Society
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Gender equality: Portuguese women — poorly rewarded for good education
5 October 20121538 Visão Lisbon -
Education : Erasmus is going bankrupt
4 October 2012148524PresseuropLa Vanguardia, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna -
Immigration: The secrets of Fortress Europe
4 October 201217712 De Groene Amsterdammer Amsterdam -
Emigration: The Germans are coming back to Poland
1 October 201230226 Uważam Rze Warsaw -
Lithuania-Russia: Stubbing out Kaliningrad’s illicit cigarette trade
27 September 2012444 15min Vilnius -
Prostitution: Brussels targets human trafficking
26 September 2012473PresseuropCorriere della Sera -
Czech Republic: Time we boozed with sobriety
26 September 20124411 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Emigration: Poles still looking for better jobs abroad
26 September 20124813PresseuropGazeta Wyborcza -
Greece: Russians bargain-hunting in Northern Aegean
25 September 20122533 I Kathimerini Athens -
Spain: Eurovegas won’t hit the jackpot
21 September 20128791 El País Madrid -
Profile: Bare breasts, heads high
20 September 20122039 Libération Paris -
GMO: Study finds GMO corn is not harmless
20 September 201224921PresseuropLe Nouvel Observateur -
Belgium: Cutting out an irritating word
20 September 2012708PresseuropDe Morgen -
France-Belgium: Protests against anti-Islam film reach Europe
19 September 20123631PresseuropDe Morgen, Le Figaro -
Immigration: The other Greek crisis
19 September 2012181182 The Wall Street Journal Europe Brussels -
Romania: Expelled Roma will keep coming back
18 September 201219121 Evenimentul zilei Bucharest -
Germany: A year on, mixed results for the Pirates
17 September 2012682Presseurop -
Czech Republic: Alcohol lock down after wave of adulterated liquor deaths
17 September 20122153PresseuropMladá Fronta DNES, Lidové noviny , SME -
Greece: Exarchia — the Hell’s Kitchen of Athens
17 September 20121446 To Vima Athens -
Democracy: Put citizens at the heart of the Union
14 September 201247456 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Estonia: Austerity as a way of life
13 September 201210616 Eesti Ekspress Tallinn -
Spain-Morocco: Agreement to curb migration pressure on the Spanish islands
4 September 20123214PresseuropABC -
Spain: No more free treatment for undocumented migrants
31 August 201211614PresseuropEl País, La Razón -
France : Blue blood defends Gypsies
31 August 201224511 Libération Paris -
Greece: 21st century Nazis
30 August 20122308160 The Independent London -
Spain: Workers’ cooperative defies crisis
29 August 2012263325 Público Madrid -
France: Job market partially opens to Romanians and Bulgarians
23 August 20122835PresseuropLe Monde -
Germany: First step towards Islam in schools
21 August 201210924PresseuropSüddeutsche Zeitung -
Eurozone crisis: Time to make the rich pay
17 August 201255559 Der Tagesspiegel Berlin -
Hungary: Viktor Orbán seeks salvation in Asia
16 August 20121938 Hospodářské Noviny Prague -
Germany-Czech Republic : Mixed patrols to fight against drugs
16 August 2012161PresseuropNovinky.cz -
Greece: Race murder sparks Greek soul searching
14 August 2012667PresseuropI Kathimerini -
France : New Roma deportations greeted by silence
13 August 201232123PresseuropLe Monde -
Olympic Games : Are they worth the effort?
13 August 201214217 La Vanguardia Barcelona -
Back to Spain (3/3): Pepe is not here any more
10 August 201235138 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Back to Spain (2/3): Storming Barcelona’s banks
9 August 201233220 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Social Movements: The “indignados” go home quietly
8 August 2012794PresseuropLa Croix -
Back to Spain (1/3): Everything revolves around the crisis
8 August 201228843 Der Spiegel Hamburg -
Greece: Clampdown on illegal immigrants
6 August 2012525PresseuropTa Nea -
Albania: Saying farewell to Hoxha’s bunkers
3 August 20121915 Gazeta Wyborcza Warsaw -
Italy: Monte Argentario, where the Czech elite goes to heaven
1 August 2012394 Mladá Fronta DNES Prague -
United Kingdom: The Orwellian Olympic spirit
20 July 201223826 The New York Times New York -
Religion: Why circumcision hurts
20 July 201213934 Die Zeit Hamburg -
Demographics: Will the Portuguese be extinct by 2204?
18 July 2012119629 Expresso Lisbon -
Europe: Between east and west, a gulf of stereotypes
16 July 201230854 IQ The Economist Vilnius -
Banks: How Iceland stalks its banksters
12 July 2012324514 Le Monde Paris -
Greece: Island for sale, due to crisis
11 July 20122216 El Mundo Madrid -
Austria: Why not let the people decide?
10 July 20121009 Die Presse Vienna -
Ukraine: Roma flee to the “reservation”
5 July 20121892 Aktuálnĕ.cz Prague -
Poland: Euro 2012, official sponsor of multiculturalism
25 June 201213810 Polska The Times Warsaw
In a single generation, Portuguese women cleared away obstacles impeding their ability to receive a genuine education. But they must still break through the glass ceiling in the public and private sector workplaces where men are over represented in upper management.
The EU is constantly looking to strengthen surveillance of its external borders, using increasingly expensive technologies. But are they effective? And in a democracy, who control the controller? asks the Groene Amsterdammer.
For years, West Germany was a prime destination for Polish immigrants. But today, it's the Germans who are crossing the River Oder in search of work in Poland.
In spite of the installation of increasingly sophisticated surveillance equipment, Lithuanian authorities are still struggling to eradicate a highly lucrative cross-border traffic in cigarettes with the neighbouring Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Their task is made all the more difficult by the wide variety of interests served by the illegal trade.
The partial ban on sales of spirits after 26 deaths due to methanol poisoning is likely to end soon. But in a country where liberties can often lead to carelessness, keeping some sort of ban in place may be worth thinking about, argues a columnist.
Second homes, hotels, land and football clubs… Greece, and particularly the region of Thessaloniki, is being swept by a tide of Russian money. A financial windfall which could have an impact on the privatisation of the country’s infrastructure.
In 2016, a “European Las Vegas” should open outside Madrid. In response, Catalonia is launching Barcelona World, a super-park attraction. In Europe, however, these entertainment venues imported from America rarely live up to their economic promises.
The women of the Femen association, noted for their bare-breasted feminist demonstrations, are the best-known activists in Ukraine. But some, such as Inna Shevchenko, have been pressured into leaving the country. Now settled in Paris, they have opened a training centre in order to instruct followers from the world over.
Already hit by the crisis and austerity measures, Greece must also cope on very limited resources with the arrival of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Here too, it is getting little in the way of solidarity from its EU partners.
While Paris is toughening up its policy on repatriating Roma back to Romania and Bulgaria, some of them are doing quite well out of it by heading back to France – notably from what they pocket for leaving France “voluntarily”.
Historical stronghold of anarchists in the heart of Athens, the square has become a thermometer of Greek society during the crisis. Among the artists’ squats and trendy youth dropping by to breathe the air of protest, trafficking and violence are growing.
Europe today is suffering an erosion of representative democracy, citizenship and solidarity, making emerging from the crisis that much harder. If the Union cannot encourage an upswing in citizen participation it will not survive in its current form, warns a Polish columnist.
The most recent entrants in the Eurozone have come to terms with the austere management of the country’s finances and their own personal spending, to the point where not putting a penny astray has become a point of national pride.
A scion of affluent neighbourhoods, educated at an English public school and currently a law student, nothing predestined Louis de Gouyon Matignon for the presidency of an association that protects Gypsy culture. Yet, this grandson of a marquis has embraced the cause and the religion of the Manouche, French travellers.
While the Paralympic Games begin today in London, in Athens, the ultra-right Golden Dawn party, is promoting hate-attacks against people with disabilities and homosexuals, having already targeted immigrants and ethnic minorities, says one UK commentator. In this atmosphere, which echoes the rise of Nazism in Germany, the Greek government and EU are turning a blind eye.
Unemployment is non-existent in Marinaleda, an Andalusian village in southern Spain that is prosperous thanks to its farming cooperative. In a country in the grip of austerity, the village mayor, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, heads a grassroots resistance movement.
In their bid to cope with debts, governments are taxing the middle classes, and overlooking the fact that bad investments — banks, property, public debt — made by the wealthy, are the cause of the current crisis. Taking up this idea, the liberal Der Tagesspiegel argues that the well-off should dig deeper.
Cold-shouldered in Europe, the government of Hungary has launched an “Eastern opening” policy in an attempt to find new allies in Asia. As part of its efforts, it shows little hesitation in dusting off the mythological ideology of the Hungarian fascists. And that is bringing it nearer to the extremist Jobbik party, notes a Czech journalist.
For supporters of the Olympics, the colossal sums invested have a positive impact in terms of tourism, urban renewal and society – by popularising sports. In reality, this is rarely the case, as shown by the examples of cities that have hosted the Games in the past.
What is going on in Spain? In the second part of his journey in his parents’ country, Der Spiegel reporter Juan Moreno discovers ruined people’s anger against the banks.
During the paranoid Hoxha years, hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers were meant to protect communist Albania from invasion by its enemies. Today they are now used by young people to party and to make out, or by others to recover steel and fuel the economic boom.
Some of Czech Republic's most famous politicians love nothing more than spend their holidays in stunning villas on Italy's Tuscan coast, sharing quality time with with family, lobbyists and businessmen. Their friendly and generous ways have endeared them to the local residents.
As the world’s athletes get ready for the start of the Olympic Games on July 27, Londoners are griping about huge traffic and public transport delays, and a massive, hectoring security presence.
Ever since a German court declared circumcision of a minor a punishable offense Germany has been debating religious freedom. As with the headscarf or the crucifix, the anxiety shows that German society is becoming ever more fearful of religion.
Portugal is being emptied of its population. Its people are getting older, the birth rate is falling and immigration is receding. And that's without the added pressure of the crisis which is pushing young graduates to seek a better future abroad.
In the Netherlands, Eastern Europeans have replaced Muslims as a target of the far right. The hostility is fed by clichés widespread throughout Western Europe, regrets a Lithuanian journalist, who admits that his own countrymen are not free from prejudice.
In London, Barclays rigged the interest rates on interbanks loans, while in Madrid, Bankia cooked the books in order go public. How can banks be held accountable? Iceland has appointed a team of investigators that seeks out fraud and sends the perpetrators to court.
Times are hard for private owners of Greece’s islands. Faced with a new troika-imposed property tax and rising interest rates, they are selling off their land. Prospective buyers, however, will need to deal with the local bureaucracy.
The ESM is one, and the fiscal pact another: should the major political decisions of a country be put to the people for a vote? In Vienna, which has been debating more transparency and direct democracy for some months, the politicians have been slamming the brakes on with both feet.
Of all the minorities living in Ukraine, the Roma are perhaps the most impoverished. Many of them were driven from their camps on the eve of the Euro 2012 football championship and most live in slums on the fringes of large cities, in misery and indifference of the authorities and other inhabitants. A report.
For the duration of the Euro 2012 football championship, Poland has become a multiethnic Mecca. Poles themselves seem to have found this new, multicultural reality quite appealing, writes Polska the Times.