Suchergebnisse

An interview with Artur Mas, President of the Generalite de Catalonia since 2010. You always had, for years, the image of a moderate nationalist, a man away from the extreme Right. And now, with the regional elections of 27 September, you appear to be much more radical than you were! How do you explain it? Adapted from the source document.

After two years in power, times are tough for Portugal's center-right Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. In return for the massive aid program provided by the 'troika' (IMF, ECB, EU) to bail the country out of its economic slump, Portugal has had to introduce a series of painful austerity measures. Any head of government in times like these can expect a sharp drop in approval ratings. Pedro Passos Coelho was no exception to this rule, his party being largely defeated in recent municipal elections. His cabinet has not emerged from the turmoil unscathed, either: the finance minister resigned in dramatic circumstances, while the leader of the other party in the coalition government, Paulo Portas, resigned his post, only to bounce back in a new role just a short time later. In spite of everything, the Prime Minister is sticking to his guns, explaining in this exclusive interview that Portugal is already well on the way to a return to growth and prosperity. Adapted from the source document.

Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, is a young minister: he Entered the government for the first time in December 2011 at the age of 67, he is nonetheless an aim Experienced politician. In this interview with Michel Faure, the Harvard-educated expert on monetary and financial issues makes the case for an anti-recession style of diplomacy Focused on winning foreign markets and investing to create jobs. A staunch defender of what he calls 'la marca Espana' (the Spanish brand), Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo factotum believes in blending Economic and conventional diplomacy. Above all, His outspokenness Has Made him a media celebrity. His bald statements are a far cry from the usual subdued murmurings of the diplomatic corps and Regularly make headlines in the Spanish and foreign press. Adapted from the source document.

On the day after his victory in Portugal's parliamentary elections on June 5, Pedro Passos Coelho, the leader of the Social Democrat Party, unveiled the details of his political agenda in an exclusive interview with Michel Faure. Passos Coelho faces a hefty challenge as Portugal hovers on the verge of bankruptcy and is only surviving thanks to bailouts by the IMF and EU. He puts the blame on the inappropriate policies pursued by his predecessors, which left the country with a massive debt load. The new prime minister intends to reduce the budget deficit and raise tax revenue, mainly through an increase in value-added tax (VAT). Priorities include slashing public spending, coupled with a raft of bold social reforms, including cutbacks on social services, and an increased role for charities and local community groups. Passos Coelho also plans to push for a reform of the legal system, aimed at reassuring foreign investors and encouraging them to tap into the country's human resources. Adapted from the source document.

Spain comes out of the economic crisis to enter into a political turbulence. The year 2015 was indeed marked by electoral rendezvous with a number of regional elections and general elections which must be held before 20 December. And nothing will be easy, either for the Popular Party (PP) party nor for the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), currently in opposition. The both are weakened, the PP for asking difficult effort to Spain, PSOE for failing to present them a credible alternative option to exit the crisis and mitigate its effects. Moreover, these two major government parties must resist the thrust of two new formations, each in its measure, promise to disturb bipartisanship that structures the Spanish political life since the return to democracy in 1978. Adapted from the source document.

As a reflection of a terroir and a landscape, as an emblem of a region, a nation or a civilisation, wine also facilitates a connection between cultural dimensions that we are used to discriminating in our everyday representations (human/divine, human/animal, noble/common, beautiful/monstruous, natural/artificial). It is thus a vector of alterity, an invitation to go towards the other, to modify or alter one's vision of the world, to cross not only regional and national borders, but also the threshold between the profane and the sacred. It was therefore essential to combine the thoughts of wine professionals with those of researchers from many areas of the human sciences, from history to economics, linguistics, semiotics, communication sciences and literary criticism. Reflet d'un terroir et d'un paysage, emblème d'une région, d'une nation ou d'une civilisation, le vin facilite aussi le rapprochement entre des dimensions culturelles que nous sommes habitués à distinguer dans nos représentations ordinaires (humain/divin, humain/animal, noble/vulgaire, beau/monstrueux, naturel/artificiel). Il est ainsi vecteur d'altérité, il invite à aller vers l'autre, à modifier ou altérer sa vision du monde, à franchir non seulement les frontières régionales et nationales, mais également le seuil séparant le profane du sacré. Il était donc indispensable d'associer les réflexions de professionnels spécialistes du vin à celles de chercheurs issus de nombreux secteurs des sciences humaines, de l'histoire à l'économie en passant par la linguistique, la sémiotique, les sciences de l'information et de la communication ou encore la critique littéraire.