Culture & Ideas
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Internet: Hasta la vista, Street View
19 August 2010PresseuropDziennik Gazeta Prawna -
Germany: Don’t look for me on Google
11 August 20101PresseuropFrankfurter Rundschau -
Cinema: Crossing cultures in Romania’s border zone
9 August 201025PresseuropEvenimentul zilei -
Cinema: Europe sweet-talks Hollywood
9 August 201046 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Amsterdam: Who cares about Unesco?
6 August 2010683 NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam -
Communications: OSCE warns of shrinking media freedoms
30 July 20101PresseuropEUobserver.com -
Heritage: Istanbul, all a facade
27 July 2010951 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Czech Republic: Epic battle over Art Nouveau masterpiece
27 July 2010PresseuropHospodářské Noviny -
Italy: Berlusconi's gag law smothered
21 July 2010PresseuropLa Repubblica -
Greece: Who killed Sokratis Giolias?
20 July 2010PresseuropTa Nea -
History: Grunwald, the battle that changed Central Europe
15 July 2010172PresseuropPolska The Times -
Where is the Union headed? (9): Europe keeps moving, nevertheless
12 July 201025 Respekt Prague -
Theatre: Eight Gypsies and a play by Lorca
9 July 201083 El Correo Bilbao -
Finance: States vs markets: an unfair fight
8 July 2010281 El País Madrid -
Sweden: Millenium's distorting mirror
6 July 2010841 Fokus Stockholm -
Where is the Union headed? (8): More Europe? No thanks.
5 July 2010351 Público Lisbon -
Crisis: Will Europe pull through?
2 July 2010PresseuropThe American Interest -
Where is the Union headed? (7): Has the crisis led to an east / west face off?
1 July 201076 La Repubblica Rome -
Art world: Ego-seums are coming to Europe
24 June 20101121 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Portugal: Saramago remembered, but President forgets
21 June 2010PresseuropPúblico -
Exhibition: From east to west, art remains political
18 June 201035 Dilema Veche Bucharest -
Hungary: Stricter regulations proposed for press
18 June 20101PresseuropNépszabadság -
Austria: Country mourns "real boss"
18 June 2010PresseuropDie Presse -
Denmark: Artistic asylum for Zimbabwean writer
16 June 2010PresseuropJyllands-Posten -
Austria: Google to digitize National Library
16 June 20101PresseuropDie Presse -
Where is the Union headed? (5): The European project should not falter now
15 June 201084 L'Espresso Rome -
Literature: Enter the Euronovel
4 June 20102 El País Madrid -
Politics: Where to for the European left?
4 June 2010562 La Repubblica Rome -
A town in Europe: Oberammergau, a passion for the Passion
2 June 201039 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Eurovision: Germany is loved, at last
31 May 2010PresseuropDie Tageszeitung -
Music: Eurovision, better than an EU directive
28 May 2010752 Irish Independent Dublin -
Where is the union headed? (3): A single European destiny
26 May 20101174 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Where is the union headed? (2): Why I’m missing the EEC
25 May 2010881 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
European of the Week : Ilmars Poikans, Latvian cyber-avenger
21 May 2010578 Süddeutsche Zeitung Munich -
Cinema: Afghanistan documentary rocks Denmark
18 May 2010PresseuropJyllands-Posten -
France: Modern art goes to the provinces
11 May 2010PresseuropLa Croix -
Cannes 2010: Rome snubs film festival
10 May 2010PresseuropCorriere della Sera -
Culture: Europe’s mainstream is just a trickle
23 April 20101274 Rue89 Paris -
European of the Week: Antonio Presti, anti-Mafia patron of the arts
23 April 2010145 El País Madrid -
Internet: The Pirate International is born
20 April 2010PresseuropPúblico -
ICELAND VOLCANO: A Europe without planes
20 April 2010211 The Independent London -
ICELAND VOLCANO: Air travel - computer says No
19 April 2010743 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt -
Computer piracy: Romanian hackers attack Daily Telegraph
16 April 2010PresseuropRomânia libera -
Photography: Quest for Europe’s natural treasures
15 April 2010De Morgen Brussels -
Press: Russian oligarch seeks newspaper
8 April 201024 Libération Paris -
Architecture: Scaling down on starchitects
6 April 2010203 Trouw Amsterdam -
Journalism: The incredible shrinking E.U. press corps
2 April 2010544 The New York Times New York -
Czech Republic: Reflex magazine is 20
2 April 2010Presseurop -
Easter: St Paul was a leftie
2 April 20101PresseuropNew Statesman -
Languages: Goodbye English, long live Globish
2 April 201026815 The Guardian London
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. 
UNESCO’s recognition of Amsterdam’s 17th-century canal ring area fails to impress NRC Handelsblad, which argues that tourism and modernisation will not benefit from the city’s new status as a World Heritage Site — a title the newspaper believes is largely overblown. 
For years the Turkish government has been deliberately gutting Istanbul’s old town rather than restoring it, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung. UNESCO now intends to strike Istanbul off the World Cultural Heritage list, seeing as politicians have done nothing but stymie efforts to preserve its historic monuments. 
The Greek crisis, German rigour, the shifting global balance of power: the EU has been sorely tried these past few months. But that won’t keep it from evolving in a slightly different form, assures German journalist/political scientist Josef Joffe. Interview.
Take eight illiterate gitanas to perform a play by the great Spanish poet. The point of this experiment in Seville is to take at least the barb of artistic exclusion out of social segregation: a subject of debate for the European Encounters series at the Avignon Summer Festival. 
Since the crisis broke in 2008, the nation-state has been overwhelmed by new players in a changing world. The EU 27, bereft of political leadership, are the case in point. 
Does Sweden's celebrated social-democratic model still exist or has the Millenium saga, which depicts a society sunk in corruption and violence, killed it off? Stieg Larsson's English biographer puts the question to two other masters of the new wave in Northern noir. 
To stave off the risk of overindebted member states going bust, the EU 27 have taken steps – e.g. euro stabilisation plan, outline of economic governance – tending towards tighter integration. But once again they’ve done it without asking the European public’s opinion, bemoans Público. 
The economic crisis has slowed, if not stopped, the rapprochement between Western and Eastern Europe. Now that the excesses of capitalism have put a damper on their liberal democratic élan, ex-Communist countries are seeing a subversion of the values they once fought for, writes Yugoslav intellectual Predrag Matvejević. 
A rift is emerging in the European art scene: as public establishments languish under budget cuts, private museums are booming. But the latter are generally showcases for self-serving oligarchs, warns the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Museums, places where our society portrays and projects itself, may be becoming an endangered species. 
In Paris the "Les Promesses du Passé" (Promises of the past) exhibition examines the development of artistic creation and the continuing ambition to change the world in a Europe marked by the Iron Curtain and the East-West divide. 
Confronted by economic crisis, European governments and citizens are increasingly succumbing to the temptations of nationalism, selfishness and mistrust of foreigners — a trend deplored by writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, who emphasises the integral role played by immigrants in modern Europe, and modern European identity. 
Is it possible to write a novel combining the literary atmospheres of several European nations? That is what the young and gifted Argentine Patricio Pron does in El comienzo de la primavera, according to his Spanish counterpart Félix de Azúa.
In power in the countries worst hit by the economic crisis – Spain, Greece and Portugal – left-wing parties have been forced to implement austerity packages that closely resemble those chosen by conservative counterparts in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly, their grassroots supporters are none too pleased. 
For nearly four centuries, the inhabitants of this Bavarian village have performed a Passion Play every ten years to ward off the danger of the plague: a highly colourful event, which attracts tourists from all over the world. 
The Eurovision Song Contest is not just a festival of tackiness, cheese and camp, argues Irish author Martina Devlin. It’s also a chance to have a look at the countries with whom we now have inextricable links. 
Taking their cue from the German chancellor, Europe’s leaders seem to be hiding behind “the will of the people” as an excuse for their inertia. And yet political will is what we need now to confront the crisis and bring the European project back to life, argues philosopher Jürgen Habermas. 
While he appreciates Europe and its diversity, Dutch writer Leon de Winter doesn’t believe there’s enough cultural common ground to justify the EU construct. Ambitious politicians and power-hungry technocrats are exacting a grass-roots solidarity that simply doesn’t exist. De Winter makes the case for a return to the EEC. 
For months he was Latvia’s cyber Robin Hood. After hacking into secret tax files, Ilmars Poikans, alias Neo, showed his compatriots how the country’s elite lined their pockets during the crisis. 
Having lagged behind an American cultural superpower for decades, the European mainstream now faces competition from the cultural products of China, India, and Brazil. A book published in France warns that Europe has been increasingly marginalized in the soft war to capture the popular imagination. 
For 30 years this Sicilian entrepreneur has been lavishing the bulk of his fortune on artistic projects. Defying convention, corruption and the Cosa Nostra, he seeks to "help people respect their patch” and “rediscover their identity" through art. 
The disruption of air traffic triggered by the Eyjafjallajoekull volcanic ash cloud reveals not just how big Europe is but also its social and economic weaknesses, argues columnist Hamish McRae 
The aviation standstill was not caused by facts, but by a computer simulation. Increasingly powerful computers now take decisions off our hands. Not only in the air, but in everyday life, too. So we need an overseer to control computer decisions, urges the FAZ. 
For over a year, 69 photographers were sent out on “The Great Quest” for Europe’s flora and fauna. The object of project Wild Wonders of Europe: to reveal the continent’s biodiversity to the world. 
Sergei Pugachev takes over France-Soir, Alexander Lebedev buys The Independent and The Evening Standard... Libération wonders why Moscovite billionaires are so eager to take over unprofitable European newspapers. 
The days of ostentatious architecture by star architects are at an end. Under the influence of the economic crisis, budgets have been pared down and vast projects have been set aside to be replaced by more modest buildings. A positive change, which will force architects to seek solutions to problems that they themselves have helped to create, argues director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi), Ole Bouman. 
Even as the EU gets more and more talked about, the Brussels press corps is dwindling. Nowhere is this phenomenon more marked than amongst journalists from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe. 
With a vocabulary of only 1500 words, “Globish” or “decaffeinated English” has become the world lingua franca. Author Robert McCrum charts the rise of this new dialect of the 21st century.