“The whole of France is in mourning”, is the front-page headline dedicated by La Croix (5/1) to the air disaster of Sharm-el-Sheikh, in which 148 people lost their lives, 133 of them of French nationality. According to Bruno Frappat, who signs the editorial, the tragedy of the Boeing 737, “apart from its causes, technical, human or of other type, is first and foremost a human tragedy. It is a concentration, an amplification, an exaggeration, in some sense, of that irreparable breach that happens every day, on the occasion of traffic or other accidents and the less visible tragedies of families that have suffered the loss of their dear ones”. Another French paper, Le Monde (7/1), especially comments on the repercussions of the accident: the “Swiss reproof” and “ the French embarrassment“; it notes that the tragedy was followed by a “polemic” between the Swiss and French authorities with regard to the “manifest shortcomings” ascertained by Swiss civil aviation inspectors in 2002 on two airplanes of the Egyptian charter company in question. “A real catalogue of promises, a framework for the dreams of a new and better government”. That’s how the Herald Tribune (7/1) defines the new Constitution of Afghanistan. In the view of the American daily, it “offers a hope that this stricken nation may finally evolve into a modern, democratic state”. The new Constitution, that “establishes an Islamic republic” in the former country of the Taleban, is also welcomed by Le Monde (6/1), with an article in which Françoise Chipaux points out: “Two years and a month after the Bonn Accords on the future of Afghanistan, in the aftermath of the fall of the Taleban regime, the Grand Council has approved the Constitution of the new State constructed under the auspices of the United Nations (…). Afghanistan is an Islamic republic, proclaims article 1 of the Constitution, which, without mentioning the Sharia (the body of doctrines that regulate the lives of those who profess Islam), declares that no law may be ‘contrary to the sacred religion’ (…). The challenge is now to implement this Constitution and organize the presidential elections which ought to be followed, within six months, by the legislative elections”. “The euro in place of the pound sterling?”: that’s the question posed by Elio Maraone in the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire (8/1). In Maraone’s view, “the aspirations of British premier Tony Blair have long included that of joining the single currency, so much so that already people are speaking of an entry date: 2007”. “In this period of continental discontent and malaise about the European Union and the single currency, the British premier is insisting, in his own way, on the process of integration”. “Blair concludes Maraone is distinguished by having remained faithful to a project of decided European reinforcement, also based on the calculation of utility for everyone that comprised and comprises the adoption of the single currency: in other words the project that was launched by France and Germany in 1996, but which was perfected by the advent of Blair to power”. The controversial reforms proposed by the Schröder government continue to agitate the German press. They include the hypothesis of elite universities, advanced by the Minister of Education Bulmahn. This proposal, which would also erode the principle of the autonomy of the Länder and of federalism, has aroused various reactions among German commentators. “ If one has at one’s disposal a good deal of intelligence and a good deal of money, it is certainly far easier to establish an elite university than to raise the scientific level of the existing universities and promote excellence at the scientific level“, points out the Frankfurter Allgemeine (6/1). “ The Ministry of Education, however, is cutting funds for research, stifling university building, discouraging new recruits to university posts and prohibiting universities from increasing student enrolment fees. […] Germany has a need for an elite at the scientific level but not of elite universities: what we need instead is many universities competitive at the international level with leading faculties“, concluded the article.The situation in Iraq continues to focus the attention of the Spanish press. Lluis Foix, writing in the Vanguardia (6/1), assesses the war in Iraq two years after the new Bush strategy. He writes that “ the language of this war is exclusively that of force, derived from the new strategic policy announced by President Bush in September 2002″. According to Foix, “ the response of the USA to the terrible terrorist attacks of 11 September was not that of the incontrovertible right of self-defence, but that of the dubious right of unilateral preventive attacks“. Commenting in La Razón (7/1) on the new measures that the Bush Administration wants to introduce on air security, Fermin Bocos writes: “ The Bush government, responsible for the shocking error of the security forces and intelligence services that permitted Bin Laden to perpetrate the attacks of 11 September, now wants to control everything. These measures offend the dignity of all the citizens of the world who have condemned the attacks and who are enemies of terrorism no less than Bush himself or Tom Ridge, the Secretary of State responsible for this xenophobic measure“.¤———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1261 N.ro relativo : 1 Data pubblicazione : 10/01/2004
