Steven Erlanger
Born in 1952, Steven Erlanger is an American journalist who has been the Paris bureau chief for The New York Times since 2008. Erlanger joined the Times in September 1987. In 2002 he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting with other staffers of the paper for work on Al Qaeda.
Updated: 13 August 2010
The crisis is reviving old historical and economic quarrels between rich regions with a strong sense of identity and central governments. But as the latest example of Catalonia shows, the question is whether the EU encourages stability or secessionist tendencies. 
The murderous attacks by Anders Behring Breivik on July 22 have shocked a nation that prided itself on its collectivist model based on tolerance and egalitarianism. A New York Times report. 
From Greece to Ireland, the EU is encouraging members states to imposing painful cuts in public spending. But a growing number of critics are criticising a “cult of austerity” that threatens to push Europe further into recession.