Berlin
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24 January 2012PresseuropDie Tageszeitung
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14 October 2011The New York Times New York
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Pirate party
Children of Marx and Microsoft
20 September 20115Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
19 September 2011PresseuropFinancial Times Deutschland
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Germany
Über alles, but nice
15 March 20112The Guardian London -
European of the week
How I survived the Irish boom
24 November 20101The Times London -
Cities
The spirit of urban renewal
8 September 2010La Stampa Turin -
A town in Europe
Berlin, the new Tel Aviv
7 September 2010Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Cinema
Europe sweet-talks Hollywood
9 August 2010Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
16 July 20102Die Zeit Hamburg
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11 February 2010PresseuropDer Tagesspiegel
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European of the Week
Helene Hegemann, the art of cut and paste
11 February 20104Berliner Zeitung Berlin -
Nightlife
Paris, city of... lights out
16 December 2009Cafebabel.com Paris -
2 December 2009PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau
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Germany
BMWs ablaze in bobo Berlin
25 November 2009PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
France-Germany
Burying the hatchet
11 November 2009Presseurop -
Germany
After the Wall
9 November 2009Presseurop -
After 1989
Blooming boho Berlin
9 November 2009Les Inrockuptibles Paris -
Tower of Babel
Like talking to a Berlin wall
9 November 2009Cafebabel.com Paris -
Autumn 1989
The Wall fell in Leipzig
9 October 2009Die Zeit Hamburg -
Culture
The new squatocracy
2 October 2009Cafebabel.com Paris -
28 July 2009PresseuropNeue Zürcher Zeitung
They demand transparency and direct democracy, and almost one in ten voters in Berlin gave them their vote. The Pirate Party is no longer just a party for Net-nerds in hoodies, but represents demands from across society. 
After a turbulent 20th century, Germany has emerged as Europe’s economic and political powerhouse. As the European Union becomes increasingly tight-knit, this major role, it seems, is one the reunified country isn't entirely eager to take on. 
Irish author Julian Gough got through the Celtic Tiger years on little more than love and fresh air. Now resident in Berlin, here’s his tale of staying sceptical (and broke) as the rest of the country went mad (and bust) on property fever. 
A number of declining ex-industrial European cities like Bilbao, Berlin and Lille have succeeded in using culture to buck the downward trend. But a fancy new opera house or mega-museum is not enough to kindle the urban renewal dynamic: an open mind for the unexpected and even inefficient is also an indispensable ingredient.
"You’ve never experienced a city like this one before,” they say. Berlin is the European city of choice for Israelis. Above and beyond bitter remembrances of expulsion and extermination, what they seek there now is, first and foremost, fun. 
For years, European film boards have been competing with offers of tax breaks and subsidies to lure major US film producers to their studios. France is the latest country to adopt such a strategy, but it still lacks the appropriate infrastructure. 
In virtually every major European city, long-established locals and artists are fighting against the gentrification of their neighbourhoods. But the arty types are falling out of favour, observes the author Tanja Dückers. No longer hailed as the rebellious vanguard, they are actually bent on joining the establishment.
She’s the new star of the German literary scene. At 17, Helene Hegemann has already beguiled the critics with a novel about disoriented and unrestrained youth. The only problem is she lifted whole passages off the web. But she admits it – and ushers in a new take on plagiarism and “authenticity”, writes the Berliner Zeitung. 
Once a nightclubber's paradise, Paris has lost much of its old magic. Chief culprits are anti-noise laws, smoking bans and sky-high rents. But a group of nightlife professionals are striking back, cafebabel.com reports. 
November 11th – commemorating the French victory over Germany in World War I – is now to become a Franco-German holiday. Yet another step towards closer amity between the two big European nations, heralds the press on either side of the Rhine.
Today, on 9 November, a reunified Germany and a peaceful Europe will celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – an event hailed by the European press, which nonetheless notes that the end of the Cold War has yet to bring all of the expected benefits to the Old Continent. 
Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Berlin has been blasting borders right, left and centre. Art, music and the “new tribes” are flourishing on the rubble of the past. A tour of the freest city in Europe. 
140 kilometres of wall crumbled in 1989 and hundreds of European expressions arose as it fell. Cafebabel.com's linguistic tour of Europe is flavoured this week by the 9 November event. 
The Berlin Wall is the symbol of both divided and reunified Germany. But 20 years ago, on 9 October, the first mass demonstrations against the East German regime took place in Leipzig. Had it not been for Leipzig, the Wall would never have come down, writes Die Zeit.
Squats have always provided a venue for alternative lifestyles and experiments in artistic creation, but in recent times, an increasing number of squatters in Paris and Berlin have succeeded in transforming illegally occupied spaces into legal art galleries and respectable cultural centres. Could this benevolent trend herald the end of squatting as we know it?