The paper Europe

2007 was a strategic year for Europe: the effort to overcome the impasse following the rejection of the draft Constitution led to the Treaty of Lisbon, which redesigned a new scenario for the governance of the 27-member EU. Italian historian Paolo Pombeni’s recent book L’Europa di carta. Stampa e opinione pubblica in Europa nel 2007 [The Paper Europe. Press and Public Opinion in Europe in 2007] (published by Il Mulino, Bologna 2008), analyses the development of the debate on European questions through the lens of the leading dailies and periodicals of some EU countries. Austria. “The question of the democracy of the EU after Lisbon was at the centre of the debate in the last quarter [of 2007] in a Europe that seems to have ever more fear of its people”, says the book, which cites, in particular, the daily Der Standard. Another daily, Die Presse, emphasized “the absence of a political idea of Europe that is able permanently to replace in public opinion both the bureaucratic and administrative jargon and the expressions of national selfishness”.Belgium. The political situation “created following the electoral earthquake of 10 June 2007 monopolized the national press, relegating to the backburner issues of closer European relevance”. According to Le Soir Belgium’s crisis “is the mirror image of the crisis of the EU”, while the Libre Belgique expressed the view that “Belgium can only be saved in a Europe that is able to overcome the separatist rhetoric of little motherlands” and “continuously re-invent itself”.France. According to La Croix and Libération, Europe “represents a front on which Sarkozy intends to invest a large part of his international credibility”. His pro-European stance is expressed “in his determination to re-situate France at the centre of Europe” while at the same time launching the idea of a further community of nations revolving round the Mediterranean, defined by L’Express “Mare Sarkozyum“. But the Europe wished by the French President, says Le Monde, “must be more in tune with Washington”. Germany. The national press is of one mind in affirming that 2007, “a year that opened with the six months’ Presidency of the EU of Chancellor Merkel, paved the way for a settlement of the crisis following the French and Dutch referendums”. But divergences emerge about the idea of a “strong” Europe, which in the view of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung could “damage Germany’s independence in terms of security and the rule of law”. The Süddeutsche Zeitung on the other hand defends the idea of “a two-speed Europe, the only way of unblocking a political process held in check by a minority of countries”.Italy. The 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and the impasse following the French referendum ensured that ample coverage was devoted to European issues in the Italian press in 2007. If Aspenia underlined “the internal challenge, relating to the institutional means able to make the 27-member Europe work”, Il Sole 24 ore spoke of the “fragile Europeanism of the Prodi government”: “the re-setting in motion of Europe must be one of its priorities”. Italy’s major concern now seems to be, according to La Repubblica, that of “preventing her being sidelined as a second-class country”.United Kingdom. Already in the first weeks of January the Guardian posed the question “how much the insistence of Angela Merkel has further corroded the lack of consensus on the European project”, while the Financial Times professed its “confidence” in the “ambitious political projects” of the current holder of the rotating Presidency of the EU. According to The Independent the European project needs to be founded on the “defence of the environment and social democracy”. The Financial Times once again explained the reasons for London’s lack of love for Brussels: “Forced by the negative economic spiral and its awareness of no longer being an empire, Great Britain was late in knocking at the doors of Europe” but “is still on the threshold” due to the “question of sovereignty”.Scandinavia. In contrast to other countries, “in recent years Denmark has increasingly drawn closer to Brussels and vice versa”. The Berlingske Tidende and the review Politiken are agreed on this. In Sweden the government “though pro-European, has failed to give any strong signals to citizens, among whom euroscepticism is waning”. That’s why the leading daily Dagens Nyheter has invited the government “to begin to speak of the EU”. The European debate in Norway, on the other hand, has been “ephemeral and intermittent” according to Aftenposten which declared that “Oslo’s relation with the EU is being transformed into a non-question for public opinion”.Spain. “Little consideration and analysis are devoted to European political issues by the national press – says the book-; the domestic political agenda continues to predominate, in primis the policy to be followed in dealing with ETA”. The “adversary” dailies El Pais and El Mundo agree on the Lisbon summit, calling it “a step ahead for Europe” and “progress about which all pro-Europeans ought to be glad”. Of quite a different view is the Abc, according to which the Treaty of Lisbon is an “insipid and pragmatic document” that demonstrates the “democratic deficit of which the EU has once again given proof”.