Puzzling & Dangerous U.S. Foreign Policy Comes to an End
William Pfaff

President Barack Obama's cancellation of his predecessor's missile-defense scheme for Poland and the Czech Republic presumably brings to a close one of the least explicable and most dangerous American policy initiatives since the cold war officially ended.

30 mln in Emissions sale to Japan succesful
Professor Andrzej Kraszewski the Polish Minister of the Environment has signed a contract with a Japanese private sector partner on the sales of greenhouse gas emission Assigned Amount Units AAUs under the Kyoto Protocol that will bring about almost 30 million euros i.e. more than 100 million Polis zloty proceeds...

WSE becomes a Recognised Stock Exchange
The Warsaw Stock Exchange WSE received the Recognised Stock Exchange designation from HM Revenue and Customs HMRC . The designation awarded to the WSE Main List and the retail EU-regulated segment of Catalyst will make these markets more attractive and accessible for UK-based investors. Being the largest stock exchange in...

Telekomunikacja Polska receives EU Commission objection
The European Commission has sent a Statement of Objections SO to the Polish telecoms incumbent operator - Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. TP . The SO outlines the Commissions preliminary view that TP has abused its dominant position by refusing to supply remunerated access to its wholesale broadband services. On 17 April 2009...

PKO Bank Polski ratings affirmed
Capital Intelligence CI the international credit rating agency announced that it has affirmed PKO Bank Polski PKO BP s foreign currency long-term rating at A- its short term rating at A2 and its financial strength rating at BBB+ early last week. All ratings carry a Stable outlook. The additional capital...

Ferro shifts work from Portugal plate factory
Ferro Corporation has recently announced its decision to shift operations from its dinnerware ceramics facility in Castanheira Portugal to its plant in Almazora Spain local media reports revealed. Ferro makes materials used in the manufacturing of electronics and other industries. The company also said it would move plastics manufacturing from...

Electric bulb swap in return for electronic waste
The action of acquisition of electric energy saving bulbs in return of electrical and electronic waste is under way. The recent collection event which took place in the Wigry Lake National Park resulted in output amounting to 30 tons waste equipment gathered. That is the way the Ministry of the...

Housing construction down 47.1% year-on-year 2010
According to preliminary data in January 2010 11 681 dwellings were completed i.e. by 47.1 % less than in 2009 and in comparison with January 2008 it means a drop by 20.2 %. Keeping from one and half years reducing in the number of permits issued for construction reflects a...

Moroccan Prime Minister at Presidential Palace
In Warsaw Lech Kaczynski the Polish President and Abbas El Fassi the Prime Minister of Morocco discussed such issues as the economy the Eastern Partnership the Union for the Mediterranean and tourism. The Polish President also invited King Mohammed VI of Morocco to visit Poland. After the meeting Mariusz Handzlik the...

65th anniversary of liberation of Nazi concentration
The 65th anniversary was celebrated in Oswiecim of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Around 150 former inmates of the camp and numerous politicians took part in the celebrations including President Lech Kaczynski of Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel...

More Poles are poping pills
The Polish pharmaceutical market has grown dynamically in the past five years showing great resilience to the impact of adverse trends prevailing in the market. As demonstrated by the results of the most recent study conducted by the advisory company KPMG and the research company PMR in June 2009 the current...

Congratulations go to Tusk
The Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk received congratulations from far and wide as he was notified of having won the EUs Charlemagne prize given to those for exemplary EU efforts. The organizers at the city of Aachen describe it as a citizens prize for distinguished service on behalf of...

Poland Russia have yet to sign gas agreement
Poland and Russia have yet to sign a gas delivery deal for 2010 due to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom owing Warsaw around $410 million. Gazproms debt of $350 million results from paying lower tariffs for gas transit in Poland as required by the Energy Regulatory Office. Additional $60 million debt...

KW signs $1.5 bln coal deal with generator PKE
Polands second largest power generator Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny PKE said it had signed a five-year contract with the countrys biggest coal producer Kompania Weglowa KW for hard coal supplies to its power plants Platts reported. The contract which runs from 2010 through 2014 is worth 4.3 billion zloty $1.5...

Fortum enters the Polish electricity market
Fortum has established trading operations in Warsaw Poland. The companys first trade on the Polish electricity marketplace was done on 9 December. By entering the Polish electricity market Fortum prepares for the commission of its new combined heat and power CHP plant in Czsstochowa Poland in 2010. Once completed the...

Commission authorises tonnage tax scheme
The European Commission decided to authorise the introduction in Poland of a flat-rate tax regime based on fleet tonnage early last week. This so-called tonage tax regime enables shipping operators not to pay corporation or personal tax but only a flat-rate tax based on the tonnage of their fleet. The...

Merrill Lynch starts trading on WSE
At the end of the last month the London based Remote Member of the Warsaw Stock Exchange WSE Merrill Lynch International commenced trading on the WSE in scope of all securities on behalf of clients and for its own account it was reported early last week. Mark Lear Managing Director and...

Mercuria agreement with Grupa LOTOS PKN ORLEN
Early last week Polish oil corporation Grupa LOTOS SA signed an agreement with Mercuria Energy Trading SA of Geneva for the supply of 18 million tons of REBCO crude oil by Mercuria Energy Trading SA to Grupa LOTOS SA in the period from 1 January 2010 to December 31st 2014....

Retail sales decline in October
Portugals seasonally adjusted retail sales decreased 0.6% year-on-year in October slower than the 1.2% decline in the previous month revised from 1.3% drop estimated initially the Statistics Portugal revealed in a recent report. The retail trade turnover excluding fuel increased 0.4% on an annual basis in October compared to a...

Impel Security Polska acquires 49% of Asekuracja shares
Impel Group Polands largest provider of outsourcing services announced early last week that Impel Security Polska ISP acquired 49% of shares of Przedsiebiorst wo Specjalistyczne Asekuracja Sp. z o.o Asekuracja . It was the effect of implementing the investment agreement in which ISP had been given a right of pre-emption...

RWE opens first public charging point for electric vehicles
The first Warsaws electric vehicle charging point was opened by German energy operator RWE at its headquarters at Wybrzeze Kosciuszkowskie 41 on November 17. It is the first of 130 similar points that under a research programme financed with EU funds will be built thanks to the collaboration between RWE...

Drilling of fourth well confirms Tupis potential
The contractor group for BM-S-11 in ultra deep water of Santos Basin including Petrobras BG Group and the Portuguese integrated oil and natural gas company Galp Energia announced on November 12 that it concluded the drilling in the fourth well informally known as Tupi NE located in Tupis Evaluation Plan...

Warsaw Madrid sign Intent on biological biodiversity
The Polish and Spanish governments have signed Declaration of Intent to establish a framework for cooperation in the area of protection of biological biodiversity. Today we are signing an unprecedented agreement on the sale of emission rights which is also important for Poland This mysterious title stands for an excellent...

Asseco debuts on Warsaw Stock Exchange
Polands largest software company Asseco Poland announced on 11 November that Asseco South Eastern Europe Asseco SEE or Company a group of leading IT providers has made its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on 28 October. Through a public offering dedicated to qualified investors the Company raised almost 30...

Agoras revenues fall 13% to 819 million Polish zloty in Q3 2009
Polands leading media group Agora reported that during the third quarter of 2009 its revenues amounted to 819 million Polish zloty down 13% as compared to the same period of 2008. Advertising sales reached 533.8 million zloty down 21.3% revenues from copy sales 145.2 million zloty down 4.3% and Special...

Natura 2000 EU Ecological list finalised
Poland has completed its list of the areas designated as the sites within the Natura 2000 European Ecological Network. On 29 October the Polish Council of Ministers approved the list of new Natura 2000 sites thus completing designation of the natural areas as a legal form of nature conservation. The...

Unemployment falls 5.7% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2009
The number of the unemployed registered in the labour offices at the end of June 2009 amounted to 1.65 million people among which 868 500 were women it was lower than the one observed at the end of the previous quarter by 100 200 people i.e. by 5.7% while compared...

B8 Field license extended for another 15 years
Petrobaltic S.A. a 99.32% subsidiary of the Polish oil corporation Grupa LOTOS S.A. had received a decision of the Minister of the Environment concerning amendments to the license for extraction of crude oil and the associated natural gas from the B8 field situated within the Polish exclusive economic zone of...

18 largest turbines start generating electricity
German energy operator RWE has completed the final stage of Suwalki Wind Farm investment. After the installation of towers nacelles blades rotors and generators the time has come to put the turbines on-stream. Commissioning of the wind turbines will increase Polands wind energy generation by around 10% in comparison to...

Impel sales 506.138 mln zloty in H1
The Impel Group Polands biggest group of companies providing services for businesses generated sales revenues of 506.138 million Polish zloty and a net profit of 15.517 million zloty in the first half of 2009. Both figures are higher than the results of the previous six months with the net profit...

US Vice President to Poles: No decisions without you
The US will strike no deals with Russia at the expense of Central Europe US Vice President Joe Biden told a Polish daily as he began a visit to discuss a new missile defence shield and to mend ailing relations after original plans for the system were scrapped Deutsche Presse...

LSE pulls out of WSE race
London Stock Exchange Group Plc LSE a UK-based provider of services to enable investors to access capital markets is pulled out of the bidding to acquire Warsaw Stock Exchange WSE a Poland-based operator of securities exchange from The Government of Poland Trading Market reported on 19 October. LSE is planning...

New US missile defence proposal for Poland
THE United States has presented a proposal to Poland relating to its participation in the new US defence system Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said Tuesday. Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Komorowski met with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on 6 October to brief him on the recent talks in Washington...

Ministry of Treasury and Eureko sign settlement agreement
THE State Treasury Ministry of Poland and the executive board of Dutch insurance company Eureko B.V. Concluded an agreement on 2 October to establish the rules for amicably ending the arbitration dispute between Poland and Eureko B.V. and Eurekos gradual divestment from its participation in PZU SAs share capital. The...

Derivative instruments trading highest in second quarter
AFTER three quarters of 2009 the volume of trading in derivative instruments reached 10 497 211 instruments equal to ca. 83% of the volume reported in 2008. The volume of trading was 1.38 million instruments in September which means that September was the second best month of trading in derivative...

Balin Energy receives offshore exploration concession in Latvia
BALIN Energy a joint venture between Polish crude oil refining company PKN ORLEN and Kuwait Energy has received the crude oil exploration and production concession in the Latvian off-shore economy zone of the Baltic Sea. Together with the concession which was won in 2008 Balin Energy operates in the area...

Board agrees to create new business segment
TO MEET the growing demand for electricity in the comingyears in Poland the Supervisory Board of Polish Oil and Gas Company PGNiG on 28 September gave a positive opinion of the Company Management Boards request to the General Meeting of Shareholders concerning the creation of the company PGNiG Energia SA....

Polish-Lithuanian Agricultural Forum held in Sejny
POLISH Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Marek Sawicki and Lithuanian Minister of Agriculture Kazys Starkevi?ius attended an Agricultural Forum held in Sejny on 24 September which was devoted to the position of agricultural holdings after Polands accession to the EU. The ministers discussed some aspects of co-operation in the...

Average employment down 0.1%
THE number of people employed on 30 June 2009 amounted to 8.225 million people and was 1.3% lower than 2008. The share of the employed in the private sector amounted to 60.5% according to the Poland Central Statistical Office in its quarterly report Employment wages and salaries in national economy...

Parliament approves chemical castration for paedophiles
Polands parliament tightened punishments for paedophiles on by approving a law that allows for their chemical castration reported Deutsch Septembere Presse Agentur dpa from Warsaw 25 September. The law will make the procedure - which takes away sexual drive - mandatory for pedophiles convicted of raping a close family member...

Poland seeks NATO discussion on Afghanistan
Poland wants a NATO discussion on the future of its mission in Afghanistan to ensure that the Polish presence there makes sense Vice Premier Grzegorz Schetyna told Radio Trojka on 24 September amid growing concerns in Europe about the mission. Schetyna said: We want to be sure that the presence...

Colliers in agreement to advise Raiffeisen Bank in reallocation process
Colliers International a leading global real estate services company has signed a contract with Raiffeisen Bank Polska. Colliers will become the exclusive agent in advising the bank in the reallocation process. Raiffeisen Bank Polska S.A. offers banking products and services for small and medium enterprises and corporate clients in Poland...

PZU Eureko dispute to be resolved perhaps
A long-running dispute between the Polish government and Dutch firm Eureko over insurance giant PZU is to be resolved with funds from the Polish firm which is already preparing for this transaction the expected diminishing effect it will have on the forex market Warsaw Business Journal reported citing Rzeczpospolita; Parkiet....

Visegrad Group discusses economic crisis energy cooperation
During the Meeting of the Visegrad Group held in Sopot Poland on September 11 and 12 the Presidents of Poland Hungary the Czech Republic and Slovakia discussed cooperation within the European Union. The Presidents also paid homage to the Polish soldiers from Westerplatte and they laid flowers at the Monument...

Warsaw railway station remodeling
Skanska the Stockholm-based worlds leading project development and construction groups has secured an assignment to remodel Gdansk railway Station in Warsaw Poland. The contract amounts to 129 million zlotys or about 320 million Swedish Krona which will be included in third-quarter order bookings. The customer is the Polish Rail Administration...

Poland Ukraine strengthen ties
PolishUkrainian cooperation European aspirations of Ukraine policies related to history and questions of energy safety are the main subjects discussed by the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk with the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko the government press reported on September 7. The head of the Polish government found the PolishUkrainian...

Impel generates net profit of 15.517 million zloty
The Impel Group one of Polands biggest group of companies providing services for businesses according to the company generated sales revenues of 506.138 million Polish zloty and a net profit of 15.517 million zloty in the first half of 2009. Both figures are higher than the results of the previous...

Poland Russia Germany join to mark World War IIs start
Leaders of Poland Russia and Germany showed unity on September 1 in condemning the horrors of World War II during ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the start of historys bloodiest conflict Deutsche Pressse Agentur dpa reported from Westerplatte on September 1. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor...

Polands Euro adoption hinges on stable zloty
The planning of Polands entry into the Euro zone will become realistic after its currency zlotys exchange rate gets stable Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on August 25. If we are close to 100 percent certain that the exchange rate situation is stable and when we take care of...

Putin on official visit to Poland
The Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin will arrive in Poland on September 1 following an invitation of the Polish PM Donald Tusk. While the visit lasts both parties will hold talks focused on a wide variety of bilateral issues. PM Putin will take part in international commemorations of the...

WSE strengthens lead in Central and Eastern Europe
The first seven months of 2009 have seen the Warsaw Stock Exchange emerge as the leader in the Central and Eastern European region by trading in stocks and by capitalisation. The capitalisation of companies listed on the WSE is around 20 percent higher than that of the Wiener Boerse while...

Poland News - New Europe News
Poland News - New Europe News: The European News Source.

 

The soldier and the shipyard worker
One was the archetypal military strongman, intent on maintaining the social order and saving his country from "catastrophe." The other was a charismatic shipyard electrician and trade union leader who was just as determined to lead his countrymen to freedom.

Poland agrees to host part of new U.S. missile defense plan
Poland has agreed to host elements of the new U.S. missile defense plan despite initial surprise over the Obama administration's recent decision to overhaul President Bush's strategy.

Analysis: Missile shield move leaves Europe's politicians exposed
The decision by the United States to drop its plans to base an anti-ballistic missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic will have reverberations across Europe.

WWII anything but history for Poland
On a sand swept stretch of Afghanistan, a high-ranking Polish general put his country's mission there into perspective.

On International Correspondents this month
On this month's show we rewind the clock to June 4th, 1989. It was on this day that the media reported on two monumental events - the Tiananmen Square massacre in China and Poland's first free elections. The latter signalled the start of the end of Communism in central and Eastern Europe.

The New Poland: A country transformed
It is 20 years since Poland's Solidarity movement defeated the Communist Party in an historic election that prompted the fall of communism across central and eastern Europe.

Poland: From Soviet satellite to 'Tiger of Europe'
Leszek Balcerowicz, Poland's former finance minister, recently said his country is enjoying "its best period in 300 years." CNN looks at how the country emerged from communism to become one of eastern Europe's most stable and thriving democracies.

Life after communism
Leszek Balcerowicz, Poland's former finance minister, recently said his country is enjoying "its best period in 300 years." CNN looks at how the country emerged from communism to become one of eastern Europe's most stable and thriving democracies.

Polish navy training flight crashes
A Polish navy aircraft on a training flight crashed Tuesday on Poland's northeastern coast, and the four service members aboard are feared dead, navy spokesman Lt. Gregory Lyko told CNN.

Poland: Jazz and all that politics
Jazz has always been a popular form of music because its improvisatory nature is easily adapted by a community or nation to reflect its individual identity.

Your opinions on Poland
As part of its Eye on Poland coverage, CNN is asking its viewers -- including Poles living in Poland and abroad -- about what defines the nation today.

Eye on Poland: Country at the crossroads
A nation with a proud past and promising future -- Poland's influence on the global stage is growing. A driving force in the new Europe with a skilled workforce spreading its influence beyond its borders and an economy increasingly attractive to foreign investors -- Poland is making its mark.

Playing poker with the Polish powerbrokers
Some say Poland is the biggest of the "small countries" in the European Union. Others call it the smallest of the "big countries."

Football offers Poland chance to shine
In April 2007, UEFA's executive committee voted to accept a joint proposal from Poland and Ukraine to host the European football Championships in 2012.

Poland's Jews alive and kicking
Before its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1939, Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish community, and its capital Warsaw was the continent's largest Jewish city.

Eye on Poland: Daily Coverage
Eye on Poland focuses on the color and contrast of one of Europe's fastest developing nations, explaining Poland's rising influence across the European region and the impact its people are having on the wider international stage - from business to politics to pop culture. TV Schedule

Man held over daughter's '6-year kidnap, rape'
A Polish court has ordered the detention of a man accused of holding his daughter captive for six years and repeatedly raping her, ultimately fathering two children with her.

Poland signs missile shield deal with U.S.
The United States and Poland on Wednesday signed an agreement to base U.S. ballistic missile interceptors in Poland, a move that angered Russia.

Behind Poland's Defying Russia
Moscow's regional threats ended up making Poland more resolved to embrace the controversial U.S. missile shield

Will Russia Attack Poland Next?
Russia warned Poland on Friday that it is exposing itself to attack, even a nuclear one, by accepting a U.S. missile interceptor base on its soil

Poland, U.S. sign missile shield deal
Poland and the United States have signed a preliminary deal to place part of a U.S. ballistic missile defense system in Poland, a plan that has drawn sharp objections from Russia.

US, Poland Deal Angers Russia
Poland and the United States reached an agreement that will see a battery of American missiles established inside Poland, a plan that has infuriated Russia

Poland, U.S. to sign missile shield deal
Poland and the United States will sign a preliminary deal to place part of a U.S. ballistic missile defense system in Poland -- a plan that has drawn sharp objections from Russia, the Polish president's office confirmed Thursday to CNN.

Poland firm on U.S. missile defense opposition
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried and failed just before leaving for Europe on Monday to seal a deal to place missiles in Poland, the State Department said.

U.S., Poland strike missile deal while Russia objects
The United States and Poland have reached a tentative deal to place part of a ballistic missile defense system on its territory, a plan that has drawn sharp objections from Russia, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Poles, Czechs Balk at Missile Shield
The two US allies are suddenly in no hurry to see the implementation of the Bush Administration's plan to station an interceptor system on their soil

Nostalgia in a Polish 'milk bar'
I remember a bleak time in Poland when the economy was so maddeningly out of touch with the needs of its people that anyone lucky enough to own a car would remove their windshield wipers at night and take them inside. In their command economy -- oblivious to the laws of supply and demand -- some official forgot to order wipers and consequently, they weren't for sale anywhere. Inspired by a hungry black market, thieves would work late into the night snapping them up.

Opposition wins Polish election
Poland's opposition parties have won the parliamentary elections, ending two years of robust nationalism which have frequently led to confrontation with other countries.

Poland faces landmark election
Poles vote Sunday in national elections that could decide the future direction of the central European country.

Solidarity shipyard seeks rescue
Poland's Gdansk shipyard, the birthplace of the anti-communist Solidarity movement, has submitted a last-ditch rescue plan to prevent its closure.

Is it the flu? Get the fast flu test
Fast flu tests, which drastically cut the time to diagnose a patient with influenza or not, are helping doctors better treat the illness, according to a recent study and medical experts.

Mine blast kills eight; 15 missing
At least eight miners were killed and another 15 missing after a gas explosion in a Polish coal mine Tuesday, a government spokesman said.

Poland pledges 1,000 Afghan troops
Poland will send up to an additional 1,000 troops to bolster NATO forces in Afghanistan, Polish defense ministry spokesman Leszek Laszczak says.

Poland collapse toll now 67
A 34-year-old man seriously injured in the roof collapse at a Polish exhibition hall died Monday, bringing the total number of deaths to 67.

Poland collapse: Buildings shut
The Polish government ordered the temporary closure of some large buildings Monday after the roof collapse of an exhibition hall in the southern city of Chorzow that killed 62 people.

Roof collapse: 'No more survivors'
Emergency workers shifted their efforts from rescue to recovery Sunday at the site of an exhibition center that's roof collapsed over the weekend in southern Poland, killing 66 people, after officials determined it unlikely that anyone else would be found alive.

Thousands remember pope in Krakow
Hundreds of thousands of people have been gathering in a Krakow field and clogged Poland's city streets to watch coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II, a man revered as a national hero in his homeland.

Pope's heart may rest in Poland
The city that captured the heart of Pope John Paul II long before he followed his calling into the priesthood may become the final resting place of his physical heart, a Roman Catholic church official in Krakow has told CNN.

Your e-mails: Europe
CNN.com asked its readers to share their thoughts about the death of Pope John Paul II. Here is a sampling from thousands of responses, some of which have been edited:

Polish hostage pleads for life
A video of a Polish woman captured last week by an Iraqi militant group showed her pleading for her life Saturday and urging Poland to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Poland may pull troops out of Iraq
Poland may reduce its commitment of forces to the war in Iraq by 40 percent by January 2005 and have all its troops out by the end of that year, Polish officials said Monday.

Poland on Iraq: 'No rash gestures'
Poland's outgoing prime minister has said his country cannot ignore Spain's plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, but a government spokesman denied Warsaw was considering a similar pullout.

Poles hoping for economic gains
Warsaw is already beginning to look like other cities to the West. The same multi-national names are on display. In glitzy malls, shoppers can take their pick of international merchandise.

FUNDS RUSH TO CASH IN ON EASTERN EUROPE'S BOOM
Lured by spectacular gains in markets such as Russia (up 105% in the first eight months of this year), Hungary (86%), Poland (77%) and the Czech Republic (26%), several new mutual funds have sprung...

HOTTEST NEW STOCK MARKET
What country was home to 1993's fastest-growing emerging stock market? If you guessed China, think again. The clear winner is Poland. From December 31, 1992, through December 23, 1993, the Warsaw t...

WARM MEMORIES ARE AWAKENED
I want to tell you how very much I enjoyed the October Editor's Notes, ''An American Dream.'' I've recommended it to everyone I know. I've had similar stories told to me by my late father. He came ...

WHO'S WHO IN THE EAST In Eastern Europe, the people to know are both colorful and energetic. ! Want to meet the Clark Gable of f
Business is always personal, but especially so in Eastern Europe, where daunting bureaucracy and changing ground rules can spook even veteran investors from abroad. In such a climate, knowing the r...

SHOCK THERAPY WORKS IN POLAND
Ten months of fiscal austerity may not have made Poland paradise, but it has noticeably improved the lives of 38 million Poles. Though real wages have dropped 40%, shop shelves now sag with consume...

POLAND'S GAMBLE BEGINS TO PAY OFF The Poles have achieved remarkable results in the first stages of their rush toward a free-mar
FOR POLAND this may be the most dangerous summer since 1939. While their Soviet neighbors fiddle, the gutsy Poles are switching from Communism to capitalism in one stroke. But their boldness has al...

SEED MONEY FOR EASTERN EUROPE
If it worked for Silicon Valley, it can work for Eastern Europe -- or so the theory goes. The U.S. government is investing taxpayer dollars in venture capital funds -- the same financial vehicles t...

GLASNOST'S HARVEST: JEANS THAT NEED A SCREWDRIVER, AN ANGEL FOR BORIS, AND MORE
-- The red star and the Cyrillic writing on the back pockets and an accessory in the form of a free screwdriver mark a hot new seller: cotton jeans ($60 and up) from the Soviet Union. The screwdriv...

THE AMERICAN OUT TO SAVE POLAND Harvard's young Jeffrey Sachs is pushing Solidarity to take the pain now for a big gain later. T
IT'S A BLEAK winter evening in a drab Warsaw suburb. Some four dozen Polish workers in leather jackets have crowded into the parish house of a Catholic church. They used to meet there secretly afte...

HOW THE WORLD WILL CHANGE In the new era, economic performance will replace military might as the measure of a nation. This will
The world is entering unknown territory. For two out of three living Americans -- and about as many Russians and Europeans -- the bipolar system forged by the cold war is all they have ever known. ...

POLAND IS FOR GAMBLERS
Investing in Poland is like buying into a bankrupt company, says Jan Vanous, research director of PlanEcon, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm specializing in Eastern bloc countries. ''It's for ga...

Poland: News & Videos about Poland - CNN.com
Find stories, videos, and photos about Poland from CNN.com.

 

Changing Face in Poland: Skinhead Puts on Skullcap
Hundreds of Poles, a majority of them raised as Catholics, are either converting to Judaism or discovering Jewish roots submerged for decades.

From Skinhead to Orthodox Jew
Pawel, a former skinhead who used to beat up Jews and Arabs, is the most unlikely example of a Jewish revival under way in Poland.

New Source of an Isotope in Medicine Is Found
A nuclear reactor in Poland has emerged as a new source for technetium 99, an isotope used to measure blood flows in the heart and to help diagnose bone and breast cancers.

Hello, New York: Avant-Garde Eastern Europe
A premier avant-garde music festival from Poland makes its way to New York.

Out of Auschwitz
Those of us who survived Nazi concentration camps have a duty to transmit to humankind the memory of what we endured.

Liberation From Auschwitz
The survivors of the Holocaust are disappearing, but what they endured cannot be forgotten.

Poland to Deploy U.S. Missiles Near Russia
The move, announced by the Polish defense minister, comes just three months after the U.S. reformulated its missile-defense plan for Poland.

Going to the Mat With Mind and Body
“Versus” is a fast-moving, at times wretchedly clunky adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s “In the Jungle of Cities.”

More Money for Auschwitz After Theft of Sign
The Polish Cultural Ministry, in an effort to save face after the theft of the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” sign, has said it will help pay for more security.

Perplexity After Auschwitz Sign Theft
Lax security has been blamed in the temporary loss of a Holocaust emblem.

Infamous Sign at Auschwitz That Was Stolen Is Found
The sign that reads “Arbeit Macht Frei,” or “work makes you free,” was cut into three pieces and found in northern Poland.

Sign Over Auschwitz Gate Is Stolen
The iron sign over the gate to the Auschwitz memorial with the infamous phrase “arbeit macht frei” “work sets you free” has been stolen, police said.

Euro Membership and Higher Pension Age Embroil Polish Politics
Pensions and the euro are at the center of a political struggle that pits the Polish government, run by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, against President Lech Kaczynski.

Approaching Russia From a New Angle
A stronger relationship between Poland and Germany could lead to improvement in the European Union’s dealings with Moscow.

When Courageous Artists Ripped Holes in the Iron Curtain
A festival of theater, dance, music and film examines how the performing arts contributed to the fall of Communism in Warsaw Pact countries.

NYT > Poland
In 2003, Polish voters overwhelmingly approved entry into the European Union in a nationwide referendum, and the economy has been among the fastest-growing in on the continent. However, rejection of the E.U. constitution by France and the Netherlands was seen as backlash to cheap labor from Eastern European countries like Poland. Since then, a lesser zeal for Europe has coincided with an increased commitment to Polish tradition.

 

America's Fatal European Policy
The current American administration has just enacted its most disastrous foreign-policy decision to date.

The World Shakes, America Slumbers
America’s wispy presence at this week’s 70th-anniversary commemoration of the start of World War II did not go unnoticed.

New Anti-Federalist Group in EU Parliament

Polish-German Relations Improving
The Polish foreign minister’s visit to Germany has been hailed as a breakthrough in foreign relations.

Poland Draws Closer to Germany, EU
Poland’s new prime minister is determined to mend relations with Berlin—even if it means accepting Germany as a victim of World War II.

EU Leaders "Get Tough With Russia"
The European Union has decided that it needs to take a strong position in its relations with the Kremlin.

Papal Vote Rigged?
Poland and mathematics seem to go together.

EU Parliament to Block Attempts to Water Down Reform Treaty
The European Constitution lives again.

German-Russian Energy--a Dangerous Partnership
The ensuing completion of the Nord Stream pipeline heralds a developing relationship in which Germany and Russia are slicing up their respective spheres of influence within Europe.

Britain to Become German Energy Vassal
As Britain’s North Sea energy supply begins to fail, the nation is looking for replacement energy from Germany.

What Eastern Europe Offers the EU
Romania and Bulgaria have just joined the European Union. What does Europe get out of the deal?

EU to Give Power to Fewer Commissioners?

Skittish About EU, Russia Looks East for Energy Customers
More evidence of Russia joining forces with its Asian neighbors

Berlin Exhibition Depicts Germans as Victims

Right-Wingers Make Waves in Europe
The rising influence of right-wingers in Germany is sweeping across what is widely regarded as a secular, liberal-socialist Continent.

EU Threatens Members States That Help U.S.
Anti-Americanism is a rising sentiment in Europe. But what if every European Union nation were forced to embrace this as official policy?

Forging a More Efficient Europe
Leaders plan to overhaul the massive bureaucracy that is the European Union.

Energy Alliance Fuels Fears
Could the new Russo-German “energy alliance” be history repeating itself?

Church Uses Same-Sex Marriage Issue to Rally Catholics
Despite Spain’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, the run-up to the parliamentary vote was frought with mass protests from its Catholic citizens. Other events in Poland and Italy show the increasing power the Roman Catholic Church holds over European politics.

theTrumpet.com: Poland
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Germany warms to IMF aid for Greece
Berlin has not excluded an International Monetary Fund programme being drawn up to help Greece weather its debt crisis, in spite of strong political opposition to any such move, according to high-level sources in Berlin

Former Anglo Irish Bank chief arrested
Sean FitzPatrick, former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, is arrested for questioning over his role in the collapse of the lender, which was nationalised following a spate of scandals

EU's largest economies warned on forecasts
The European Commission warns the eurozone's four largest countries that their economic growth forecasts for the next three years are too optimistic, putting at risk their ability to cut their budget deficits

EU's De Gucht airs concern on US trade stance
Despite concern that Washington currently lacks a "free trade programme" Karel De Gucht, Europe's new trade commissioner, is struck by how little protectionism has emerged globally under the pressure of the worldwide financial crisis

Europe split on role of IMF in Greece
The eurozone's united front against involving the International Monetary Fund in a rescue operation for Greece is cracking

Germany pushes UK on hedge fund rules
Angela Merkel has challenged Gordon Brown to drop his objections to European regulation of the hedge fund and private equity industry

Crunch time looms for Spanish lenders
An increasingly impatient Bank of Spain, which regulates banks and savings and loans institutions, is making no secret of its concerns about the health of Spanish lenders

German and Italian vie to replace Trichet
Axel Weber and Mario Draghi, the two candidates who have emerged to replace Jean-Claude Trichet as ECB, could sharpen further the banks's profile as a conservative guardian of the Europe's single currency

Lagarde urges Germany to consider tax cuts
France's finance minister says Berlin should consider the measure to boost domestic demand, as she persists with her view that the 'single motor' economy may be unsustainable for the rest of the eurozone

Pope battles to contain abuse scandal
Pope Benedict was fighting on Wednesday to contain the disastrous fallout for the Vatican from the spreading sexual abuse scandal involving priests across Europe

Commission to back curbs on CDS
Brussels intends to bring forward measures to tackle speculative trading, notably in relation to credit default swaps on sovereign debt, the European Union top financial services regulator said

Brown delays EU hedge fund reforms
London's hedge fund and private equity industry won a last-minute reprieve from contentious new European regulations on Tuesday, after UK premier Gordon Brown pleaded that the issue be shelved until after the general election

Eurozone pledge keeps pressure on Athens
A eurozone promise to extend government loans to Greece in an emergency marked a potential step forward in the governance of Europe's monetary union

Cameron needs red meat for his Eurosceptics
It has been clear for some time that David Cameron is determined to prevent the Conservative party from sliding back into the sort of destructive introspection over Europe in which it might once more tear itself apart

US faces united front on aircraft tender
Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have presented a united Franco-German front against Washington's handling of a $50bn military tender

FT.com - World, Europe
FT.com - World, Europe

 

France and Vichy: Remembering the Vel d'Hiv

A new film suggests France is finally coming to terms with its wartime history

THE French have tended to confront their record under Nazi occupation with a mixture of denial, silence and myth. The second world war was not on the school curriculum until 1962. Textbooks scarcely mentioned the Holocaust. No French leader from de Gaulle to Mitterrand acknowledged the state’s part in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps. It was not until Jacques Chirac became president in 1995 that the French state accepted its official complicity, prompting much soul-searching over collaboration, memory and guilt.

That makes the reaction to the recent release of “La Rafle” curious. This film recreates the French police’s round-up in 1942 of 13,000 Paris Jews, including 4,000 children, and the families’ transfer to the capital’s Velodrome d’Hiver, en route to the death camps. It unfolds through the eyes of Jo Weismann, an 11-year-old who later escaped from an internment camp near Orleans after his parents were sent to Poland. It offers the first cinematic reconstruction of the vast velodrome, in which families endured hot and unsanitary conditions. When Mr Weismann, who is still alive, visited the set he walked out, gasping for air. ...

East European economies: Fingered by fate

A region that a year ago looked as bad as Greece does now has averted catastrophe—but is not yet completely safe

BELIEVE the headlines and Europe’s worst economic headache by far is Greece, financially feckless and socially volatile. Uncontained, its problems could infect other Mediterranean countries like Spain, Portugal and even Italy. The euro’s future and the European Union’s credibility are at risk. And so on.

This week EU finance ministers talked of the possibility of bilateral loans to rescue Greece, as a reward for the government’s new fiscal austerity—though details were conspicuously lacking. But history shows how fast the tide of worries can ebb. Twelve months ago, it was ex-communist countries—Hungary, Latvia, Ukraine and others—that were seen as the biggest problems. Banking and currency collapses loomed, stoking dreadful risks for the region and beyond. A year on, their problems seem humdrum, not horrific. ...

Saving Venice: Brunetta's offensive

A new candidate for the task of saving la Serenissima

BY ANY yardstick, Renato Brunetta is an unusual character. Born the son of a wretchedly poor Venetian souvenir vendor, he grew up a decidedly short man. Yet he has shaped two prominent careers for himself, as an economist and a politician.

Since becoming Silvio Berlusconi’s public-administration minister two years ago, he has shown a rare talent for stirring controversy (recently he suggested that Italy’s stay-at-home youngsters should be driven by law from their parental homes). A liberal in a society where liberal ideas are often taboo, he cheerfully forges ahead without creating the sort of consensus that many Italians see as indispensable. To the outrage of trade unions, he has shaken up Italy’s legendarily torpid civil service, in which he claims to have reduced absenteeism by 40%. He has since focused on modernising the administration by digitisation, and is preparing for the (possibly superhuman) task of introducing Italian bureaucrats to gentilezza and cortesia. ...

Corruption in Kosovo: Time to go straight

The EU and America are no longer prepared to tolerate graft in Kosovo

ON MARCH 10th a small earthquake shook Kosovo. A worse one would have toppled many of the country’s new, shoddily constructed buildings. Worryingly for Kosovo’s leaders, other parts of the national edifice are also coming under test—and they may not fare so well.

In February 2009, a year after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, the mood among the new country’s foreign supporters was upbeat. The Serb minority was staying put. Serious violence was negligible. The UN mission that had run Kosovo since 1999 was winding down fairly smoothly. But a year on, Kosovo’s leaders are under unprecedented foreign attack for tolerating high-level corruption. ...

German dialects and migration: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

How linguistic variations affect where Germans choose to live

FEW Germans now say Appel rather than Apfel (apple) or maken instead of machen (to make). The north German dialects that use such variants are mostly dead or dying. But the cultural differences that they reflect still govern behaviour today, says a paper from the Institute for the Study of Labour, in Bonn*.

Acting on imperial orders in the 1880s, a linguist called Georg Wenker asked pupils from 45,000 schools across the new Reich to translate standard German sentences into local dialect. The results were used to compile an atlas of linguistic diversity. The new paper shows that Wenker’s dialect regions still define the comfort zones in which Germans prefer to live. When people migrate within Germany, they tend to go to places where dialects resemble those spoken in their home region 120 years ago. ...

Police brutality in Russia: Cops for hire

Reforming Russia’s violent and corrupt police will not be easy

THEY shoot, beat and torture civilians, confiscate businesses and take hostages. They are feared and distrusted by two-thirds of the country. But they are not foreign occupiers, mercenaries or mafia; they are Russia’s police officers. The few decent cops among them are seen as mould-breaking heroes and dissidents.

Daily reports of police violence read like wartime bulletins. Recent cases include a random shooting by a police officer in a Moscow supermarket (seven wounded, two dead), the gruesome torture and killing of a journalist in Tomsk, and the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a young lawyer for an American investment fund. He was denied medical treatment and died in pre-trial detention in Moscow having accused several police officers of fraud. ...

Charlemagne: There's no one like Gordon Brown

Has the British prime minister handed his possible successor an almighty headache?

GORDON BROWN, a former head of the British civil service once remarked, has a “Macavity quality” to him. Like TS Eliot’s poetical cat, he said, Britain’s prime minister has a knack of vanishing when there is “dirty work to be done”. Now Mr Brown looks as though he may have pulled a Macavity again, by condemning the next British government to a nasty clash over European Union regulation of hedge funds and private equity.

In the run-up to a Brussels meeting on March 16th, a thumping majority of EU finance ministers looked set to oppose Britain and vote for a directive imposing new rules on hedge funds and private-equity firms. Backed by supportive noises from the American government, representatives of these firms had described the draft directive as protectionist, flawed, and an incentive for managers to flee the EU for more welcoming spots like Switzerland (London hosts more than 70% of EU-based fund managers). ...

Home births in Hungary: Difficult delivery

The pioneer of home births in Hungary faces jail

IF HISTORY were a guide, obstetrics in Hungary should be wonderful. In 1847 Ignac Semmelweis pioneered mother-friendly childbirth, insisting that doctors should wash their hands between autopsy and delivery rooms (they objected to this slur on gentlemanly cleanliness).

Obstetric care in Hungary is indeed excellent today. It is tightly run by skilled doctors, with low mortality rates. But those who challenge the medical profession still face problems. Agnes Gereb, a pioneer of home births, is facing up to eight years in jail. Prosecutors are going after her over one fatality in childbirth, one case in which a baby died some months after birth and two births that ended up as emergency hospital admissions. In the eyes of many Hungarians, such incidents show that home births are insanely risky and that those who promote them are little more than irresponsible cranks. ...

Slovakia's disturbing patriotism: Culture creep

The Slovak leader deploys national culture as a political weapon

IN THE run-up to Slovakia’s parliamentary election in June, Robert Fico, prime minister and leader of the centre-left Smer party (pictured), is busy bolstering his nationalist credentials. His supporters say that ordering schoolchildren to sing the national anthem is just an example of a legitimate effort by a newish country to strengthen its sense of self (Slovakia became fully independent only in 1993, after the break-up of Czechoslovakia). Critics find Mr Fico’s cocktail of history and culture stodgy or downright creepy.

The focus of protests is a new “patriotic act” just passed by parliament that awaits presidential approval. It mandates weekly anthem-playing in all state educational establishments. School officials who disobey risk being sacked. Its champion is Jan Slota, the bombastic leader of a nationalist party that is part of Mr Fico’s coalition. Mr Fico himself takes a softer line, defending only what he calls “reasonable historicism”. But even this is sparking angry squabbles over Slovakia’s past. ...

Charlemagne : Juggling Europe's stars

The new president of the European Council will be worth watching

TO ENGLISH ears, the word “compromise” often has a shabby ring. When safety or quality are compromised, people get hurt. Yet in continental Europe, compromise is often a political ideal. Nowhere is this truer than in Belgium, a country whose Dutch- and French-speaking populations tolerate each other (just), thanks to endless fudges and deals lubricated with taxpayers’ money. Belgium’s six governments are all baggy coalitions that balance social-market capitalism with a free-spending public sector (one in three active adults works for the state).

A third of parliamentarians from Flanders would like Belgium to vanish, says one senior politician. Belgian governments fall often, yet the place trundles along because most leaders agree to disagree. One thing that unites them is faith in deeper European integration. Apart from those on the extreme right, most Belgian politicians would welcome European Union taxes, a European army and nation-states reduced to a vestigial role. It is not hard to see why: to Belgian leaders trapped in the national equivalent of a bad marriage, the EU’s free love must look like bliss. ...

Italy's regional elections: Berlusconi's burlesque

A farcical failure to register candidates in time

THE elections on March 28th and 29th in 13 of Italy’s 20 regions were meant to seal Silvio Berlusconi’s resurgence after a run of scandals over his private life. Eleven regions are held by the centre-left opposition. The prime minister, coasting on a wave of sympathy after an attack by a mentally unstable man in December, had hoped his People of Freedom (PdL) movement might oust up to five centrist and left-wing governors. But its campaign is in chaos—and the government’s ratings are plunging.

To think that it all started with a bread roll. That is what Alfredo Milioni, a former bus-driver charged with registering the PdL’s candidates in Lazio (which includes Rome), first said had lured him from the queue at the electoral office on February 27th. He later offered two other explanations for missing the deadline. Party leaders claimed he had fallen into a trap set by the opposition. But nobody disputes that he returned after the deadline had expired. Electoral officials duly refused to accept the PdL’s slate. That, and two failed court appeals, has left the ruling party out of the race in Lazio, one of five potential swing regions. It was almost excluded in Lombardy too, this time because some of its signatures seemed dubious. ...

The Cyprus talks: A fillip for Talat?

An international court ruling injects new life into fast-fading peace talks

ON ANY small Mediterranean island, property is jealously protected. Orange and olive groves can be as valued as posh villas and sea views. Nowhere more than in Cyprus, split into Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot zones ever since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a coup aimed at Enosis, or unification with Greece.

For Greek-Cypriots who lost homes and businesses in the north, a settlement on property is key to reunifying the island. “Who gets their home back, who gets another property in exchange, who gets compensation: this is what really matters,” says a seasoned observer of the Cyprus talks. In 18 months of UN-sponsored negotiations, Demetris Christofias and Mehmet Ali Talat, respectively the Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders, have broadly agreed over how a bizonal, bicommunal Cyprus should be governed. But they have avoided discussing in any detail the thorniest issues, including property. ...

German church scandals: Abuse and counterabuse

Child-abuse scandals in the Catholic church come a bit nearer the pope

THE Domspatzen have been singing in Regensburg, Bavaria, for a thousand years. But in the 1960s some choirboys there were victims of a “refined system of sadistic punishments connected with sexual lust”, according to Franz Wittenbrink, a composer who attended the choir’s boarding school until 1967. Their traumas are among scores of cases coming to light at Catholic institutions across Germany and elsewhere in Europe, mostly decades after the crimes were committed. The church is struggling to dispel the impression that it is the most flagrant abuser of its own principles. And Germany’s political leaders seem torn between their concern for children’s welfare and their ties to the church.

Christianity matters in Germany. Around two-thirds of west Germans identify themselves as Catholics or Protestants. Christians who pay income tax hand over an extra “church tax” that accounts for two-thirds of church revenue. Germans are not devout: 4% of Protestants and 14% of Catholics in the west are weekly churchgoers. But, says Detlef Pollack of the Wilhelms University in Munster, many count on the church to succour the sick, to offer counsel in times of need or to educate their children. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Protestant pastor, has its roots in the pre-war Centre Party, which was closely linked to the Catholic church. ...

France's regional elections: The strange unpopularity of Nicolas Sarkozy

The ruling party of Nicolas Sarkozy is bracing itself for a bad result in France’s regional elections

THIS ought to be a buoyant time for Nicolas Sarkozy. France’s economy is holding up better than its neighbours’: GDP rose by 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009 over the previous quarter, whereas it was flat in Germany. No big French bank has had to be rescued, nor has there been a wave of mortgage repossessions. The top 40 quoted companies have just reported combined profits of €47 billion ($64 billion) for 2009. The French president has a big parliamentary majority and faces no credible opposition leader. He even has a popular prime minister, Francois Fillon.

Yet Mr Sarkozy faces an imminent political humiliation, as disillusioned voters snub him in regional elections. The two-round poll, being held on March 14th and 21st, will elect governments in France’s 22 mainland regions (plus four overseas). All the opinion polls agree that the results will be terrible for Mr Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party. As it is, the party runs only Alsace and Corsica. With turnout likely to be low, and uncertainty over the vote for the far-right National Front, there could still be a surprise. But even the UMP has resigned itself to at best one region gained—and, at worst, Corsica and even Alsace lost. ...

Silvio Berlusconi and the courts: Impunity time

Italy’s prime minister becomes an unlikely crusader against corruption

LAUGH or cry? On March 1st Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet approved an anti-corruption bill just two days after the resumption of the prime minister’s trial for allegedly bribing a court witness.

David Mills, the British lawyer who was the witness, had already been convicted of accepting a $600,000 bribe. Mr Mills took the money for withholding evidence at two trials in the 1990s in which his client was a defendant. But on February 25th his offence was extinguished by Italy’s highest appeal court. The judges decided it had been committed three months earlier than previously reckoned and was thus covered by a statute of limitations. The time limit had been shortened by Mr Berlusconi’s previous government, one of several measures pushed through that make it exceptionally hard to secure a conclusive conviction for any white-collar crime in Italy. ...

Spain and ETA: Gone fishing

More high-level captures point to a systematic weakening of ETA

ANOTHER big fish from the violent Basque separatist group, ETA, was caught this week. On February 28th Ibon Gogeaskoetxea, ETA’s military boss, was arrested at a country cottage in Normandy, in north-west France. Two of ETA’s experienced assassins, Jose Ayestaran and Beinat Aginagalde, were taken with him.

The arrests offer further proof of ETA’s decline. Mr Gogeaskoetxea, who once tried to kill King Juan Carlos, is the fifth military chief to be captured in just two years. He was in charge for only ten months. Mr Ayestaran and Mr Aginagalde were apparently preparing a kidnapping and bombing campaign in Spain. Several remote-controlled bombs were found. This is the third time in recent weeks that the police have foiled attempts to send ETA terrorists into Spain. ...

Energy security in Europe: Central questions

United in the cause of undermining Russian pipeline monopolies

DOES “Central Europe” exist? It depends on the political climate. Amid worries that France and Germany are stitching up the European Union’s decision-making, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are reviving their ties and pushing shared ideas on energy security and relations with the east.

The alliance began in Visegrad, a Hungarian town, in 1991, when even the EU’s waiting-room seemed distant. Once dreams of joining Western clubs became reality, co-operation all but dissolved. New members shunned anything that made them seem different from the rest. Squabbles, most recently over the treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia, dominated Visegrad meetings. Some even suggested winding the club up. ...

Correction: Dutch politics

Last week's story on the Netherlands said that calls for a cordon sanitaire on Geert Wilders's Freedom Party would not go down well with the 10% of the voters who are foreign-born. It meant to say that isolating the party would not go down well with its many voters (very few of whom are foreign-born). Sorry.

...

Charlemagne: Europe's hypochondriacs

Most Europeans are doing better than they think, and can take more fiscal austerity

IMAGINE two cousins. One comes from continental Europe, France, perhaps. A hypochondriac, his life is filled with vague complaints—stress, fatigue and mysterious aches—for which he takes fistfuls of pills. He is sure that strenuous exercise is a menace to his fragile health. The other cousin is American (or British, take your pick), a risk-taker devoted to extreme sports. Shunning doctors, he feels as strong as an ox, although he has been drinking and overeating for years. Eventually, in 2008, he succumbs to a massive heart attack while out jogging. As far as his French cousin is concerned, a deep truth has thus been confirmed: that exercise is bad for you.

Substitute free-market competition for exercise, and you have the European debate over the financial crisis. Sober discussion about how to manage the instability of markets is giving way to a simpler fable. Too many voters now believe that the credit crunch has proved that globalisation is bad for you. And too many politicians are happy to endorse such views. In a televised meeting with voters in January the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, denounced Renault for planning to build a new car in Turkey, saying “I do not accept that cars sold in France should be manufactured abroad.” ...

The Economist: Europe
Europe