Inside Europe: The Inside Take on European Affairs

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DATE : Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:05:00 GMT
Entered in Database : 2008-09-20 07:05:00
length : 26517453
Link to the Show / Show Notes

This week: Is the financial crisis creating a new East West divide?--Can Poland weather the economic storm?--New gadgets at the world’s biggest technology trade fair-- A German takes over France’s gastonomic Bible--Around the world in 30 days with Twitter--Is Europe’s mental health on the decline?--Spanish religious group turns to Youtube and promoting a perfume that doesn’t exist?
Tune in to Inside Europe on the radio or sign up for the Inside Europe podcast! You can also download the programme from the website.
Is the financial crisis creating a new East West divide?

It was time for some soul-searching in the Czech capital Prague this week. The government there organized a conference entitled Five Years After, which looked back at the historic enlargement of the European Union on May 1st, 2004.

The air of celebration was tempered by very real worries over Europe’s future as it weathers the worst financial storm in decades.

Reporter: Rob Cameron

Many people in Poland have been disappointed by the recent spate of media reports predicting a meltdown in central and eastern Europe.

Unlike much of western Europe the Polish economy is faring relatively well so far under the downturn and Poles think it’s unfair to lump their country in the same group as other countries in the region which are suffering much worse problems.

Reporter: Adam Easton

In just two decades the internet has changed global society practically beyond recognition. And that's why the world's biggest information and communications technology trade fair – CeBIT – has decided to make the web a major focus in 2009.

CeBIT opened its doors to the public earlier this week in the German city of Hannover, and thousands of people have turned up --- either looking for modern day solutions to their problems, or trying to catch a glimpse of the future… Our reporter Mark Hallam is amongst them.

It's been described as the gastronomy bible the world over and this week the Michelin restaurant guide celebrated its one hundredth edition.

In its home country, the French version has startled observers on two counts. Firstly, the only new outlet to be granted the famous three stars is a favourite haunt of President Sarkozy - leading to criticism that politics played a part in the decision. Secondly, the French guide will in future be edited by a German woman. So will Juliane Caspar's appointment mean that German cuisine will start making a mark in the land of Coq au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon?

Reporter: Alasdair Sandford

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday for the start of a new trial. However his supporters say the new trial is a government effort to keep him behind bars.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, is currently serving an 8 year prison term after a court found him guilty of fraud and tax evasion in 2005. His supporters say Khodorkovsky is paying the price for his criticism of the country’s former president and now prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Reporter: Anya Ardayeva

Depression is Europe's number one health problem. More than 50,000 people commit suicide every year in the EU, 90 per cent of whom have been living with mental illness.

And as a deep and protracted recession takes hold, the scientific community is worried Europe's mental health can only deteriorate. But depression is underfunded and misunderstood - as Nina-Maria Potts reports from Brussels.

How far can you travel in real life using virtual means? Well, Englishman Paul Smith is currently finding out.

On Sunday, Paul left his hometown of Newcastle in the north of England. His aim? To travel as far around the world as possible in 30 days, relying solely on the goodwill of people using Twitter. Twitter is, of course, a social networking system which consists of short text messages. Paul’s challenge has mobilized legions of so-called Twitterers to offer him accommodation and transport. Helen Seeney caught up with the Twitchhiker on Day 4 of his expedition to find out where the journey was taking him?

Interview Helen Seeney/Paul Smith

According to the Vatican, the number of priests worldwide is slowly but steadily rising. The Holy See says since 2000, the number has gone up by several hundred each year.

Well, the outlook doesn’t seem so promising for an order called the Barefoot Carmelites – they’re nuns and monks who dedicate their lives to meditation and prayer. The Carmelites have convents and monasteries all over the world, but their numbers are at an all time low. To try and boost their flagging membership, the twelve remaining nuns at a convent near the Spanish city of Seville, recently decided to advertise on YouTube. Danny Wood has more on this reclusive Roman Catholic Order.

As the effects of the global financial meltdown are felt across Europe with plummeting retail sales and rising lay-offs, a new perfume called “Greed” had made its debut in Rome.

But it’s not a real perfume. It’s a provocative art installation by the Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli. The main feature of the Greed exhibit is a fake TV commercial to promote this fake perfume. The advert stars actresses Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams. Its director? None other than Roman Polanski.

Reporter: Megan Williams

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