For or against visas for the Balkans?

Will the EU be bringing back the visa requirement for nationals of the western Balkans? On France and Germany’s initiative, six member states of the EU want tighter controls on migrants arriving from Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania.

Among these countries is Sweden, which has taken in more than 34,000 asylum seekers since the start of the year, including 5,276 Syrians. Most, though, are from the Balkans. The position of the centre-right government has divided the Swedish press.

Today's front pages

UNITED KINGDOM

Ambush over Europe

British PM David Cameron will come under attack from all sides over Europe today as Labour and a senior figure in his own Conservative party urge him to push for a cut to the European Union’s budget. The European Commission proposes raising it by 5 per cent to €146 billion annually over the next seven-year period (2014-2020), or €1.025 trillion in total. The Prime Minister is opposed to such an increase but has indicated that he will agree to an increase in line with inflation, at 2%.

France arrests 'top ETA leader'

Lesaka's arrest is a blow to the separatist organisation that announced a ceasefire in 2011 [AFP]

French police have arrested a top leader of the Basque separatist group ETA in eastern France, the Spanish interior ministry says. Izaskun Lesaka, the "most experienced of the three main leaders" of the banned organisation, was arrested during a raid by an elite French police unit at a hotel in the town of Macon, near the city of Lyon, a ministry statement said on Sunday. She was arrested with a man, also described as an ETA member, who the statement and a French source identified as Joseba Iturbide. Both of them were allegedly in possession of weapons.

Another Default? Troika Calls for New Debt Relief for Greece

Greece's international creditors are calling for a new debt haircut for the country so as to bring down its massive debt load. This time, however, taxpayer money from Germany and other donor countries would be involved. Resistance, not surprisingly, is substantial.

For all of the uncertainty surrounding Greece's future in the euro zone and the mixed messages regarding the political and economic reform process in the country, the math is actually relatively simple. Current plans call for Greece's sovereign debt to drop to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. But the country's debt load is 169 percent of GDP and it is expected to rise to 179 percent by the end of next year. In absolute terms, that is almost €350 billion ($451 billion).

Paying that down will require nothing short of an extended economic miracle in the Mediterranean country, an eventuality not looking terribly realistic following five years of economic shrinkage and a sixth on the horizon.

'EU Should Admit that Greece Will Need Debt Cut'

Greece's international creditors have proposed that the country receive another debt writedown, this time from EU governments. That, say German media commentators, is hardly a surprise. Fresh aid for Athens, they argue, has been inevitable for months, but leaders have shied away from telling the truth.

SPIEGEL has learned that the troika of inspectors from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund is proposing a further debt cut for Greece, in a move that would for the first time cost taxpayers money because public creditors, meaning EU governments, would be called on to write off a portion of their claims.

World's Largest Publishing House Bertelsmann and Penguin Announce Merger Plan

German media company Bertelsmann said Monday it plans to merge its Random House subsidiary with Britain's Penguin, creating the world's largest trade publishing house. The merger would give the joint company a stronger position in the market, but it could prompt a bidding war led by Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. this week.

Europe's largest media company, Bertelsmann, and Britain's Pearson confirmed Monday that they are preparing to merge two successful units to create the world's largest book publishing house that would bring together Random House and the Penguin Group.

Διαρροή εκατοντάδων εγγράφων του υπουργείου Οικονομικών

Την ώρα που blogs στο Διαδίκτυο δημοσιεύουν την είδηση ότι οι Anonymous εισέβαλαν στο υπουργείο Οικονομικών, πηγές από την ΕΛ.ΑΣ. κάνουν λόγο για φυσική υπεξαίρεση εγγράφων από άτομα εντός του υπουργείου και όχι ηλεκτρονική. Τα έγγραφα που έχουν διαρρεύσει είναι αρχεία εικόνας και όχι κειμένου, γεγονός που παραπέμπει σε σκανάρισμά τους, είτε για διαρροή, είτε για αρχειοθέτησή τους. Η αναφορά των blogs συνοδεύεται από κείμενο που φέρεται ότι έχουν γράψει οι Anonymous, μαζί με δύο εκ των εγγράφων, ως πειστήρια της διαρροής. Τα έγγραφα του υπουργείου Οικονομικών έχουν διαρρεύσει ηλεκτρονικά και αποτελούν μέρος της αλληλογραφίας του υπουργείου Οικονομικών.

ΕΣΕΕ: Ο πληθωρισμός υποχωρεί, οι τιμές όχι

Ο πληθωρισμός μπορεί να υποχωρεί οι τιμές όμως, παραμένουν σε σχετικά υψηλά επίπεδα, επισημαίνει η ΕΣΕΕ υποστηρίζοντας παράλληλα ότι κάποιοι κάποιοι δεν αφήνουν τις μικρομεσαίες ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις να αγοράσουν φθηνά, ώστε να πουλήσουν φθηνά στον καταναλωτή.

Όπως επισημαίνει η Συνομοσπονδία, παρά τη βαθιά κρίση στην οποία βρίσκεται η ελληνική οικονομία, οι τιμές πολλών προϊόντων και υπηρεσιών στην εγχώρια αγορά εξακολουθούν να παρουσιάζουν μεγάλες αποκλίσεις σε σχέση με άλλες χώρες, ακόμα και όταν η σύγκριση γίνεται με κράτη που βρίσκονται επίσης υπό καθεστώς δημοσιονομικής προσαρμογής και λιτότητας.

Γερμανία: «Η Ελλάδα δεν μπορεί να κάνει άλλες περικοπές», λέει ο πρόεδρος της ΚΟ CDU/CSU

«H Ελλάδα πρέπει να εκπληρώσει τους όρους», τονίζει ο επικεφαλής της Κοινοβουλευτικής Ομάδας Χριστιανοδημοκρατών/ Χριστανοκοινωνιστών (CDU/CSU) Φόλκερ Κάουντερ. Διευκρινίζει, ωστόσο, ότι «πιθανότατα, δεν μπορεί η Ελλάδα να κάνει περισσότερες περικοπές, γι' αυτό πρέπει επιτέλους να δρομολογηθούν οι διαρθρωτικές μεταρρυθμίσεις και οι ιδιωτικοποιήσεις».

Σημειώνει, ακόμη, ότι ο πρωθυπουργός Αντώνης Σαμαράς «τακτοποίησε περισσότερα από οποιονδήποτε προκάτοχό του».

Report: U.S. should allow Japan to use military air base for commercial use

This megacity of 35 million says it badly needs a third airport to help it meet rising demand for passenger flights. And its officials think just the right airport already exists: a U.S. air base in the sprawling western suburbs, under the shadows of Mt. Fuji.

So far, despite almost a decade of lobbying from Tokyo and the central government, Japan hasn’t convinced the U.S. to grant it partial use of Yokota Air Base. Talks stalled after a 2007 feasibility study raised the possibility of emergency-time chaos if the base was handling both military jets and commercial planes.