in the EU's foreign policy. ... This is why the member countries have adopted a more subtle attitude to the cultural dimension of EU foreign policy in recent years. ... At the end of the year it will be interesting to see how many links have actually been forged this year between cultures and religions and whether unity in diversity has developed from a declaration on paper to take on a concrete form." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Polityka UE, » Polityka kulturalna, » Europa
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Melita Forstneric Hajnsek

The Polish government has failed in its attempt to reform Polish state radio. It did not manage to achieve the three-fifths majority in parliament required to overrule the veto of State President Lech Kaczyński. The Left-wing liberal newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza welcomes the defeat of the draft law: "A governing party should stay as far away as possible from public media organisations. Until now Premier Tusk seemed to have understood that. Although it is difficult to come to terms with the defeat in the Sejm [the Polish parliament] on Friday, exercising restraint in its influence on the public media can only be a good thing for the [governing party] the PO. In recent months the [conservative opposition and presidential party] PiS has introduced far more pluralism into radio and television than during its two years in government when they were a mouthpiece for a party and a channel for aggressively hounding the opposition." (28/07/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, polski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Media audiowizualne, » Polityka medialna, » Polska
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Marcin Wojciechowski

The British government plans to combat illegal downloading of music titles from the internet in a collaborative effort with internet service providers (ISPs). Emily Bell, online chief editor of The Guardian takes a critical look at the control of internet activities: "While nobody should endorse illegal file-sharing, the issue of monitoring internet use is controversial. ... Can the free-content genie of the internet really be forced back into the bottle? The answer will depend on how hard companies want to try, how much they are prepared to spend on it and whether they are happy to risk audience extinction. ... The record industry, and the ISPs for that matter, might reflect on the fact that neither they nor governments and regulators have had the greatest effect on reversing the decline in paid-for music. ... If the campaign succeeds, then what? The free downloaders will not replace the illegal sharing with paid-for music. They might be less inclined to populate the festivals or buy the T-shirts. They might turn off their computers and learn an instrument instead or, more likely, find a different online activity to fill the void." (29/07/2008)

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Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Media internetowe, » Polityka medialna, » Wielka Brytania, » Cały świat
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Emily Bell

"Normally bridges serve to unite. But that does not apply to the the bridge over the Danube between Bulgaria and Romania," Dnevnik observes: "Formerly known as the bridge of friendship, the Danube bridge nowadays has become a bridge of separation owing to the high tolls. After the two countries became members of the EU, rather than being abolished the tolls actually went up. What is more, the state of the bridge has deteriorated. Both sides are suffering from this state of affairs: people living in the regions of Russe and Gyurgevo who are interested in everyday communication but also those who were hoping for new trade relations and educational opportunities on the other side of the river. The tolls are also having an adverse effect on the two countries' tourist industries. If the two sides do not manage to find a solution themselves the matter will be referred to Luxembourg [to the European Court], because it restricts the mobility of EU citizens." (29/07/2008)

» Artykuł (Link zewnętrzny, bułgarski)
Więcej z przeglądu prasy na temat » Stosunki międzynarodowe, » Polityka UE, » Polityka gospodarcza, » Europa, » Rumunia, » Bułgaria
Wszystkie dostępne teksty » Reneta Rashkova