The results of the referenda in France and Holland and the decision of Great Britain to defer its own consultation indefinitely continue to monopolise the European press. In Germany, in particular, the papers are analysing the situation of the EU and De Villepin’s proposal to Schröder for a possible Franco-German union on particular questions. “The question returns whenever European policy is in crisis: a rapprochement between France and Germany that could result in a kind of Union within the (European) Union”, comments the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (9/6). “ We will see in the weeks ahead whether this proposal is really meaningful or whether it is especially a tactical move to make the other EU countries understand that there are other methods than waiting until the last member has boarded the boat. […] The greatest doubts arise when considering the situation of the two governments: the De Villepin government is the last gamble of a President who is trying to navigate the last two years of his term without further damage. The sell-by date of the red-green coalition could long precede that deadline. It is difficult to imagine that Chirac would want to offer Schröder an advantage for the electoral campaign“. “ Europe year zero” is the title of the cover story in the weekly Der Spiegel (6/6) devoted to the repercussions of the negative outcomes of the referenda on the European Constitutional Treaty: “ All the attempts to save the Constitution rejected in France and in Holland seem destined to failure. The Union is faced by a decision of principle: should it renounce its dreams of becoming a superpower or be satisfied with being a common market?“. In Spain Salvador Cardus i Ros, writing in the Catalan daily La Vanguardia of 8/6, writes: “The European Union has so far been a ‘grand project’ with an ambitious itinerary, but this has gone forward at the price of causing a grave deficit of democracy”. He cites the example of the European Parliament which “has not been a real legislative power, nor is its election based on any great popular participation”. According to the columnist “ the European Parliament, depending on how the process of ratification proceeds, ought to consider its own responsibilities in the fiasco, due to its own failure to respect the will of its electors by forcing through its own project of a Constitution”. He thus suggests that “new elections [to the EP] be called as soon as possible and a new process of drafting the Constitution be begun”. “ The French show themselves disinterested in religion”: that’s the headline that the French Catholic daily La Croix (8/6) dedicates to a survey conducted in ten countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, UK and USA) on behalf of the American press agency Associated Press. “ Only 37% of the French interviewed writes Pierre Schmidt consider that religion is important in their own life … religious ‘fervour’ reaches its height in Mexico (86%), the USA (84%) and Italy (80%)“. It is also in France “that the highest percentage of those who don’t believe in God is found (19%) … while the lowest rate of atheism is found in the USA: only 2%!“. Another statistic considered significant by the paper is the following: “ The great majority of the French (85%) are opposed to religious institutions trying to influence the government’s decisions … it is in the USA that this percentage is lowest: 61%. This is a country in which 37% of the people interviewed believe that ‘religious leaders should try to influence the decisions of the government’: that is a world record“. Economic problems are besetting the Church of England. A report in The Times (8/6) signed by the paper’s religious affairs correspondent Ruth Gledhill points out that “ a cash crisis in the Church of England is forcing the Bishops to consider radical measures, including cutting the number of clergy by a third and asking the faithful to meet together to pray in their own homes”. The report describes the financial data of the Church of England (numbers of people on its payroll, revenues, expenditures) and explains that “ since the 1980s, when the Church lost millions of pounds in its assets, the funds at the disposal of the centre for supporting the parishes began to diminish“. Hence the request to believers to make larger offerings and the proposed reduction of religious “services” as the only way out. The chaos in Bolivia, with tens of thousands of miners and peasants protesting on the streets of the capital and the resignation of the President, dominate the front pages of the Spanish press of 8/6. The reports are accompanied by the comments of editorialists, such as that in El Paìs, where it is pointed out “that the country in the Andes has an urgent need to find a point of encounter between its disinherited indigenous majority and the minority of European origin who control the resources of the fertile east. Without an agreement on the country’s abundant gas supplies, the Constitution and regional autonomy, Bolivia is heading towards state bankruptcy”. According to the daily Abc, “the Bolivian Catholic Church has warned that the country is disintegrating” and “asked all the country’s politicians for a gesture of generosity to prevent a catastrophe“.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1395 N.ro relativo : 44 Data pubblicazione : 10/06/05
