Presseurop
Eurozone crisis | Expel Greece - a cure worse than the disease (La Repubblica, Rome)
Drive Greece out of the euro, and build a federal Europe behind a protective firewall? Italian columnist Barbara Spinelli warns that this idea, which appears to be gaining ground with a number of European leaders, would not only fail to resolve the crisis but would also put an end to Europe’s common culture. (Article)
Greece | That Greek loan | Cartoon (L'Hebdo, Lausanne)
That Greek loan (Cartoon)
Greece | Manolis Glezos, eternal resistance (El Mundo, Madrid)
At 89 years of age, he is a fixture at anti-austerity demonstrations. A member of the Greek communist party for 70 years, he has also been a national icon since the day in 1941 when he climbed the Acropolis at night to tear down the Nazi flag. (Article)
Greek Crisis | "A good deal for the banks, and a very bad one for Europe"
“Greeks save European banks,” reads the provocative headline in Die Tageszeitung. The Berlin alternative daily reports that European aid will be of no benefit […] (News in brief)
Eurozone | EU strengthens control over national budgets
Aside from approving a second €130 billion bailout for Greece, the EU’s finance ministers also agreed February 20/21 on rules that will give […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | European Union, Portugal, Spain, Poland, United Kingdom
Die Welt, Pblico, Correio da Manh, La Vanguardia, Gazeta Wyborcza, The Guardian (Today's front pages)
Greece | Close cut | Cartoon (, )
Close cut (Cartoon)
Greece | No room for error (To Ethnos, Athens)
In a meeting that lasted into the small hours of Tuesday, February 21, the Eurogroup finally adopted a second bailout plan for Greece of €130 billion with an additional €107 billion in cancelled debt. But failing a genuine economic development plan, this sum will not be sufficient to put the country back on its feet, warns Greek daily To Ethnos. (Article)
Economy | Twelve write letter against Merkozy
On February 20, Prime Ministers David Cameron, Mario Monti and Mark Rutte sent a letter to EU Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, asking […] (News in brief)
Greek crisis | Troika admits bailout can't work
“Greek debt nightmare laid bare,” headlines the Financial Times, following the leak of a “strictly confidential” report prepared and distributed last week […] (News in brief)
Eurozone crisis | The great European fire sale (The Independent, London)
All over Europe, nations are looking for a quick way to raise cash. All of them seem to have the same idea - to sell off state assets. (Article)
Today's front pages | Eurozone crisis, Greece, Hungary, Spain , Netherlands
Gazeta Wyborcza, Ta Nea, Le Figaro, Npszabadsg, La Razn, Trouw (Today's front pages)
Germany | Third time unlucky | Cartoon (Neues Deutschland, Berlin)
Third time unlucky (Cartoon)
Eurozone crisis | Impunity rules banana republic of Greece (De Morgen, Brussels)
The greatest problem facing Greece is not lack of money but a clientelist system that is accountable to no-one, writes a Greek journalist. (Article)
Sweden | Crisis of faith for social democrats (Le Monde, Paris)
The last few years have been particularly hard on Sweden’s social democrats. Lagging behind in the polls, the party is embarked on a quest for a new identity, with a sudden change in leadership. Le Monde reports from the industrial city of Västerås. (Article)
Central Europe | Austrians learn to love their neighbours
“Hello neighbour! Last minute reconciliation”: Die Presse enthusiastically reports on a survey of “cross-border community life” conducted by the Austrian Society for […] (News in brief)
Spain | Heading towards a general strike?
"First massive protest against labour law reform," headlines Spanish daily La Vanguardia, following demonstrations on Sunday in 57 cities protesting against labour law reform introduced […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | European Union, Greece, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Ireland
La Libre Belgique, Kathimerini, Frankfurter Rundschau, Diena, SME, Irish Independent (Today's front pages)
Eurozone crisis | Greece 1858 - plus a change (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Frankfurt)
Crippled by debt, propped up by European powers, handicapped by an ineffective administration: uncompromising diagnoses of Greece’s ills are not new. The text that follows, drafted by 19th century French writer Edmond About, has re-emerged in the European press. (Article)
Greece | K.O. | Cartoon (, )
K.O. (Cartoon)
Eurozone crisis | How Brussels is destroying Greece (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Sunk into a violent depression, Greece is being bled dry by an “incompetent” EU and its “callous” Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, accuses Peter Oborne, in a vehement broadside. (Article)
Latvia | Russian, an official EU language? (Postimees, Tallinn)
Latvians will vote, on February 18, on whether to grant Russian the status of official second language. A legacy of the Soviet Era, this linguistic issue is divisive in a country that is seeking to forge a common identity. (Article)
Agriculture | EU-Morocco agreement, a blow for Spain
“[Spanish] agriculture has reacted with indignation to the agreement between the EU and Morocco,” reports El País. The free trade agreement approved February 16 by […] (News in brief)
Europeans weave their Web | Editorial
Times are tough for intellectual property as we have known it up till now. After years of heated wrangling on the internet and in the courts between the rights of authors to receive payment for their work and the rights of internet users to exchange content, it seems a turning point has been reached. After the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy laws were shot down in the United States, it is Europe’s turn to lay the groundwork.
On 16 February the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that social networks cannot be forced to implement a general filter to prevent users from downloading pirated content. The court ruled in favour of the Belgian social network Netlog in its dispute with Sabam, the Belgian company that defends the interests of authors and composers. The judges in Luxembourg have thus confirmed their decision of last November, when they found that the filtering requirement could not be imposed on internet access providers. In both cases, the ECJ ruled that the filtering would violate EU rules on freedom of enterprise and personal data protection.
In late February the European Parliament should begin to study the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which was signed by the EU and a dozen other countries in late January, but which must be ratified by the bloc and by the MEPs. However, this text, initialled with some misgivings by several delegations, is the subject of an unprecedented challenge in several countries because of concerns about the extensive powers it would give governments for restricting access to the Internet in the name of the fight against piracy.
For some weeks now protests against ACTA have been carrying the day in Europe, and especially in former communist countries where sensitivity to anything touching on civil liberties is particularly acute. On February 11, once again, hundreds of thousands took to the streets, from Paris to Warsaw, from Berlin to Sofia.
Their protest was successful. Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have now suspended the ratification of ACTA. As for the European Parliament, which passed a resolution supporting the agreement in 2010, it now seems to be leaning towards rejecting it. The Commission, which supports ACTA, will find it hard to argue that the legislation is there to protect the intellectual property of European companies. Feeling the change in the way the wind is blowing, the entertainment and publishing lobbies are imploring MEPs to approve the agreement.
The concept of the web as a space of freedom and exchange is emerging as an inviolable right in Europe. The fact remains that the issue of copyright protection – as a legitimate right – cannot remain indefinitely in the twilight zone at the European level, with states enacting separate legislation. If authors are to freely choose what type of licence to grant to their works, whether to emphasise distribution or potential earnings, internet users must have access to appropriate forms of payment. Several systems already exist for global licensing or for payment for single downloads. As highlighted recently by Frédéric Filloux, general manager of Monday Note, formulas that link a fair price to ease of purchase and a vast and up-to-date selection can indeed compete with piracy. Piracy itself will not fade away any time soon, but it may cease to be perceived as a mortal threat to creativity.
(Editorial)
Germany | Merkel's custom-made president resigns
Even before the announcement that President Christian Wulff was resigning, the German press was describing today, February 17, as "historic". Following a request to have […] (News in brief)
Hungary | MEPs place Orban under surveillance
On 17 February the European Parliament decided to evaluate the latest laws adopted in Hungary to determine whether they comply with European values. The resolution, […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | Germany, Italy , Austria, Portugal, Scotland, Ireland
Die Welt, La Repubblica, Die Presse, Pblico, The Scotsman, Irish Examiner (Today's front pages)
Internet | Free and worthless | Blog
It's time to rethink internet culture, says Jason Walsh
After mass protests across Europe, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) has joined recent US legislation, the Stop […] (Blog)
Greece | Hard to swallow | Cartoon (Le Monde, Paris)
Hard to swallow (Cartoon)
Europe – Syria | No one lifts a finger to stop Assad (Revista 22, Bucharest)
How to oppose the massacres in Syria? While the question grows more pressing by the day, the West, and Europe in particular, seems indecisive and helpless. Is it because conditions have changed following the intervention in Libya. (Article)
Debate | Europe will be saved by nations (Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw)
With their refusal to build a federal Europe around the single currency, politicians have surrendered power to the economy. To win back this power and to share it with citizens, a Polish historian argues that they should construct a federation of nations. (Article)
Greece | "Five euros left and starting to panic" (To Vima, Athens)
In debt and suffering from anxiety and depression, many Greeks are turning to Ekpizo help centres for moral support. To Vima reports from a group therapy session in Athens. (Article)
Today's front pages | Eurozone crisis, Greece, Italy, France, Iran, United Kingdom
El Pas, Politiken, La Stampa, Le Figaro, The Malta Independent, The Independent (Today's front pages)
Netherlands | With open arms | Cartoon (, )
With open arms (Cartoon)
Eurozone crisis | Euro-refugees get cold reception in Norway (El Pas, Madrid)
Fleeing unemployment, hundreds of Spanish are migrating to idealised Norway in search of work. Few have had much luck. Many have found only unemployment, cold and despair. Another chapter in the great crisis afflicting Spain. (Article)
Greek crisis | Brussels' fatal therapy (Die Zeit, Hamburg)
The Euro Group has postponed its decision on whether or not to grant a new aid package to Greece, fearing that the austerity plan adopted by Athens will not be implemented. But rather than the brutal slashing imposed by Brussels, the country needs to be restructured. And rather than being stigmatised, it is in need of solidarity. (Article)
Netherlands | Outrage at PVV's xenophobic website
Following the launch of the Party for Freedom (PVV) website which encourages Dutch natives to complain about “annoyances and pollution” caused by migrants […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | EU-China, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Greece
China Daily, Jornal de Negcios, Brsen, Financial Times Deutschland, La Repubblica, Eleftherotypia (Today's front pages)
Controversy | Anti-immigrant website shames Netherlands (NRC Handelsblad, Rotterdam)
Air your grievances against Eastern European workers: the new website set up by Geert Wilders’ party has shocked several EU countries. When will the PM Mark Rutte, currently dependent on the PVV’s support, condemn such a provocative move? asks NRC Handelsblad. (Article)
Portugal | Patient is still fragile (Expresso, Lisbon)
With its political consensus, labour agreements and reforms in progress, Portugal appears to be better off than Greece. But the threat of bankruptcy remains and a fresh turn of the screw is still possible, warns Expresso. (Article)
Slovenia | Ljubljana caught up by the crisis (Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Warsaw)
The first post-communist country to adopt the euro, the former flagship state of the former Yugoslavia is struggling to recover from the crisis of 2009. And the new - and fragile - Government of Janez Janša is fighting get the country out of the impasse. (Article)
Greece | Riots in Athens, the EU is concerned | Cartoon (L'Hebdo, Lausanne)
Riots in Athens, the EU is concerned (Cartoon)
Italy | Landmark ruling on asbestos
"Eternit, landmark ruling," headlines Italian daily La Stampa following a Turin court's decision to sentence the owners of Eternit, a company that made asbestos-based construction […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | United Kingdom, EU-China, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Spain
Financial Times, Les Echos, Rzeczpospolita, Npszabadsg, Lidov noviny , La Vanguardia (Today's front pages)
Greece | One step closer to nowhere (To Ethnos, Athens)
The new austerity plan demanded by the EU and the IMF was passed by the Greek Parliament on February 12 against a backdrop of demonstrations and violence. But the plan solves nothing and leaves the Greeks without an answer on their future, regrets an editorialist. (Article)
Greece | Give and take and take | Cartoon (Kathimerini, Athens)
Give and take and take (Cartoon)
Debate | Lazy Greeks, a neo-liberal clich (CriticAtac, Bucharest)
Poor and thus blameworthy: amid the ongoing Greek crisis, negative judgements on Southern Europeans appear to be gaining ground in Northern Europe. A Romanian columnist argues that such slurs form part of a simplistic and hypocritical analysis that prevents us from understanding what is really happening. (Article)
Portugal | Major anti-austerity march in Lisbon
300,000 demonstrated in the Portuguese capital’s Terreiro do Paço [Palace Square] "to show the troika" that there will be "no surrender", writes Diário […] (News in brief)
Internet | ACTA headed for dustbin
“The wave of social protests rolls across Europe. Poles have given example on how to fight ACTA”, headlines Rzeczpospolita, after demonstrations against […] (News in brief)
Today's front pages | Greece, Eurozone crisis, Romania, Sweden
Ta Nea, Süddeutsche Zeitung, La Repubblica, De Morgen, Jurnalul Naţional, Svenska Dagbladet (Today's front pages)