As Bosnia commemorates the Srebrenica massacre of 8, 000 Bosniaks in 1995, the former Serbian general Jovan Divjak is being held in Austria for crimes that he undoubtedly did not commit. He defected to the Bosnian army at the beginning of the 1992-1995 war. The president of the French association Confrontations Europe is convinced that European democracy is being tested in the Balkans right now

‘Mr. Europe, we need to talk’... What kind of illusions are today’s youth still able to harbour in an era in which the Yalta generation propose debt for younger people and patrimony for older people? Petition

In mid-June the Alte Breslauer duelling club in Bonn petitioned its national umbrella organisation to stipulate German descent as a criterium for accepting the currently 1, 300 students into these legendary student societies. In June, a society in Mannheim allowed a German of Chinese descent to join. The case drags the just over 100 German duelling clubs, which are accused of harbouring extreme right-wing ideologies, into a negative rather than magical light

'We are not anti-system, the system is anti-us'. This is just one of many slogans that are prominently displayed on the banners around Syntagma Square in the heart of Athens. The word ochi, meaning ‘no’, can be seen everywhere here: no to the government, no to the financial and political system, no to the betrayal of democracy

By Laurent Hanseeuw

France and Germany – along with other countries – have recently used the current Euro crisis to put increasing pressure on Ireland to raise its famous 12,5% rate on corporate profits. Every now and then, there are voices calling for corporate tax harmonisation throughout Europe so as to avoid unfair tax competition. The case for such move rests in the characteristics of multinational companies which can locate their profits in countries with most attractive tax rate (though there are many constraints, such as transfer pricing rules). This, so is argued, introduces a race-to-the-bottom on corporate tax rates and depresses fiscal revenues, inducing a higher fiscal burden on usual tax payers.