Presseurop

De Standaard, Brussels – Despite all the promises of transparency, European funds are still being used improperly by companies and member states, while fraud and misuse remain difficult to detect and rarely punished. See more.

The bad bank created by the regrouping of toxic assets owned by nationalised Spanish banks has become „Europe’s biggest property agency,“ notes daily ABC. The assets represent €36.7bn, which is —

considerably more than Europe’s leading property group, France’s Unibail-Rodamco, which has assets worth €27.5bn. It is also more than the €30bn absorbed by the Irish bad bank, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA)

On December 31, the nationalised banks, including Bankia — which by itself was responsible for €22.3bn — Catalunya Banc, Novagalicia Banco and Banco de Valencia, transferred their toxic assets to the Company for the Management of Assets from Bank Restructurating (SAREB). However, it is expected that the bad bank will take on a further €4.5bn in assets from four other institutions which will also receive aid from Brussels — Liberbank, Caja3, BMN and Banco Ceiss, thereby boosting its holdings to €41.2bn. For ABC, the management of such a giant will represent a real challenge. SAREB will have to cope —

with a huge variety of different types of absorbed assets, distributed over a wide geographical area. And let’s not forget the different possible solutions: development of the property portfolio, liquidation or restructuring.

Estonian citizens have the opportunity – from January to March 2013 – to design new regulations for political activity by intervening directly in the legislative process.

The decision was made at a round table called by President Toomas Henrik Ilves following a series of political and financial scandals. The round table brought together representatives of political parties, civil society, and opinion makers.

Website Rahvakogu.ee (The Citizens’ Parliament) went online January 7, and allows Internet users to learn about electoral regulations, existing political parties and to propose amendments. „One does not need to be a political scientist or an lawyer to do this. The documents are presented in the simplest manner,“ explains Estonian daily Postimees. Proposals concerning five areas regarding the operation, role and financing of political parties as well as on the electoral process, can be sent to the site until the end of January. „The meaning of this initiative is to show that no person alone is as intelligent as the people as a whole,“ explains Urmo Kübar, head of NENO, the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organisations.

At the end of January, a group of experts will study the different suggestions. In March, several days of discussions are scheduled and about 500 Estonians representing various social categories will be invited to participate. The Estonian government will then take into account the results of these discussions.

But another Estonian daily Eesti Päevaleht expresses doubts, saying –

Many people are sceptical of this new institution. Several attempts were made in the past to create a permanent link between citizens and those in power, such as TOM [Täna otsustan mina, “Today I Decide”], launched in 2001. These failed.

Yet, according to the paper,

unlike TOM, since replaced by Osale.ee (“Participate”), The Citizens’ Parliament is focused on a single issue and this gives rise to the hope that it will not just become another place to sound off.

Adevărul, Bucharest – Against a backdrop of global crisis, the battle for resources is set to escalate in 2013. At a time when the EU is turning to Russia for its energy needs, one of its member states could supply the others with agricultural produce. But for this to happen, Romanians will have to take full advantage of their country’s assets. See more.

SME, Bratislava – Cartoon. See more.

La Repubblica, Rome – After two years of radical austerity the Irish economy is going through an upswing, thanks to new revenue the state is collecting from renewable energy and from taxing fossil fuels and rubbish. See more.

„In fact, pilots already fall asleep,“ says Belgian daily De Standaard quoting a spokesperson of the European Cockpit Association (ECA). According to the ECA, which represents airline pilots in the EU, recent efforts to harmonise working hours in the European aviation sector will lead to longer hours for all. Belgian pilots, for example, could be forced to work 11 to 12 consecutive hours compared with 10 hours currently, the paper explains. The ECA adds –

Four pilots out of five say they suffer from lack of sleep and a third report incidents of the captain and the co-pilot falling asleep while the on-board computer piloted the plane.

The lack of sleep among pilots is not a new problem. Recently, low-cost firm Ryanair caused a stir following testimony concerning flight safety –

Some pilots have testified that they flew while being „ill or burned out“ because, they said: „if we don’t fly, we won’t be paid.“ A week earlier, some pilots said they „were under pressure to fly using the least amount of fuel possible“. Ryanair has denied both accusations.

In a leader article, two members of the Dutch Expert Group on Aviation Safety warned that the new European rules „include the worse elements of current national regulations“.

It is time to ask the question of whether the European rules devised for working hours and times of rest as well as the current rights of European passengers are quite reasonable. Is it sensible to expand working hours to the maximum in a structural manner? And why should passengers be awarded compensation if a captain decides to make an unscheduled stop to safeguard their own safety?

Respekt, Prague – Twenty years ago, Czechoslovakia split in two new countries. If the Czech Republic and Slovakia had stayed together and transformed the impoverished former nation into a multi-ethnic country, both societies would be more democratic today, argues a dual-nationality columnist. See more.