The Spanish daily El Mundo reflects in a leading article on two current rulings on euthanasia. In both cases the patients and their relatives have been granted the right to dispense with further life-prolonging measures. "On the one hand there is the tragedy of Hannah Jones, an English girl whom the judiciary has supported in her wish not to be given a heart transplant. Because she has leukaemia, her life so far has been filled with suffering and one operation after another. On the other hand there's the case of Eluana Englaro, a 37-year-old [Italian] who has been in a coma since 1992. Her father has just succeeded in convincing Italy's judiciary to allow the death of a person in this condition for the first time ever. These are both extreme and complex situations, from both the legal and ethical perspectives. ... Nonetheless we must insist that there is an important difference between rejecting a therapy on the one hand and euthanasia or assisted suicide on the other, which under our law is a punishable offence. The [Spanish] law on patient autonomy, which was passed under the government of [former prime minister José María] Aznar, grants citizens the right to reject a medical treatment. In accordance with this law we believe that it is appropriate to respect the conscious and carefully considered request of sick patients who do not wish to be kept alive through artificial life support or other special measures." (14/11/2008)

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In the weekly Dilema Veche, Mircea Vasilescu analyses the effects of the global financial crisis in Western and Eastern Europe. "The borderlines between 'old' and 'new' Europe, between the West and the East, that seemed to have been forgotten are there once more. This time it is not a matter of more or less abstract fears but of concrete economic and financial aspects. Everyone should leap to save what they can. This seems to be the name of the game at present, despite all the summits at which attempts are being made to cobble together a common European strategy for tackling the recession. With the exception of the European Central Bank, which is fulfilling its tasks very efficiently, the EU, despite its far-reaching network of institutions, lacks the authority necessary to impose a plan on the member states. And even though we agree on certain rules and measures, the differences between the individual states are obvious, above all between West and East. Unemployment, inflation and unbalanced budgets will affect every country to a different extent. The problem is that in the new democracies of Eastern Europe, which are still fragile and unruly, the recession will have more serious consequences [than in the West], including political repercussions. Populism could attract new followers and the number of Eurosceptics could swell." (14/11/2008)

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In Lithuania the Soviet occupation is often referred to as "genocide" owing to the deportation and murder of countless citizens that took place during this period. Writing for Delfi news portal, Azuolas Bagdonas asks whether the term is justified or whether this designation should be reserved for the Holocaust: "Whether we like it or not, all attempts to concretise legal terms and find the right designation are always influenced by politics, even if this is not always intended. Laws that ban the use of certain designations are not to be criticised because, for instance, they foster anti-Semitism in some mystical way, but because they clash with other political values, including that of freedom of expression." (13/11/2008)

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Europe's social model is only possible because until now the US has assumed the role of the world's police, writes Domingos Amaral in the business newspaper Diário Económico. Barack Obama's election as US president, however, will change that: "America's left has always admired Europe's 'social model', and sought to import it. Europe's right, by contrast, has always been for introducing the American economic model. ... Europe's 'social model' was only possible because after World War II Europe no longer had to worry about military expenditures. ... Yet this was only possible with American protection. America's military duties, on the contrary, left little money for the state to invest in a social model. It's either cannons or hospitals. The Americans chose cannons, and allowed the Europeans to build hospitals. Obama is now promising to change this model. Now America wants to invest more in schools, hospitals and renewable energy. But the US is in debt and cannot afford the kind of social state Obama is after while remaining the world's police force. It will have to decide. In the years to come the US will have to put its interests before those of the rest of the world. This is not necessarily bad news, but it will force the world to revise its power relations. Less US means more China, more Russia, more Iran and a little bit more Europe. Time will tell if this multipolar system can work." (12/11/2008)

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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband appeals in an opinion piece published by the Slovenian daily Dnevnik to the EU to support Bosnia's integration: "There is talk of moving closer to the EU, but the reality is that the reforms in Bosnia have reached a dead end. ... For Bosnia to be able to stand on its own two feet, in the truest sense of the word ... we must be sure about the future of the country. This is why the international community has laid down the conditions Bosnian politicians must fulfil. They include the pledge to establish political stability and security in accordance with the Dayton Agreement. ... However the EU can and must do more ... because it has become the main player in Bosnia. ... And what should be done? Firstly, we must use the authority of the EU to prevent anything that could destabilise Bosnia. The EU has numerous economic, political, military and developmental instruments with which it can counter threats to peace and security. We must also be more active in our efforts to use the prospect of EU membership as a motivation for political and economic reforms. Thirdly, Bosnia needs a constitutional reform. For centuries people have looked on the Balkans as a region dominated by conflict. But slowly and laboriously and after many sacrifices a new future is approaching. ... This is a future that the people of Bosnia have earned." (12/11/2008)

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All available articles from » David Milliband

Francisco J. Laporta voices astonishmet in El País about the fact that no one seems to be looking for the culprits of the economic crisis: "Things happen in the free market economy, but no one is responsible. This is the kingdom of criminal immunity. In other areas, however, we are witness to an obsessive, even obscene, search for culprits. Whether it be for a fault in the legal system, a plane crash, a problem with medicare, a social faux pas, a crime committed in the distant past or a case of corruption, the sleuths, rumour mongerers and headline magistrates (or those who aspire to be such), the zealous and officious witnesses, investigative journalists and general public waste no time in hurrying to the scene to find the culprits and excoriate them. Any poor soul who happend to be there just by accident will inevitably be hounded and persecuted, regardless of what role he might have played in the affair. The business world, however, seems immune to such accusations. There are crises and recessions, there is poverty, unemployment and so on, but no one caused them. They caused themselves." (12/11/2008)

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Sega newspaper reflects on the lessons learned since the system change that began on November 10, 1989. "At the time we didn't know that democracy consists of the laborious construction of rules tailored to the majority, and of the even more laborious necessity of abiding by them. We didn't know that democracy offers the possibility of discovering ugliness, greed and aggression all around you, and even in yourself. We were the product of another social contract, a political culture forged in Moscow. This culture was imperfect and absurd, but it cared for individuals by guaranteeing them bread while denying them immorality. ... We did not really change after November 10. The Komsomol [youth organisation of the Soviet Communist Party] activist has become a liberal, while the former manager - now a private entrepreneur - continues to rely on political connections with the old establishment. And the humble worker complains about arbitrary decisions taken at a company or state level, just like he did before about the absurdities of the partocracy [rule of the party]. After November 10 came - logically - November 11. What we have gained in the process is freedom of movement and freedom of opinion, even if it may seem rather relative. My only fear is that without an outside guarantor, collective psychology could take another spin and cause us to lose these acquisitions once again." (11/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Boyko Lambovski

"The election of Barack Obama offers a unique chance ... to strengthen transatlantic relations", writes João Marques de Almeida in Diário Económico newspaper: "Although many of the threats faced by the US and many of its interests will remain unchanged, it is mistaken to say that Obama's America will be identical with that of George W. Bush. Obama's election is the expression of America's will to change, but also of the will ... to change the way the rest of the world sees the US. With the election the US has taken a first step in the direction of its allies. Now these allies must take a step towards the US. Many provactions will test transatlantic relations in the months to come. Troublemakers will say that the US will continue to be the US, regardless of who is president. My hope is that those who now say that Obama's America will be different from Bush's will go on thinking that way." (10/11/2008)

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Ninety years ago today an armistice in Belgium ended World War I. Historian Marc Hooghe calls on the Flemish and Walloons to abandon their nationalistic disputes, arguing that those who fell should be remembered with dignity. "Every society develops rituals for keeping the dead partially alive. One of the passages of the Iliad which arouses the most indignation is the mistreatment of Hector's corpse. Yet with our nationalist political conflicts we show just as little respect for those who fell in the Great War. This is all the more scandalous because the German attack on neutral Belgium in August 1914 set off a wave of international solidarity. It was outrage over the German war crimes on Belgian soil, including in Aarschot, Löwen and Dinant, that caused thousands of British to volunteer. Many of them died. Caught up in our own nationalist conflicts, we have shown little thanks for this international solidarity. ... But true respect means commemorating the victims of both world wars for what they were: normal people who perhaps became involved in these murderous conflicts against their will. And seen from that perspective it is entirely irrelevant whether they spoke French or Flemmish." (10/11/2008)

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In the face of a possible reform of the global economy Albert Florensa and José Sols make the case in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia for an international social market economy modelled on Germany's system. "To balance out the disadvantages of the two systems, after World War II (taking the cue from the US's New Deal initiative) the social market economy was created in Germany, which gave Western society one of the best chapters in its social and economic history in terms of both rights and growth. ... Let us revive the social market economy by adjusting it to the global reality, which means erecting an international, political and democratic structure which represents mankind as a whole and which, while respecting individual states, creates the kind of global regulations that those [states] cannot violate. The social market economy is based on two principles: first, that of individual freedom as the basis for subsidiarity, and secondly, social consciousness as the foundation of solidarity. It relies on the free market but also on the state assuming a certain role in the economy, always at the service of those who make up society. Overcoming this crisis will be difficult. In striving to do this we must start to create a foundation for preventing future crises. The social market economy is the path we must follow - but at a global level." (10/11/2008)

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All available articles from » Albert Florensa, » José Sols