The daily Die Presse fears security measures for the Olympic Games will be further tightened in the wake of the attack in the Chinese province of Xinjiang: "The attack on a group of police officers in the western province of Xinjiang has confirmed the worst fears of the Chinese security forces. For weeks they have been warning that the games in Beijing are threatened by 'unprecedented terror'. The past months have seen a ream of security measures introduced: 100,000 soldiers have been stationed in Beijing and control posts have been set up. ... Following the massacre, the security precautions - which already border on repression - will be further tightened. The chances for peaceful, festive games are dwindling." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Sport, » China
All available articles from » Thomas Seifert

The daily El País predicts that the international community will closely monitor China's reaction to the attack: "The fact that this terrorist attack, which is interpreted as a major protest in the run-up to the sports event, occurred ... 4,000 kilometres away from the capital does nothing to lessen its nightmare character for the government, which is doing everything in its power to prevent any distractions from the games. ... Even though it is understandable and justifiable that China wants to use the games to showcase its power and progress, the country's brutal shortcomings are preventing the international community from adopting the benevolent and neutral stance the [Chinese] leadership wants it to take. ... From Friday on China will come under the close scrutiny [of the rest of the world]. It can demand objectivity and a certain positive attitude of its observers, but it cannot expect them to close their eyes to reality." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Sport, » China

The Financial Times Deutschland warns the international community not to apply double standards regarding China's battle against terrorism: "A state can only react harshly when faced with terrorist attacks, particularly when they occur in the run-up to a major event. China's leadership must do all it can to guarantee security at the games, and there are many indications that violent separatists are trying to use the Olympics as a forum for furthering their own interests. The authorities have pointed to the possibility of attacks on several occasions and claim to have already foiled plans for large-scale attacks. This kind of claim is difficult to corroborate but nor can they simply be brushed off. In China, as in other authoritarian states, the way minorities are treated is a major problem. ... [Therefore] it is right to call attention to the plight of minorities and demand that China grant them more freedom. But by the same token Beijing has the right to combat terrorism." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Sport, » China

After the decision by the Italian government to have 3,000 soldiers patrol several large cities, the Financial Times comments on crime statistics in Italy and government shortfalls in the fight against corruption: "United Nations and European Union studies indicate that Italy's crime rates are below the European average. Romans might be surprised to find they are safer than residents of London, Copenhagen or Amsterdam. ... Although Italy compares well with its European peers in terms of violent crime, evidence suggests that on corruption it is among the worst offenders. Italy ranks 40th on Transparency International's global corruption index. ... Fighting corruption did not figure highly in Italy's elections. On this front the two most noteworthy acts of the Berlusconi government's first months in office have been to pass a law giving the prime minister and three other top officials immunity from prosecution, and to dissolve the office of the high commissioner against corruption." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Crime and Law, » Italy
All available articles from » Guy Dinmore

The European Court of Justice recently ruled that citizens of non-EU countries who are married to EU citizens are entitled to move about unhindered within the EU and take up residence wherever they wish. In Denmark this ruling is regarded as a blow to the country's restrictive immigration policy, which aims to prevent family members from non-EU countries from joining their relatives in the EU. The daily Kristeligt Dagblad criticises the decision: "As good and correct as the idea of free movement of workers within Europe may be, it is unrealistic in many respects. When it was first conceived there was no awareness of globalisation or of ... the process of immigration. ... The result is a fundamental conflict between the good intentions of EU legislation and the social reality of the nation states. If the rules for free movement of workers are used to boost immigration to Europe, the European social model will collapse. In particular the Scandinavian welfare state model which guarantees all citizens the same rights to social benefits will not be able to cope with mass immigration." (05/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Erik Bjerager

German writer Peter Schneider describes in La Repubblica a problem that affects all owners of cars with German registration numbers and first or second residences in Italy: the lack of an EU treaty on regular safety inspections. "As the inspection date draws closer the problems begin: How to get hold of the inspection tag quickly and cheaply? Switzerland spares its citizens and car owners the journey by recognising the Italian tags. But Germans have no choice; they are forced to cross the border. In addition to the time and money this involves there is also the matter of the impact on the environment and the extra energy consumption. I am thinking about the impact of my journey on carbon dioxide emissions. ... How can it be that two countries that are both founding members of the EU have not yet signed a pact on inspection tags even though millions of German cars are circulating on Italian roads and vice versa?" (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Infrastructure / Travel and Transport, » Germany, » Italy, » Europe
All available articles from » Peter Schneider

Fanos Kakuriotis, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, comments on the political crisis in Belgium and the future of Brussels: "Brussels will be the point of contention if the Flemish and the Walloons decide to part. One idea was to give the city a special, independent status in the framework of the EU. ... But this was rejected by the Walloons and the Flemish alike. Maintaining the status quo in Belgium is a question of prestige for the EU, since both Belgium and the EU are experimental 'nations', representing 'unions' still under construction. ... But the Europeans firmly believe that Brussels should go on existing as it is now - a city of antipodes, multilingual, with well-dressed citizens and ragged beggars, ... with a perfect transport system ... and without the access corridor demanded by the Flemish." (04/08/2008)

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The weekly La Revista 22 reflects on the integration of the Roma in Romania and Europe: "If we are honest and have studied a little history we realise that the idea of integrating the Roma into a regulated society is very new. For centuries the Roma have lived on the fringes of society, whether in Persia, in the Byzantine or Ottoman Empires, Great Britain or Central and Eastern Europe. They profited from the weak and corrupt doings of the majority, just as they do in today's Romania, where without the corruption of the municipal authorities and the police the Roma clans could not get rich. They cannot be integrated overnight, nor can they be put under pressure to integrate, and above all they cannot be integrated into a weak and corrupt state in which it is more profitable to break the law than to respect it. This is evident in the integration of the Roma in Spain, which has been more successful than in Central and Eastern Europe. ... Unfortunately neither the non-governmental organisations nor the Romanian government nor the EU have an answer to the question of what sense it makes to invest billions of euros in Roma programmes that are organised by weak, incompetent and corrupt authorities." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Integration, » Minorities, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Rodica Culcer

After the recent decision by Turkey's constitutional court not to ban the ruling AKP, the business newspaper Les Echos looks at the interplay between religion and economic progress in Turkish society: "Here Western business pays tribute to a partial triumph of Islam. Yet this is not an inexplicable paradox. While terrorists - in the name of the Koran - endeavour to destroy everything that functions, this form of political Islam has managed to bring a certain measure of political stability to the country, to the delight of investors. ... The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has managed to push through a policy of economic development and budgetary discipline and put an end to the repeated cycle of crises. The seeming paradox lies in the fact that in so doing he has favoured the emergence of a powerful new middle class which votes for his party regardless of how Islamist it might be. ... A mirror in which all these paradoxes are reflected, Turkey showcases the difficulties of reconciling Islam, secularism, development and open-mindedness." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Weltanschauung, » Turkey

The left-liberal daily Népszabadság analyses the low economic growth in the EU: "If the prognoses are confirmed, growth in the Eurozone this year will average 1.7 percent of the GDP. ... Does that signal a crisis? No. At least there can be no talk of a global economic crisis. The economies of China, India, Russia and the upcoming countries of South America like Brazil and Argentina will continue to grow at breakneck speed. ... Slow growth in the EU results from a lack of competitiveness on the global market. ... Within the EU, the economy and inflation are at odds: while the economy is flagging, inflation is on the rise. The problem is that the key countries in the Eurozone (Germany, France, Italy) have no monetary means to stimulate economic growth. And the European Central Bank is more afraid of inflation than it is of recession." (05/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Endre Aczél

The Irish Times analyses the recession in Spain and the limited possibilities open to Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in dealing with it. "After months of wilful denial, he has had to admit that the Spanish economy is facing recession, with unemployment at a 10-year high. The wheels of Spain's administrative finances, greatly complicated by the country's devolution of powers to 17 autonomous governments, are screeching under this pressure. Zapatero's problem is that his minority government needs support from smaller parties to approve his annual budget, but regional rivalries make this support extremely elusive. ... The prime minister may take a little consolation from his achievement last month of a detente with the main opposition party, the conservative Partido Popular. The PP has abandoned the far-right rhetoric it espoused during his first administration and is co-operating with the government on critical areas like terrorism and the justice system. The opposition will offer him no quarter, however, on the battlefield of the economy." (05/08/2008)

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Reports have circulated in the British press that the German Nazi regime made a point of building concentration camps in Poland during World War II because of the anti-Semitism prevalent there. After the Polish ambassador in London criticised this view, historian Andrzej Przewoźnik dismisses the accusation in an interview with the daily Polska. "It is commonplace that you have to remind people that in Poland helping Jews was punishable by death. I hear such infantile questions and statements about the Poles at meetings in the US or Western Europe . ... People ask for example why the Poles did not protest against the construction of camps. I always answer by saying: 'Why didn't the French protest?' ... Europe is uniting in economic terms, and in business terms. But the old continent is still divided when it comes to historical experience and the resulting sensibilities. The worst thing is that the West often does not even try to understand our point of view." (04/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Andrzej Przewoźnik

The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung criticises the way Italy is treating its cultural heritage, as a growing number of its cultural assets pass into private hands. "Italy possesses more archaeological, architectural, natural and artistic treasures than any other country in the world. ... Since the rise of the clever cavalier Silvio Berlusconi, who has now appointed the government for the fourth time and whose policies have done irreparable damage to the country's institutions and political culture, there has been ... a dramatic leap - admittedly backwards - in terms of the quality of preservation so that [Italy] is now facing the complete sell-out of its cultural assets. Berlusconi casts himself as a moderniser: the country, he says, should get rid of as much old rubbish as possible. But apparently this includes not only its traditional cultural values and the beauties of Italy's landscape, which are being sacrificed to encroaching commercialisation and privatisation, but also its monuments and cultural assets - particularly in those cases in which they can be turned into lucrative sources of income for the state which then uses the proceeds to fill the gaps in its budget or reward its loyal voters." (05/08/2008)

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All available articles from » Volker Breidecker

Germany figures less and less in Denmark's media landscape. In recent years many media, including the news agency Ritzau and Danmarks Radio, have withdrawn their Berlin correspondents for financial reasons. Flensborg Avis, the daily catering to the Danish minority in Germany, writes: "[It is] difficult to find good excuses for the miserable coverage the Danish media give Germany, Denmark's biggest trade partner, closest ally and in many respects our most important neighbouring country. ... [This] is possibly a consequence of the tendency of Denmark's foremost media to follow the lead of major global electronic news media like CNN. ... We, however, believe it is rather an expression of a lack of imagination and the hunt for easy solutions which leaves readers, listeners and viewers in the lurch. To break with this editorial lack of imagination Denmark's leading media should begin to take a greater interest in a neighbouring country which has close ties with Denmark and is therefore interesting for its customers: Germany." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Print media, » Germany, » Denmark

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's staff has had a painting by the old master Giambattista Tiepolo which hangs in the government press room retouched. The naked breasts of a scantily dressed woman representing Truth were painted over. La Repubblica is dumbfounded: "The undergarments that cover her nakedness are causing a commotion among art historians. It brings to mind that most famous episode of prudish censorship, when 400 years ago [the painter] Daniele da Volterra painted underwear onto Michelangelo's naked souls in the Sistine Chapel. The director of the Vatican museums shakes his head in disbelief. The Papal museums are a haven to many a nude figure, while the government seeks to cover up the naked truth. ... Will the undergarments be removed? Silence from Berlusconi's ranks. Nevertheless, the symbol adopted by the culture ministry does offer hope: the naked Daphne by Bernini." (05/08/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Fine Arts, » Italy
All available articles from » Luciano Nigro