You can see the international press review live on France 24 on weekdays at 9.10am, Paris time.

Unedited television script

Irish Times: Funding allegations dominate Lisbon debate

With just three days to go until Ireland votes on the Lisbon Treaty, the debate is centering on the funding on both sides of the campaign. The European Commission spent €150,000 on a supplement in Sunday papers which the “No” campaign has called illegal.

The spotlight has also been shone on Declan Ganley of Libertas – one of the most prominent no campaigners – who allegedly accepted money from a British hedge fund manager for his campaign.The Finance Minister Brian Lenihan spoke out against such donations saying certain UK-based hedge funds do not have Ireland’s interests at heart. In fact some of them have taken bets on the country’s solvency so would be set to make money if the country were to go bankrupt. Ganley denies that the hedge fund donation had anything to do with the referendum campaign.

Inside the paper, there is an opinion piece by Britain’s longest serving Europe Minister, the Labour MP Denis McShane. “Voters should be aware of the advice of false friends from across the Irish Sea.” Here are some extracts:

He is highly critical of the British Conservative Party. “While it wasn’t always the case in the past, much of the British elite now think that the Irish vote is a capital thing – provided of course that they vote down the Lisbon Treaty.”

“If the Irish vote down the Lisbon Treaty, they will be the heroes of the hour for Rupert Murdoch, for former pornographer Richard Desmond, who owns the Daily Express.”

“Ambassadors are privately expressing deep concern about a Conservative government in the UK and the crisis it could provoke in Europe.”

“Giving a pop on the nose to the Eurosceptic swells and Tory millionaires who are braying in public and praying in private for an Irish No should not sway any votes. But I hope, this time, the Irish can say Yes to Europe and No to their false friends across the Irish Sea.”

The debate over Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland is still raging in the press. The Independent in the UK provides both points of view.

 
Harvey Weinstein – a big Hollywood producer and founder of Miramax - is clearly horrified at Polanksi’s arrest on charges of raping a 13 year old girl in 1977.

“Whatever you think about the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time …It’s a shocking way to treat a man who went through the Holocaust and his wife’s murder.” By serving time, Weinstein means his exile in France – hardly a prison sentence.

As for the columnist Dominic Lawson, he insists, “Let’s not forget what Polanski did,” he says. “The film director has been treated with extraordinary indulgence… A man who drugged and sodomised a 13-year old girl does not usually receive such uncritical support.”

Also on the Polanski arrest, Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post writes,

“In general I agree with the European view that Americans tend to be prudish and hypocritical about sex. But a grown man drugging and raping a 13-year old girl? That’s not remotely a close call. It’s wrong in any moral universe – and deserves harsher punishment than three decades of gilded exile.”

“He ran away rather than face the consequences of his actions… before any sentence was imposed; he absconded like a prince to live a princely life in France.”

“That’s the sort of protagonist a great director like Polanski must realize doesn’t deserve a happy ending.”

Moving to the International Herald Tribune, it’s front page asks “Is socialism dying?”

This article speaks about socialism’s slow collapse in Europe. Where left-wing parties do hold power as in Spain and Britain, they are under assault. As for Germany, we saw what happened to the Social Democrats in the German elections where they got just 23% - the SDP’s worst performance since the Second World War.

The French Socialists are doing no better – French philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy famously declared “Socialism is already dead – no one or nearly no one dare to say it. But everyone, or nearly everyone, knows it.”

So why has socialism lost its steam? Well, according to Michel Winock, a French historian, its ideas have simply become mainstream. “When Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel condemn the excesses of the ‘Anglo-Saxon model’ of capitalism while praising the protective power of the State, they are using onetime Socialist ideas,” says Winock.

On the subject of systems of support coming undone, (prize for the worst transitional metaphor this year?! Read on…) Libération runs an article about bras in the Swedish Army.

Women soldiers in Sweden are complaining of unequal treatment when it comes to underwear. While the army provides briefs for men, women have to buy their own bras and underwear. This can be a pricey business. What’s more, regular sports bras often come undone during combat and are simply not up to the task at hand! As a result, Swedish women are calling for “combat bras” to be provided by the Army.