European Union
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9 February 2012PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung
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9 February 2012PresseuropLa Stampa
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8 February 2012Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich
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Eurozone crisis
The “Grexit” taboo has been broken
8 February 20126De Volkskrant Amsterdam -
7 February 2012
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Debt crisis
Why we’ve had enough of Greece
7 February 2012120El Mundo Madrid -
Institutions
Maastricht 20 years on: Eurocrat blues
6 February 201210Le Temps Geneva -
Air travel
China strikes first blow against EU tax
6 February 201210PresseuropFinancial Times -
3 February 2012The Economist London
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3 February 2012264Die Zeit Hamburg
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Editorial
New order
3 February 201219Presseurop -
Eurozone crisis
Save the ECB from the danger of Greece
2 February 20128De Tijd Antwerp -
1 February 2012Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich
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Economic crisis
Poverty trap for middle classes of Europe
1 February 201214El País Madrid -
Fiscal treaty
Ireland begins bitter referendum debate
1 February 20123PresseuropThe Irish Times -
European Council
The Don Quixotes of Brussels
31 January 201248El País Madrid -
EU Summit
Poland not 100% happy
31 January 2012PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna -
30 January 2012De Volkskrant Amsterdam
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Eurozone crisis
No-one wants a German budget commissar
30 January 201261PresseuropPúblico, Le Monde, Ta Nea & 2 others -
30 January 201214Libération Paris
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Italy
Relax, Germans!
30 January 201223Die Zeit Hamburg -
Editorial
Go for it, Angela
27 January 20124Presseurop -
Eurozone crisis
Save the euro – get rid of Germany
27 January 2012119The Times London -
27 January 201224Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich
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Davos summit
UK leaders hit out at Germany and France
27 January 20127PresseuropFinancial Times -
Diplomacy
Europe’s undeclared war against Iran
26 January 201211The New York Times New York -
26 January 20127PresseuropLa Stampa, Le Monde, Gazeta Wyborcza & 3 others
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25 January 20121Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw
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Internet
Right to be forgotten law welcomed
25 January 20127PresseuropLa Repubblica -
25 January 201224 heures Lausanne
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European Commission
Santer returns to the fold
25 January 20124PresseuropThe Daily Telegraph -
Diplomacy
EU raises stakes with Iran
24 January 201212PresseuropLe Figaro, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Daily Telegraph, La Vanguardia -
Internet
ACTA non grata
24 January 2012PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Croatia
A small “yes” to EU
23 January 20122PresseuropNovi List, Slobodna Dalmacija, Jutarnji List -
Central Europe
Vienna-Budapest, a journey into the past
23 January 201216Le Monde Paris -
Diplomacy
Europe to slap embargo on Iranian oil
23 January 20122PresseuropEl Mundo -
20 January 201215Tportal Zagreb
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20 January 20124PresseuropEl País
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19 January 201267De Morgen Brussels
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19 January 2012The Nation Bangkok
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Eurozone crisis
European rating agency in the pipeline
19 January 20126PresseuropDiário de Notícias -
Hungary-EU
Viktor Orbán dodges MEPs questions
19 January 2012PresseuropNépszava -
European Parliament
Hurricane Schulz replaces Buzek the Calm
18 January 20123PresseuropDer Spiegel, Financial Times Deutschland, Wprost, Gazeta Wyborcza -
Hungary-EU
Brussels starts power struggle with Orbán
18 January 20128PresseuropNépszabadság, Magyar Nemzet, Népszava -
Immigration
Shipwrecks that no one mentions
18 January 20122PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
17 January 2012La Libre Belgique Brussels
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Eurozone crisis
Draghi sounds the alarm
17 January 20124PresseuropIl Sole-24 Ore -
Eurozone crisis
After the downgrades comes the downward spiral
16 January 201263Financial Times London -
Eurozone crisis
For S&P, the Emperor has no clothes
16 January 201215PresseuropCorriere della Sera, Hospodárske Noviny, Die Presse & 3 others -
Eurozone crisis
France relegated to 2nd division
16 January 201211Le Monde Paris
At a time when Athens is still involved in debt restructuring negotiations with its private creditors, Neelie Kroes’ recent allusions to a Greek exit from the euro are a sign that European leaders are intent on preparing the terrain for such an eventuality. 
The game has gone on for nearly two years: Athens pretends to comply with the demands of its creditors and partners, and they pretend to believe in Greece’s commitments. As the spectre of default comes nearer, however, the Greek bluff cannot go on much longer, writes an El Mundo editorialist. 
The European Commission and its civil servants gained unprecedented powers with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on February 7 1992. Two decades later, the economy’s primacy over politics and the advent of the crisis has destroyed their dreams and turned them into scapegoats. 
“Hitler”, “Occupying Power" – it’s always the same. Berlin is asserting its stance on the euro crisis and, in turn, is being abused with comparisons to the Nazis. Die Zeit ponders how Germans should respond. 
A Greek default can still not be ruled out, and it would place the European Central Bank in considerable danger. To avoid this, states should pay up and provide guarantees, believes economist Melvyn Krauss. 
Unemployment has hit record levels in the EU, putting nearly a quarter of those Europeans who until now had a decent standard of living at risk of sliding into social exclusion. The phenomenon is undermining the EU’s strategies against poverty. 
At best, the measures adopted at the January 30 summit – the fiscal treaty and the economic growth plan – are meant, at best, to overcome the mistakes of the past year and a half, says columnist Xavier Vidal-Folch. At worst, they’re part of a recurring sham.
The idea of pinning the second Greek bail-out on the acceptance by Athens of supervision by a European budget commissioner, a German proposal unveiled on the eve of the January 30 European Council meeting, is nothing less than a violation of state sovereignty, according to the European press. 
While negotiations on the write-down of Greek debt remain ongoing, Athens city hall is supplying two meals a day to jobless workers who are now threatened with famine in the wake of austerity measures: a situation that some Greeks readily compare with the occupation of the country during World War 2. 
Italy has long cursed Germany as a know-it-all, and yet respects it as the head of the class. With the arrival of the very proper Mr Monti this is changing, and Berlin will have to get used to some lessons from Rome. 
By foisting fiscal austerity on its Eurozone partners while stubbornly refusing an enhanced role for the ECB, and greater mutual support on national debt, Germany is a greater hindrance than a help to the single currency, argues Anatole Kaletsky. 
It is the madness that has become self-evident: for years, the public sphere has been plundered and democracy ruined. The German writer Ingo Schulze has had enough. Here he sets out ten reasons to take himself seriously again. 
Now that the EU has slapped unprecedented sanctions on Iranian oil imports in a bid to thwart its alleged nuclear weapons programme, what are the consequences? asks a Tel Aviv based political scientist. 
As the Polish government prepares to sign the anti-piracy ACTA treaty, thousands of young internet users have taken to the streets in protest. Like most of their fellow Europeans, they fear it may “label their existential choices and free expression of identity as piracy,” explains internet anthropologist Piotr Cichocki. 
With their decision to impose an embargo on Iranian oil and to freeze Iranian bank assets in Europe, EU member states are hoping to force Teheran to halt its nuclear program — an initiative which the European press believes is a risky bet. 
On 22 January, Croats voted in favour of ratifying the Treaty of Accession to the EU, prompting a sigh of relief in Brussels. The record voter abstention rate, however, must give cause for concern, notes the Croatian press. 
Heirs to the Hapsburg Empire, Austria and Hungary have something else in common: an ambiguous relationship with history and a tendency to tolerate political excesses. Ten years after European sanctions against Vienna, why does the Budapest seem to be stuck in the 1930s? 
On January 22, Croatia must ratify by referendum the Treaty of Accession to the EU. But the campaign, coming just as the country is about to enter a Europe in crisis, has been marked by second thoughts and a new nationalist rhetoric. 
European leaders have used the threat of war to justify policies undertaken to save the euro. But this argument no longer works, argues Dutch philosopher Paul Scheffer. The hearts and minds of Europeans must be won with valid arguments. 
The election of Martin Schulz as new president will pave the way for a change of atmosphere in the European Parliament. In the wake of the reign of the consensus-building Pole, Jerzy Buzek, the German socialist is intent on shaking up institutions in Brussels. 
After quibbling for several weeks, the European Commission launched three legal actions against the Hungarian government. But who will back down first – Budapest or Brussels? The Hungarian press is not expecting any great changes. 
In the wake of the collective downgrading of 9 eurozone countries, including France, it’s become clear that the EU’s policy of rescue funds coupled with fiscal austerity has exhausted itself. It’s time for Angela Merkel and her partners to find a credible outcome, writes Wolfgang Münchau. 
For the European press, the ratings downgrade for nine eurozone countries by Standard & Poor's merely confirms what markets and leaders have known for a long time: that the difficulties of the eurozone are primarily due to rifts between the member countries. 
Standard & Poor's 13 January downgrade of France’s credit rating is a double blow: Nicolas Sarkozy and his presidential election rivals will come under even greater pressure from the markets while the North-South divide in Europe has grown significantly wider.