The EU started membership negotiations with Iceland on Tuesday. The country applied for membership last year as it stood on the verge of state bankruptcy. But the accession is subject to a referendum and its outcome is uncertain, the press writes. No such thing as partial accession The daily Kurier can’t entirely understand the Icelanders’ [...]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have spoken out in favour of a European economic government for all 27 states. The initiative is harming the EU, writes the daily Der Standard: “A budget plan for the next few years in EU states is sensible, and presenting it to the Commission and the [...]
The town of Schengen in Luxembourg will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Schengen Agreement on a Europe without borders on Sunday. But since its introduction Europe has only sealed itself off from the outside world, writes the daily Le Quotidien: “The ideal of freedom … has become reality for 400 million people in 25 [...]
EU tax commissioner Algirdas Šemeta has announced plans to increase pressure on Switzerland to make progress on an anti-fraud agreement aimed at facilitating the identification of illicit earnings on Swiss bank accounts. The pressure on Switzerland has grown mainly because the EU states need money, the conservative Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag complains: “Switzerland is [...]
The Flemish separatists have emerged as the strongest party from Belgium’s early parliamentary elections. In the Francophone southern half of the country the Socialist Party came out well ahead of outgoing Prime Minister Yves Leterme’s Christian Democrats. Although the separatists’ victory does not mean Belgium will fall apart, it poses a major problem to Europe, [...]
The EU finance ministers want to better coordinate their national budgets in future. Each spring the EU is to review whether national budget plans correspond to EU economic policy. The European press welcomes the decision but fears it won’t be enough to fight the crisis. Europe needs greater coordination The daily Le Monde praises the [...]
Germany’s conservative-liberal government announced on Monday its plans to slash the federal budget by around 80 billion euros by 2014. European commentators write that while Chancellor Angela Merkel’s austerity package serves as a model for the EU, it could jeopardise economic recovery in other states. Virtuous plans The German government has presented an ambitious austerity [...]
BRUSSELS — Finance ministers from all 16 Eurozone countries (Eurogroup) approved on Monday Estonia’s accession to the single currency in 2011, Eurogroup head and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junker said. “Estonia will become the 17th member of the Eurozone from January 1, 2011,” Junker told journalists. The Baltic state was given the green light to [...]
With an eye to the crisis in Greece, economist Péter Róna warns in the left-liberal daily Népszabadság against a hasty introduction of the euro in Hungary: “In 1992 Columbia University professor Peter Kenen pointed out the following: The bigger the development discrepancies between EU member states, the greater the asymmetric shock in the more backward [...]
Turkey has harshly criticised Israel for its military assault on a flotilla carrying international aid in the Mediterranean. The Turkish reaction is based on double standards, the press writes, and fears that the country is turning away from Europe and the West. Turkey’s double standards Turkey’s comments on Israel’s military attack against an aid flotilla [...]
