From Paul the octopus oracle to the Belgian Presidency, the EU's new External Action Service and divorce in Malta, two leading Brussels journalists dissect news from Europe and abroad.

Press Corner: Talking points of summer 2010

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15128935/d003-0010-en.srt

Hello, and welcome to Press Corner   for the last edition of the season.

With me to look at European news   is Caroline Grasso from EuroparlTV.

Our guests are two European journalists:   Bruno Waterfield, a European blogger

and the Brussels correspondent   for the Daily Telegraph;

and Frédéric Gersdorff,   a reporter for RTBF,

Let's start right away.   Spain is the football world champion.

and that's our picture of the month.   Let's see it.

There's never been   so much talk of an octopus.

He made no mistakes in predicting   eight matches out of eight.

With three days to go he predicted   that Spain would be world champion

and that happened when they beat   the Netherlands 1-0 in the final.

On the web now people are going crazy   about the future of Paul the octopus.

Some people, Germans in particular,   would like to see him cooked a la Gallega.

Animal rights defenders   want Paul to be freed.

And of course a Spanish buyer   from Seville has appeared

and he has offered 40,000 euros   to buy Paul.

Perhaps he'll win the next Euromillions   thanks to the brilliant mollusc.

It has greatly occupied the press   in the last month. Frédéric.

I found it very interesting and fascinating.

The latest news is that   Paul the octopus has retired.

An octopus lives two years   and he's one-and-a-half.

As he's worked well,   he's going into retirement.

But more generally on the World Cup,   I thought the final was very good.

Spain were good winners.   They had a good game and played fairly,

compared to the Dutch, who could   have won because they played well,

but their game was more aggressive.   Some of their moves weren't nice.

So Spain is a good winner,   the people are jubilant.

I think the Spanish will be partying   till the end of the week.

Maybe till the end of summer.   Bruno, a word on the World Cup.

I'm not a football fan.   People who are fans have told me

that it wasn't a great World Cup   for football

and maybe that's why   we're talking about an octopus.

I still say, first, bravo to the Spanish

and then well done to Holland   who deserved it.

We'll come back to   more serious European news.

Belgium has taken over the Presidency   of the Council of the European Union

from Spain   and it won't be an easy job.

This article appeared   in the Spanish paper, La Vanguardia.

It doesn't beat about the bush as it   talks of a Belgium without government

taking over the EU Presidency   from Spain.

The article rightly mentions that   since the Lisbon Treaty came into force

the Presidencies that rotate   every six months are less important,

due to the creation of the posts   of President of the European Council

and High Representative   for Foreign Affairs.

To come back to Belgium,   the former Belgian Prime Minister

is the current Mr Europe,   Mr Van Rompuy.

The Belgian Presidency will only have   to chair the councils for policy areas,

like the environment,   transport, the economy.

It's not bad. There are a lot of things   on the agenda for the Belgian Presidency.

The first issue is   a Presidency without a head.

That has never happened apart from   the Czech Presidency two years ago.

As a Belgian journalist, tell us when the   new Belgian government will take office.

The latest news is that the pre-formateur,

the person who negotiates   to form a government,

has said that Paul the octopus   hasn't yet predicted

the date of the government's formation.   He said that a few days ago.

It's impossible to say.   It certainly won't be before September.

There's talk of October.   - That's when the Parliament meets.

But people are even   talking about December.

Some say it would be better   not to have a new government

so Yves Leterme, the Prime Minister,   has a pretty empty diary

So he's turning it around and saying,   'My diary is empty for Belgium,

'I love Europe,   I'm a former EU civil servant.'

So that's how he's turning things around.

The problem is   that we have a government

which is chairing meetings as well   as possible - they're well-prepared -

but in one, two or three months, someone   else might be chairing the meeting.

So it's not excellent   from the credibility viewpoint.

Bruno, what's your view   of this Belgian Presidency?

I agree with everything that's been said.

The paradox is that the biggest problem   the Belgian Presidency may have

Currently the outgoing government   is well-briefed by the Foreign Ministry.

They have excellent politicians, like   the Finance Minister, Didier Reynders,

who has a very difficult dossier   to complete by the end of the year.

So the paradox is that   handing over to a new government,

when negotiations on financial   supervision, etc, will be at their peak,

The problem with the Czech Presidency   wasn't that there was no government,

when people aren't really   in command of their policy areas.

It may be a paradox, but it may be better   for Belgium not to form a government.