The EU has known about the extent of corruption in Romania for a long time. An experts' report from 2007 that was kept under wraps was recently published by the British economics magazine The Economist. The report, whose findings describe how the struggle against corruption in Romania has suffered setbacks at all levels, was commissioned by the European Commission but never used. The weekly Revista 22 now calls on the Romanians to take responsibility: "Europe does not lack information about the real situation in Rumanian justice and politics, what Europe lacks ... is the courage and the necessary determination to defend the rule of law and to fight corruption. These deficits ... and the lack of institutional instruments to punish states that deviate from European standards allow the Rumanian parliamentarians to use all kinds of tricks to defend their own shameful interests and to make a mockery of the entire EU. ... It is no use waiting for Europe to solve our structural problems, as happened before we joined . ... The Romanians need to take their fate in their own hands and decide whether they need a state based on the rule of law and an efficient policy for fighting corruption." (17/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Rodica Culcer

In the past few days Bulgarian media have published an internal report by OLAF, the European Commission's anti-fraud office, on the embezzlement of funds in Bulgaria. It confirms rumours that the election campaign of President Georgi Parvanov was financed by dubious businessmen: "In the year 1999 Hillary Clinton refused to accept a 1,000-dollar cheque from the widow of Bulgarian mafia boss Iliya Pavlov. Parvanov, on the other hand, received 25,000 euros from the notorious businessman Ludmil Stoykov in 2006 and never gave back a single euro, neither when the SAPARD scandal [the freezing of EU subsidies] became public nor when the state prosecution charged Stoykov with money laundering. And even now that the OLAF report has been made public and it says in black and white that Stoykov belongs to an international criminal network, the presidency remains silent." (17/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Crime and Law, » Europe, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Juliana Boncheva

The left-wing liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung calls on the EU Commission to punish Romania and Bulgaria. "The fact that combating and punishing corruption in the two countries leaves much to be desired does not apply to 'the Bulgarians' and 'the Romanians'. Insofar as we are talking about the public at large, they do not suffer under this deplorable state of affairs any less than the citizens of other EU countries, whose taxes end up in the wrong channels in the Balkans. It is above all the rulers who carry responsibility. ... Therefore the moment has now come for the EU Commission to act. When it publishes its next progress report in a week's time, it will be high time for consequences to follow. Millions in subsidies to Bulgaria could be frozen, while Romania needs at least to be given a stern public warning. The EU should clearly condemn those in Bucharest who are playing this shabby game, so that the people at least know whom they would be advised to vote out of office at the next parliamentary elections." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Crime and Law, » Europe, » Romania, » Bulgaria

Spain's supreme court has pronounced judgement in the trial on the train bombings in Madrid in March 2004 which claimed the lives of 191 people. The inquiry into the attacks was plagued by party-political polemics, particularly as conservative circles in Spain fuelled the theory that the Basque terrorist organisation ETA was involved in the bombings. The daily El País hopes that the judgement will put an end to all this speculation: "The supreme court confirms that the attack ... was carried out by Islamists. From a legal point of view the ruling ... closes the 11-M [an abbreviation for March 11, the day of the bombings] case. It is high time all the political and media exploitation of false reports that has dogged the case also ended. It has offended the honour of the victims and degraded the work of the judges, prosecutors and security forces who have contributed to clearing up this case with the data and evidence presented in court." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Crime and Law, » Spain

The Guardian sees the talks that begin with Iran tomorrow on the country's nuclear programme as an historical opportunity: "America's decision to send a senior official to international talks with Iran in Geneva tomorrow marks a major, and long overdue, policy change. ... It could be at least as significant as the U-turn the country performed about talking to North Korea. ... There was no disguising the fact that vice-president Dick Cheney, who has pushed hard for an air strike on Iran, had been defeated. As a result, America is now on a different track. ... Washington would only risk sending a senior official to the Geneva talks if it were confident that Iran would make concessions in return. These may come in the form of offers to redefine what is meant by a freeze of its programme to enrich uranium. ... Hardliners in Tehran are capable of mistaking concessions for weakness, but they would be wrong. This is an opportunity that Iran must now seize." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe, » U.S., » Iran

On 16 July the Polish army handed over control of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiyya to the Iraqi authorities, thus paving the way for their withdrawal from Iraq. In a guest article for the daily Polska, former Deputy Defence Minister General Stanisław Koziej gives a positive evaluation of Poland's five-year military mission to Iraq: "It is thanks to the Iraq operation that there has been a change in the mentality of the troops who participated in the mission on the spot. For them and above all for their officers this was the best training in half a century. Those who experienced the Iraq operation have become a driving force for qualitative change in our armed forces. They had a major influence on the final decision taken by politicians to go over to using a professional army. Let us remember that all political decision-makers, all defence ministers and all chiefs of staff were firmly against the idea of a professional army. Therefore in my opinion the view of those who were in Iraq and who saw what an advantage professional soldiers have over conscripts was what won the day." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Poland, » Iraq
All available articles from » Stanislaw Koziej

The controversial bugging law is causing trouble for Sweden's coalition government and its politicians. According to the daily Dagens Nyheter, 75 percent of Sweden's students now sympathise with the left-wing parties, and student associations even say a repeat of the '68 movement is imminent. The government, the paper writes, needs to take young people seriously: "The use of modern wireless means of communication is an integral part of the system of values of young people today. If you threaten to limit freedom with bugging operations you risk losing for several years the loyalties of a basically conservative electorate for whom freedom and personal responsibility are high priorities. It would therefore be foolish and irresponsible not to listen to the younger generation, for they are the force of tomorrow." (17/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Social movements, » Sweden

The daily Le Monde comments on the European Union's democratic weaknesses: "How could the European Union be made more democratic and hence acquire more legitimacy among its citizens? Advocates of European unity have been asking this question ever since the European community project was born. But finding an answer is becoming an ever more urgent matter following the unsuccessful referendums in France, the Netherlands and Ireland. ... Were the European Union an international organisation like many others, the question of democracy would not even arise. The reason it is being asked is because the Europeans want to form a political community. A European public domain, which would link transnational parties with civil society, is currently still a thing of the future. For that reason it is up to the member states to get the debate going on European politics." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » EU Constitution, » Europe
All available articles from » Thomas Ferenczi

Kiriakos Triandafilidis, the Greek MEP for the left-wing party AKEL, talks in the daily Philelefteros about solutions for Europe's demographic problems. "In the EU the [decline in population] is seen as the main threat for the job market, but also for the welfare state system and for covering the costs of old-age pensions. Consequently the search for solutions is intense. Three possibilities are stressed in the discussions on this subject. First, raising the retirement age; second, migration, and third, implementing policies aimed at increasing the birth rate. The first two solutions should not ... be key to our vision of a social Europe. ... The only solution that can ... solve the demographic problem is ... the application of a policy directed at raising the birth rate. ... The latter is directly linked to a sense of security, ... quality of life ... and generally to the sense of security people, and in particular young couples should have when they start a family." (17/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Demographics, » Europe
All available articles from » Kiriakos Triandafillidis

The three Polish dockyards are threatened with closure because the EU Commission has demanded that Poland return a billion euros in funding after failing to come up with a plan for making them profitable again. The left-wing liberal Gazeta Wyborcza criticises the accusations levelled at the EU and the government by the dockers and the Polish opposition. "We may be in the EU, but we are still Poles. So if the shipyards end up being closed, there will immediately be a reckoning up and a search for the guilty parties. This is about emotions and populism rather than facts. Furious dockers will come to Warsaw and claim that they never received any public assistance. ... They will demand that the treasury minister resign, even though far more responsibility lies with the previous government, which failed for years to find a solution to the problem. Accusations will be levelled at the EU Commission, which is allegedly under the thumb of western dockyards. ... But the problem of the dockyards is actually much sadder than that. For it concerns their inability to adapt to changed circumstances." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Witold M. Orlowski

The whole of Europe is suffering from rising inflation. The business newspaper Les Echos addresses the various aspects of the French debate: "One thing is clear. The return of inflation has already changed the way the economy functions and will continue to do so. ... The bad news ... is that the industrial giants, which have in the past 'determined' price rises for raw materials, have changed their attitude. The head of Renault-Nissan Carlos Ghosn is not the only one - he announced that the price of his cars was set to rise. ... After the summer break wages will be back on the agenda. Many bosses know that the trade unions want to exploit [inflation], ... to push for big wage increases. The good news is that in the debate at least no-one is talking about the alleged benefits of inflation. ... The conclusion one comes to is not very satisfactory, but it is hardly to be doubted: Like its neighbours, France will be forced to live with [inflation]." (17/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Social Policy / Employment, » Corporations, » Economic Policy, » France
All available articles from » Dominique Seux

The daily Maaseudun Tulevaisuus writes about hopes and expectations for the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks which begin next Monday in Geneva. "The Doha Round takes place for the eighth time this year. ... In the past few months barely any progress has been made, let alone a breakthrough. ... Naturally it would be wonderful if an agreement was finally reached. ... The liberalisation of agricultural trade plays a decisive role. ... The situation is not being made any easier by the fact that food is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity worldwide. ... Well thought-out efforts must be made ... to set up independent food supply chains in poor countries. ... In the meat trade, protecting European consumers ... against diseases carried in non-European cheap imports is an urgent issue. Otherwise the Doha Round could have disastrous consequences for the domestic food production chain." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Economic Policy, » Global

The daily Latvijas Avīze takes up the French debate on the protection of minority languages like Breton or Basque as part of the national cultural heritage: "The French Academy was founded on the initiative of Cardinal Richelieu in 1635 to set language standards but also to ward off threats to national identity. The argument was that such threats were based not only on ideas and values but also on language. One may of course argue about the use of the term "threat," since this is certainly not posed by the regional languages or dialects. Moreover, France has not even signed the European Charter on the protection of minority languages and does not intend to do so either." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Public Culture, » Cultural Policy, » Minorities, » History, » France
All available articles from » Uldis Smits

The Czechs and Slovaks have ended their "sausage war." Butchers in both countries were claiming rightsto the names of four kinds of sausage and salami in the EU. For two kinds the recipe will now be prepared by the Czechs, for the other two kinds by the Slovaks. The conservative daily Lidové noviny sees the agreement as a source of hope: "Hopefully the recipes won't contain the 'improvements' according to which the bacon sausages contain hardly any meat but only soja. Products of this kind can hardly be registered and sold as sausages. May the lord and the EU forever protect us from 'sausages' of this kind. Amen." (18/07/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Consumers, » Czech Republic, » Slovakia, » Europe
All available articles from » Luboš Palata