“Reunification was beautiful, but that was yesterday. Today, it's all about postnational Europe,” writes the Berlin daily, publishing a special issue for the 22nd anniversary of German reunification on 3 October. In an interview, the European Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit presents his vision of a European federal state.
Merge now! – Die Tageszeitung
Artur Mas, president of Spain's autonomous Catalonia region has formalised his snap election announcement for November 25, widely regarded as a referendum on independence for the region. Artur Mas has told Catalans not to be afraid to vote because Spain "cannot use weapons" to stop a process that is supported by the majority of Catalans — hence the headline by the conservative Madrid daily, vehemently hostile to the Catalan nationalist cause.
Mas boasts that Spain “will not use weapons” – El Mundo
Close to three weeks after the general elections, liberal leader Mark Rutte and Labour leader Diederik Samsom have concluded a pact on the 2013 budget with a view to the formation of a coalition government. The “autumn accord” will include major cuts to bring the public spending deficit down to 2.7% of GDP.
A week of courting and already engaged – De Volkskrant
In nine months, the Belgian economy has shed a record 16,000 jobs, and experts believe that the number of bankruptcies will reach 11,000 by the end of 2012, including 1,190 bankruptcies in September — an all-time record. The worst affected sectors are hotels, restaurants, and construction.
Never seen before: 40 bankruptcies a day – Le Soir
On 1 October, police arrested Vladimíř Šiška, the secretary to Czech Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek, and another highly placed civil servant. The pair are accused of corruption relating to the installation of a new computerised management system for social services. With ten days left to run before local elections, the arrests will come as a serious blow to the Czech government, in which Drábek embodied the drive to fight corruption.
Another blow for the government – Hospodářské Noviny
The Polish Prosecutor’s Office has terminated the investigation conducted by the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) into alleged corruption in Polish courts, including the Supreme Court. The CBA has been accused of “breaking the law and extorting consent for wiretapping”. The Prosecutor’s Office also lambasted the CBA for being “ineffective” and having attempted to “create a corruption [prone] situation”.
CBA’s poisoned tree – Gazeta Wyborcza
The British historian has died in London, aged 95. Born into a Jewish family in Alexandria, Egypt, he grew up in Vienna and Berlin, moving to London with his family in 1933 when Hitler came to power in Germany. A lifelong Marxist, his four-volume history of the 19th and 20th centuries is acknowledged as among the defining works on the period.
Eric Hobsbawm 1917-2012 – The Guardian
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