PARIS | By Anne Feitz at Les échos via Presseurop | This week, France confirmed its ban on shale gas exploitation and the European Parliament demanded environmental impact studies before all test drilling starts. More obstacles for a resource that may yet not be the solution to Europe’s energy problems.
CAIXIN | By George Soros | The euro crisis is now over but the visible uncertainty within markets lies in the fact that the system is still far from satisfactory.
PRAGUE | By Daniel Gros at Project Syndicate via Presseurop | German ardour for the European project is not cooling, as some would have the public believe. Instead, Germany is recognising the value of the EU and above all the single currency, now more than ever.
PARIS | By François Bazin at Le Nouvel Observateur via Presseurop | “For the first time,” the Front National (FN) has taken the lead in a survey of voting intentions in France, reports an Le Nouvel Observateur.
BERLIN | By Cicero via Presseurop | “I’m sorry. They are still talking about it. Maybe HE will bring you a new government.”
MADRID | By Alex García.
BRUSSELS | By Hein de Haas at De Morgen via Presseurop | The calls for stricter border controls, which are echoing throughout Europe, will increase rather than decrease the risk of tragedies such as the Lampedusa disaster, argues an immigration expert. That is why the EU should first reform its asylum policy.
LONDON | By Sigrún Davíðsdóttir | There is yet no clear plan in sight as to how to deal with the estates of the failed banks and, eventually, lifting the capital controls in Iceland. However, the fact that the government has declared it intends to use a given “wind-fall” from the estates indicates that there is a certain wish(ful thinking). The question is how this “wish” will materialise – and most of all, if the creditors will stage some counteraction, either as a group or single creditors, to seek to claim their foreign assets in foreign courts.
PARIS | By Alain Salles at Le Monde via Presseurop | The success of Europhobic parties in member states will likely pave the way for a surge in support for Eurosceptics in next May’s European elections. Their favourite topics — immigration, austerity and the rejection of Brussels — already dominate the campaigns.
AMSTERDAM | By Geert Mak via Presseurop | The political and institutional crisis in Europe will trigger the emergence of a new balance in the relationships between European institutions themselves, and the EU and its citizens.