Issues of domestic policy, and especially unemployment, are given extensive coverage in the German press. A comment in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Faz 2/3) says: “ The Schröder government has come to terms and in this it has nothing to envy its predecessors in opposition with the scandal of the labour market, demonstrated first by four, now by over five million officially unemployed. Accepting these figures is less difficult ever since the government found out that high rates of unemployment do not necessarily hamper electoral success. At least so long as the electors do not believe that the opposition can succeed better in tackling the problem“. Writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Mario Müller observes: “ The Chancellor wants to stick to his course of reforms. This must seem like a threat to those who still have a permanent job. Because the uncontrolled growth of unemployment demonstrates the economic policy hitherto implemented was unable to solve the problem and that a change in policy is therefore needed“. In another comment in the Faz we read: “ … mass unemployment is the substance that fuels political radicalization. For sooner or later, constantly growing unemployment, imposed on millions of people, will be seen as the failure of the political and economic system. The German parties know this and that’s why they have unanimously declared the reduction of unemployment as their number one objective. But each new record also becomes the demonstration of an ever greater gap between ambition and reality”. And the weekly Der Spiegel (28/2) comments: “ Five million people without work could not be minimized, not even with the greatest dexterity. Five million unemployed join together in booing the current policy of Berlin. Five million: and the rest of the Republic fears it will soon join their ranks – because the number continues to grow“. The French daily La Croix (28/2) has proposed a forum on the centenary of the French law on secularism, presented by Francois Ernenwein, who writes: “… in his letter to the bishop of France, John Paul II expressed his satisfaction that ‘peace’ between the Church and the State has ‘become a reality’ in our country“. The question for the paper is therefore “ how to interpret the Pope’s message in favour of a serene secularism and what kind of dialogue is possible between the political and religious authorities in our society”. An answer is provided by Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, president of the French Bishops’ Conference, who writing in the same paper declares: “ The Pope tells Catholics that they must get involved and testify to the meaning of man of which they are the bearers in society… This point is important” if a more aggressive form of secularism is to be avoided. “The State – Ricard continues – must permit religions to express and make their own contribution to society. We ought not to combat a form of religious community life that withdraws into itself and is thus excluded from making any such contribution. That would do nothing but reinforce it”. According to the president of the French episcopate, therefore, “ the time has come to turn the page“. “The allies ask Syria to get out of Lebanon”: that’s the front-page headline in the Herald Tribune (02/03). The paper devotes extensive coverage to the recent developments in the Middle-Eastern country, where the former premier was assassinated and where major popular protests have erupted. The paper reports the opinion expressed by US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: “The United States and other nations write Joel Brinkley and Alan Cowell – are considering doing more, even entertaining the idea of sending international peace-keeping troops that would take the place of the Syrian forces about to pull out: this is currently under discussion“. “Religion in modern war” is the title of an editorial published in the Spanish daily El Paìs of 1/3, signed by Hermann Tertsch, who takes his cue from the recent massacre of Hilla in Iraq, which killed 125 civilians, and from other dramatic events, including the forthcoming anniversary of the terrorist outrage at Atocha station in Madrid on 11 March 2004. His reflections extend to the moral confusion present in our societies together with a kind of “fatalistic” resignation in the face of the defeat of the weak. “If there is a phenomenon that has fuelled the defeat of our modern societies at the hands of its enemies he suggests it is the radical incomprehension and, hence, the contempt for and hostility towards religious thought. That has nothing to do with believing or not. For it is in respect for the individual concept of transcendence that the deepest tolerance, steadfastness and dignity are rooted: values that are at the basis of a society dedicated not to social experimentation, but to promoting the vocation of the human being to happiness. That’s why it is the first duty of the ruler to confront the enemies of the free individual in the open society and recall the unconditional value of their victims. In Iraq, in Tel Aviv, and here”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1368 N.ro relativo : 17 Data pubblicazione : 05/03/05
