Author Archives: David Weman

About David Weman

The founder of A Fistful of Euros. He is Swedish, and was born in 1980. Works as a translator and subtitler.

Berlusconi wins

Posted on by

The old bastard pulled it off. Seems to get fairly solid majorities in both chambers. Veltroni just conceded.

There’s was even more disgust at the political process than usual this election. Lots of scandals and Beppe Grillo rallies. Some dude ate his ballot, etc. So turnout was lower than usual this year. I gotta assume that hurt the left.

So they’re on track to have ten years of Silvio in a twelve year period, quite possibly. At least after that he’ll be to old to run again (He’s 71 now). The evil dorks, Lega Nord, had a great day too. Lovely times ahead for Italy.

The Fourth Annual Satin Pajama Awards

Posted on by

I hereby announce The Fourth Annual Satin Pajama Awards. You can nominate blogs in the comments to this post.

The purpose of the awards is to recognize the efforts and contributions of Europe’s many talented bloggers, to maybe help build a sense of community among us, and, more than anything, it’s a chance for people to discover lots of new good blogs.

A blog is eligible if it’s written by Europeans or has a European (Czech, Catalan…) theme. Our own blogs aren’t eligible. Finalists are chosen based on the number of nominations as well as editorial discretion. So you want to nominate a favorite blog even if someone else already mentioned it.

Please specify the category and provide a URL or link. We don’t have the time to track down blogs.

The polls will open sometime in April.

Nominees for Best Southeastern European Weblog
Nominees for Best CIS blog
Nominees for Best Writing
Nominate Best Culture Weblog
Nominees for Best Personal Weblog
Nominate Best New Weblog
Nominees for Best European Weblog Overall
Nominate Best Political Weblog
Nominate Most Underappreciated Weblog
Nominees for Best Humor Blog
Nominees for Best German Blog
Nominees for Best French Weblog
Nominate Best UK Blog
Nominees for Best Expat Blog
Nominate Best Academic Weblog

Best Political Weblog
Best Non-European Weblog
Best New Weblog
Best Humorous Weblog
Best Weblog By An Expatriate:
Best Culture Weblog
Best Expat Blog
Most Underappreciated Weblog
Best Writing
Best Personal Weblog
Best Expert or Scholar Weblog
The 2008 Satin Pajama for Lifetime Achievement
Best Weblog in Europe

Best Weblog From North Western Europe (The British Isles and the Nordic countries)
Best Weblog From Continental Western Europe
Best CIS Weblog
Best Southeastern European Weblog
Best Central European Weblog

Best French Weblog
Best German Weblog

Dmitri Medvedev loves Vladimir Putin

Posted on by

Guess what? Medvedev won!

This FT profile is the best I’ve seen, even tells us a little about his upbringing. The key points: Medvedev’s known Putin for a very long time, since they both worked for Sobchak in the early 90s. He’s been a key aide since the beginning, deputy chief of staff, chief of staff, chairman of Gazprom, deputy PM. He’s very loyal. He never sticked his head out, tried to build his own powerbase, or took initiatives.

At least he:

“took on the management of Gazprom at a time when they were a power unto themselves,” says one western executive who worked with him at that time. “People have this image of him being shy and retiring. But if he knows he has the backing of the boss, he can be pretty tough.”

The question is if Medvedev eventually will become the de facto head. The aura and de jure powers of the presidency would be reasons he might. The profile doesn’t make it seem too near at hand, though their close relation could mean he at least will be a genuine junior partner. Another question would be what could happen if Putin would die or partly retire.

Mr Putin needs to stay on as prime minister and as ultimate arbiter because without that presence, hardline groups would “eat him alive”, the senior banker says of Mr Medvedev.

But Medvedev doesn’t seem like a complete nonentity to me. I guess. Really, I make no predictions.

Make your own.

Jonathan Rauch is a horrible human being

Posted on by

I’ll do a rare US-centric post, because this kind of stunned me. Rauch argues that republicans will call a democratic withdrawal from Iraq a stab in the back, and to avoid that Democrats should stretch out withdrawal over several years.

Why that would stop the wingnuts from shouting treason he doesn’t bother to explain, but more importantly: The lives or Iraqis or US troops goes unmentioned. The US national interest goes unmentioned. Just avoid contentiousness at all cost. Oh, and if there is any contentiousness it’ll be the dirty hippies fault.

Dare we hope?

Posted on by

Bad news for the old crook.

Through his family-controlled Fininvest empire, Berlusconi runs Mediaset, by far the biggest commercial TV broadcaster in Italy. His empire also runs the biggest national advertiser, the biggest publisher and much else. Given Italy’s long tradition of political interference with public sector broadcasting, this means that when he has been prime minister he has wielded influence over almost everything watched by Italians on TV, from news programmes to adverts.

But on January 31 the European Court of Justice made a first dent in Italy’s unusually concentrated media market when it ruled that the national broadcasting system failed to foster competition. In essence, the court recognised what anyone who has lived in Italy (I did so for five years) knows: the present system is a stitch-up between Mediaset and Rai, the state-controlled broadcaster.

This was an important moment because it reminded Italians that, even if they cannot fix what is wrong in Italy, Europe can sometimes do it for them. Since Berlusconi entered politics in 1993-94, turning his media dominance into a serious national issue, Italy has had two spells of centre-left government – 1996-2001 and May 2006 to the present day. In neither spell did the centre-left succeed in passing laws to reform the media sector or curb politicans’ conflicts of interest.

One can speculate as to the reasons why. In the late 1990s, it was perhaps because former premier Massimo D’Alema was too clever by half and Berlusconi outmanoeuvred him. More recently, Prodi’s government was probably too weak and divided to pass such laws – though it had promised it would.

In any event, the spotlight will now move to Brussels. Buoyed by recent victories such as the landmark Microsoft case, the EU competition authorities have never felt stronger when it comes to taking on corporate power. At some point in Berlusconi’s future premiership (assuming he wins the election), it is a safe bet that a test case challenging his media dominance will under the scrutiny of Brussels.

The credibility of the EU as a regulator with worldwide influence will be on the line. But so, too will the reputation of the multi-billionaire Berlusconi. It will be some spectacle.