According to a new bill drafted by the government, Poles aged less than 35 “will be able to count on substantial state support when buying their first flat or home,” reports Gazeta Wyborcza.

The government is willing to cover 10 per cent of the final price in case of childless couples and single people. Those with children will receive a 15 per cent subsidy.

The provisional law, which has yet to be passed by the Sejm parliament, could come into effect from 2014, notes the daily. According to Home Broker analysis, 41.2 per cent of Poles live in what the EU categorises as overpopulated homes.

The Italian housing market went through its worst slump in 28 years in 2012, with 150,000 fewer transactions than in 2011.

The paradox, notes the Corriere della Sera, is that “while houses are now worth less, buying them costs more,” as crisis-hit banks provide fewer loans and sellers ask for more money.

Italians are above the EU average in terms of the proportion who own their primary home.

Rising unemployment suggests the housing crisis will not end soon. On May 14, a man set himself alight in protest at the fact his house was being auctioned because he was unable to repay a €10,000 debt.

For three out of four Europeans, “the worst of the crisis has yet to come,” points out El País in its report on a poll published on May 7 by several European dailies. Conducted in April in Germany, Spain, France, Poland and the United Kingdom, the survey reveals some surprises, notes the daily –

Paradoxically, the Spanish are the most optimistic: 40 per cent of respondents believe that the situation will improve within a year, as opposed to 60 per cent who do not. [...] The persistent belief that the worst has yet to come is probably based on the conviction that the many sacrifices that have already been made will cause the situation to continue to deteriorate.

"This is the only encouraging data for Spain," remarks El País, because it shows that the Spanish "are the most sceptical" about reforms and austerity: 76 per cent believe that such measures will have a negative influence on both the economy and society. They are closely followed by the Italians, 71 per cent of whom are also opposed to such policies —

In general, more than half of Europe’s citizens agree with this hypothesis, which calls into question the benefits of expected changes in the future. Only the Poles have a 76 per cent majority in favour [of austerity].

But the award for pessimism goes to France, points out Le Monde

On average, 92 per cent of Europeans feel negatively about the future of their country and the fate of their fellow citizens. In Metropolitan France, 97 per cent of households see dark clouds on the horizon. [...] Worse still, 85 per cent of French citizens, as opposed to 75 per cent of Europeans, believe that things can only get worse in the future.

The daily notes that “this gloom has reinforced French sympathy for the fate of Latin countries.” However, this sentiment

… is not accompanied by a radical rejection of Europe: EU membership is still perceived as an advantage by 55 per cent of the French, while 57 per cent of Germans believe it to be a handicap.

Even if the “dreaded catastrophe, which has been fed by ongoing discussion, turns out to be a fantasy, [...] it remains a testament to a fear that goes beyond the current crisis. [...] The “number one” concern is not the possibility of losing one’s job, but of being unable to grow old with dignity (47 per cent) or of being denied access to proper health care (25 per cent).

Buying second-hand clothing, exchanging services with neighbours, car-pooling or even going on holiday in a group are just some of the new habits taken up by those "Slovaks who have not been broken by the crisis, but who have learned to live with it", headlines Pravda. The daily looks into the change in people's behaviour caused by an enduring economic crisis, in a country where making ends meet evokes the poverty of the socialist period. And so, notes a sociologist in the columns of Pravda,

even though they may have a “draft in their wallets”, some people continue to buy brands, as they need to show that they can afford them. But more and more people think differently: [...] 'Alternative consumption' is becoming more frequent, though it remains a much less common trend in Slovakia than in the richer countries of western Europe because of the socialist past.

The privileged tool of bargain-hunting Slovaks is the Internet, which lets them compare prices and hunt down discount sites. As a shopper tells the journal –

We go to the hairdressers, the beauticians or on holiday only with discount coupons. We buy tyres, renovate apartments or wash the windows through discount sites. That helps save a few hundred euros every year.

“If we want to avoid a demographic catastrophe, we must give women more work and shift some of the parental responsibilities to fathers,” writes the daily.

To encourage dads to take a more active role in bringing up their children, Gazeta Wyborcza calls for a new prospective law on maternity and paternity to be redrafted. At present, the law will provide a period of paid leave to parents, allowing couples to decide how this should be divided between mothers and fathers. The newspaper wants four weeks of this leave to be paid only if the father takes time off work.

With the total fertility rate of 1.38, Poland ranks below the EU average of 1.59 and far below the 2.10 – 2.15 necessary to maintain the population at its current level.

“Europe is missing women at the top table," mourns La Croix. As International Women's Day rolls around on March 8, the French newspaper paints a mixed picture of respect for gender parity inside the European institutions:

The European institutions are making progress. [...] The proportion of women in the Parliament today has gone up to 35.4 per cent, from 16.3 per cent in 1979. [But] as the level of responsibility increases, the number of women falls back[...] The situation of the European Commission is emblematic. [...] At the highest levels there are eight women, against 26 men.

La Croix also points out that the ECB, as well as the three main EU institutions (Commission, Parliament and Council) are headed by men – the same ones who went to Oslo on December 10 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the EU.

For La Croix, parity could “pose a challenge for the next legislature following the 2014 European Union elections.”

Separatists are not only gaining ground in Scotland and Catalonia: the victory of Bart De Wever’s Flemish nationalists in 14 October local elections “is not just a warning for Belgium. It is a serious warning for all of Europe”, writes La Tribune. For the French business daily –

… it would be naive to believe that the winds which have advanced these movements in recent months are completely independent of the storm that has swept across Europe over the last two and a half years. Although it may not be the cause, the debt crisis has certainly contributed. In countries where unity is problematic […] the question is who will pay the debts of the wider community and who will make efforts to pay this debt. In other words, the focus is not on the fight against austerity, but rather on the drive to avoid austerity and to make it an issue for other people.

This is what is behind the Flemish conviction that Belgium’s financial difficulties are linked to poor management of the country’s central government, notes De Standaard. In this context, the Flemish newspaper cites University of Leuven  researcher Louis Vos –

When it turns out that the higher [federal] level does not work – the reproach hammered home by De Wever [the Flemish nationalist leader] is that Di Rupo’s high tax government does not have the support of a majority of Flemings – this leads to increased calls for autonomy.

However, notes Financial Times Deutschland, it may be “understandable” to raise the issue of independence, but it “cannot provide a response to the problems currently faced by Europe”. The German business daily continues –

Only by looking beyond borders and nationalism did Europe become prosperous and secure. We must do the same to overcome the banking, economic and financial crises that have submerged small countries like Ireland. Only a broad community has the capacity to help resolve problems that states cannot face alone. This has been well understood by the separatists: the Catalans want separation from Spain but they also want financial aid from Madrid. However, you cannot selfishly lay claim to successes and wealth while delegating problems and costs to central government or the EU. Europe should preserve its regional diversity without proclaiming an independent state on every occasion. To do so would undermine Europe’s capacity to resolve problems in the long term.

Other countries are bucking the trend, notes La Tribune, which points to the example of Italy, which is currently “reinforcing the central state at the expense of a fragile process of decentralisation” –

The Monti government, encouraged by the weakening of the Northern League, which has been undermined by scandal and its participation in the Berlusconi administration, has decided to overturn the 2001 reform to decentralise the state. Mario Monti wants to give greater powers to central government so as to avoid waste and corruption and also to exert greater control over the drive for austerity and the effort to limit public debt. [...] The debt crisis has undermined the credibility of regional governments and the country’s major secessionist party.

“Palikot’s revolution”, headlines Wprost weekly on the movement which garnered over 10 percent of the vote in the recent Polish election, making it the third largest party in the Sejm. Leading with a frontpage photo of three Palikot’s Movement (RP) leaders – founder Janusz Palikot, transsexual Anna Grodzka and gay activist Robert Biedroń – the Warsaw weekly asks: “Will they change politics, the Church and the Poles?”. Certainly, all three have huge political ambitions. Their first proposal – to remove the wooden cross hanging in Poland's parliament – has already caused a stir and a wave of criticism from the mainstream parties. According to a poll published in Gazeta Wyborcza, most Poles (71%) did not like the idea either.

But Janusz Palikot is not easily discouraged. In an interview with Wprost he hints that his goal is not to create “another political party” but to “carry out changes”. “Polish society will be incredibly transformed, even if we don’t enter any government or implement anything because our proposals will be voted down. It is going to be a normalisation of otherness on a gigantic scale”, enthuses Palikot who calls for public funding of IVF treatment, a clear separation of the Church from the state, legalisation of gay and lesbian unions, liberalisation of abortion laws as well as marijuana legalisation – a message that met with a surprisingly warm reception from an electorate long considered conservative. “Not only has Palikot tapped into a strong anti-clerical sentiment in Polish society, he has also caught a wind of change blowing from the West”, concludes philosopher and columnist Marcin Król.

“The Church dies in Europe,” headlines Tygodnik Powszechny on the occasion of Benedict XVI’s visit to Germany starting September 22. Statistics published by the German episcopate tell it all: in 2010 over 180,000 Germans left the Church while only 170,000 were baptised. Also, the number of vocations has been dwindling: in 2009, 120 candidates entered the seminary; a year later there were just 79 of them. Similar trends are observed in countries like Spain or Ireland, once considered Europe’s Catholic vanguard. “Less churchgoers, less vocations, less support for the Christian ethic, less Vatican authority”, writes the Polish Catholic journal, noting that sex abuse scandals have “swept away the Irish Church” and made many people turn their back on the Catholic Church. “Churches of the Old Continent should get used to the fact that the age of the masses is over and they will not, hand in hand with the rulers, convert and baptise the crowd”, observes priest and theologian Paul M. Zulehner.

“Bras on sale for girls as young as seven,” headlines the Belfast Telegraph. Airing concerns about “the sexualisation of children”, the Belfast daily leads with news that a number of clothes chains in the Northern Irish capital are “selling padded bras to enhance the figures of girls as young as seven, despite concern from children’s rights groups.” The bras have provoked the ire of Northern Irish minister Arlene Foster, “a mother of three children under 11”,  who has called on the Northern Irish assembly “to step in to stop this practice.” To the south, meanwhile, shops in the Irish Republic are selling “bra and knicker sets for three to four year olds”. The Telegraph notes that logos on knickers include "And your problem is . . .?", "I don't ask for much, just my own way!" and "Whatever". Said a spokeswoman for the Belfast Feminist Network – “Selling products like this to pre-teens is about conditioning young girls into the stereotyped roles society forces them into.”

“Homelessness could spread to middle class”, headlines the Guardian, following a report by Crisis, a UK charity. The 120 page study points to “a direct link between the downturn and rising homelessness as cuts to services and draconian changes to benefits shred the traditional welfare safety net,” the London daily reports. The study shows that last year 44,160 people were classified as homeless and placed in social housing, an increase of 10% on the previous year and the first increase in almost a decade. In 2010, another 189,000 people – up 14% on 2009 – were also placed in temporary accommodation – such as small hotels and B&Bs. The charity also identifies  a "hidden homeless" trend –where families are forced to share one room rather than a flat. 630,000 households are described as "overcrowded". The reports states that, “Any significant reduction of the welfare safety net in the UK as a result of coalition reforms may, of course, bring the scenario of middle-class homelessness that much closer.”

Meanwhile, Le Monde reveals that the population in France living below the poverty line (€954 per month) has risen in the last years from 7.8 million (13% of the population) in 2008 to 8.2 millions in 2009 (13.5%), according to a survey by the French national statistics institute. A trend that has been worsening in the last two years, a senior representative for the Secours Populaire charity tells the Parisian daily.

Following the example of China and North Korea, Romania will soon have its own tourist trail devoted to the glories of Communism. More than 20 years after the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu, the country’s ministry of tourism has announced the creation of a "propaganda itinerary," which will take in specific places that figured large in the life of the "Conducător." According to the minister concerned, the initiative is justified, among other reasons, by the fact that "50 per cent of Romanians, who believe that life was better under his rule, regret the passing of the dictator," while "40 per cent believe that Communism was a good thing."

For columnist Sabina Fati, "Dictators continue to exert an appeal even after their death. However, democratic governments avoid entering into a spiral of posthumous fascination.” She also points out that tourist initiatives that focus on dictatorships in other countries, like Germany and Serbia, tend to be "organised by the far left – the glorification of the Berlin Wall – or private entrepreneurs – Tito’s 'Blue Train'". However, "No government minister in Madrid would ever dream of creating a tourist trail that followed in the footsteps of Franco."

“Yes to divorce,” headlines the Times of Malta following the May 28 referendum in which 52.6% of ballots cast were in favour of introducing divorce on the island. A conservative, Catholic country, Malta is the last EU member states to lift the ban on divorce. The present law only authorises separations or the annulment of the marriage. Re-marriage is possible but only after a long procedure which pushes those Maltese that wish to divorce to do so abroad. “What is certain is that the outcome opens a new page in the history of Maltese society and its approach to tackling the ever-growing problem of failed marriages,” notes the Times of Malta editorial.

“The people haven’t just voted ‘Yes’ to divorce, they have signalled they are happy to embrace the modern age. The new Malta isn’t condemning and stifling, it is relaxed and open,” agrees the Malta Star. For the Times of Malta: “Now the focus shifts to Parliament and its members who have the duty and grave responsibility of translating the people’s mandate into legislation that encapsulates the main elements listed in the referendum question but also attain that about which there is national consensus: strengthening marriage and the family”. Finally, the paper concludes: “It is time for MPs to stand up and be counted, literally”.