France - Italy - Nicolas Sarkozy - press
In the papers
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
By Gragg Gulliver / France 24
Asharq al Awsat (UK / Saudi)
أولمرت معقبا على تقارير الوساطة التركية: أعرف ماذا
ينشد الأسد.. وهو يعرف ما نري
Olmert: We know what Assad wants and Assad knows what we want
Al Watan (Syria)
Is Israel about to withdraw from Syria’s Golan heights? The London-based Saudi paper Asharq al Awsat has this phrase from Israeli premier Ehud Olmert on its front page – “We know what Assad wants and Assad knows what we want”… There’s no further analysis in Asharq al Awzat, just the basic information…
It’s a similar story the Syrian paper Al Watan, which prints an official declaration from the foreign minister saying that Syria is prepared to negotiate and putting the ball firmly in Israel’s court to start the talks if it wants to withdraw…
Ha’aretz (Israel)
Don’t be afraid of peace with Syria
There’s a bit more comment on all of this in Ha’aretz. The Israeli paper is absolutely in favour of a withdrawal, saying the security advantages of peace with Syria are greater than the strategic value of the Golan Heights – but worried that Ehud Olmert doesn’t have enough support within his own party Kadima for this move.
Ha’retz also points out that the climate of relations with Syria is going to have to change when George W Bush leaves office in Washington because his potential successors all favour more dialogue with Bashar al Assad…
El Mundo (Spain)
La pensión de invalidez de McCain levanta dudas sobre su estado de salud
McCain’s disability pension raises doubts about his health
John McCain, one of said candidates, will be the oldest elected US president ever if he wins, and while the US papers are focusing heavily on the Democratic race, El Mundo in Spain brings to its front page some news that hasn’t made so many headlines over there, at least not yet (though there was one piece about it in the LA Times on Tuesday): McCain gets a 58,000 dollar tax-free disability pension. The question they’re asking is: is this normal for someone who says he’s fit enough to run the most powerful country in the world? But will it be enough to get Americans worried about electing a 72-year-old, asks El Mundo. It’s not certain, because the disability part of it also allows McCain’s team to constantly remind people that he got his injuries whilst being tortured in Vietnam, which only enhances his hero status.
Evenimentul Zilei (Romania)
Românii infractori, armă electorală în Italia
Il Giornale (Italy)
Ai romeni il record di reati Sono al primo posto per omicidi e prostituzione
Romanians get the record for crime: they are in pole position for homicides and prositution
The rape last week of an Italian woman by a Romanian citizen has revived tensions between the communities over there, as the Romanian paper Evenimentul Zilei reports under the headline: “Romanian criminals – an electoral tool in Italy”, recounting how ahead of municipal elections in Italy candidates are vying to promise the toughest line against Romanians – “proposing radical solutions that are impossible to actually carry out” in the words of the paper. These include re-introducing visas for Romanians in Italy – Silvio Berlusconi the incoming prime minister has talked about changing European rules – he also said all the major European countries except Italy had restricted the entry of Romanians so it was Romano Prodi’s fault for letting them in… Evenimentul Zilei says this is a barefaced lie (Romanians can totally go where they want, as EU rules stipulate; there are restrictions on work permits in some places).
But the climate is reflected in Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by Silvio Berlusconi’s brother, which goes big on the rates of crime committed by Romanians – which it claims are disproportionate to the levels of crime committed by other foreigners in Italy. For Il Giornale, “people are scared”.
Il Giornale, perhaps unsurprisingly, does not mention that of course, most of the thousands of Romanians who now live in Italy are law-abiding citizens, but for Evenimentul Zilei, they are the ones who are really scared, now. Feeling tainted by the brush of their criminal compatriots, they feel that all Italians resent them and say they avoid speaking Romanian in the street.
Libération (France)
Sarkozy – un an après: le best of
Sarkozy one year on : the Best Of
Le Figaro (France)
« L’heure de vérité » new look de Sarkozy
Sarkozy’s new-look “moment of truth”
In France, the two main morning dailies are both anticipating the major televised interview that Nicolas Sarkozy is due to give tonight, but how different their coverage!
Left-wing Libération has an ironic “best-of” Sarkozy’s year in office, mainly focusing on the more negative highlights of his term so far, such as his 172 percent pay-rise…
Right-wing Le Figaro on the other hand takes a much more serious line, analyzing what is at stake as the President seeks a new impetus, and even looking in detail at how a president and the media prepare for an event such as this – with a photo of the set.
