Greece should sell its islands or even the Acropolis to re-pay its debt according to Bild, a German daily. The advice wasn’t well-received by the Greeks. EPTV's panel of journalists dissects this and other stories making the headlines around Europe.

Press Corner: How to solve Greek public debt? Sell the Acropolis

With me I have three colleagues   to scrutinise the European news:

Gianni Borsa from SIR,   the Italian press agency;

who works for the Greek service   of Deutsche Welle;

and opposite me, Udo Seiwert-Fauti,   correspondent for several German media.

Hello to all of you   and thank you for coming.

We'll start right away   with our press review.

We'll start with   the potato of contention.

At the beginning of March the European   Commission gave the go-ahead

for the commercialisation of   a genetically-modified potato.

This decision ended an unofficial   moratorium which had lasted for 12 years

and the announcement caused an outcry   even in the hemicycle of the EP.

Like many media, the French daily   'Le Monde' reported on the affair

and questioned   the independence of the EFSA,

the European agency responsible for   giving a scientific opinion on GMOs.

'Le Monde' wrote that the head   of the GMO Panel at EFSA

recently joined Syngenta,   the company that produces these GMOs,

and this lady apparently   had to evaluate products

In short, there may be   a conflict of interest.

has this question of conflict of interest   been raised in the press in your country?

I think that the conflict of interest   issue is clear. It's a delicate problem.

I also think that we have to   look at the real issue,

related to the production   of GMOs in Europe.

but they must not prevail over   consumer or environmental protection.

We should look at the core issue,   the real problem.

It's about taking a decision   in a European framework,

Have you heard about   conflict of interest in Greece?

In Greece it's an issue because   our Minister of Agriculture, Miss Batzeli,

who by the way used to be an MEP   here in Strasbourg,

This may cause additional conflict   with the European Commission.

if you ask me, I think this is a clear case   of a conflict of interest.

Remember Mr Bangemann   who was in the Commission?

he started working for Telefónica, the   Spanish telecommunications company.

Then we said this was   a conflict of interest.

Mr Schröder, the former Chancellor   of Germany, after losing the election,

started working for Nord Stream, the big   project of President Putin of Russia.

In this case we said   it was a clear conflict of interest.

So I would say that in the current case   we are dealing with a real conflict.

Udo, how was this news treated   in Germany?

In Germany we look at it   more from the consumers' viewpoint.

I think, when I examine the trend   in Germany at the moment,

wouldn't even take GM potatoes   from the shelves

because we are very critical and very   much into bio-food and healthy food.

Even if that appeared   on the shelves in Germany,

So it's not seen from the political   or economic point of view.

but, if it comes to Germany, you'll have   to convince us that we should buy it.

We pick regional and locally-produced   food and buy that instead of any GM food.

I see this as the trend in Germany   at the moment.

In this particular case of the potato   approved by the European Commission,

it is not intended for consumption   but for industrial use.

has particular properties   useful in paper manufacturing.

Another issue to hit   the headlines this month

was the proposal from the European   Commission on the economy.

As you know, it put forward   its EU 2020 strategy

to pull the EU out of the crisis,   or at least that's what we hope.

The strategy was summed up   with much humour

It's coming on your screen.   It was in 'Público'.

A man reads in the paper that Europe   is preparing an anti-crisis plan.

His companion at the bar asks,   'Really? What is the plan?'.

'Will they say 'Help!'   in all the EU languages?'

That's a real question too.   How do you say help in Italian?

It's an expression we don't use.   'Aiuto', a request of help maybe.

Concerning EU 2020, which has been   discussed over the last days,

I think that everyone would agree that   it takes over from the Lisbon strategy

which hasn't produce almost any results.

can be explained by   the lack of political will

and a lack of money, of funds assigned   to the application of the strategy.

EU 2020 will succeed if these issues are   solved. Otherwise, it will result in nothing

Help is 'voíthia'.   We would say 'voíthia' in Greek.

I have to say I am quite suspicious   about this 2020 agenda.

Clearly this is a continuation   of the Lisbon Treaty.

We all know that its targets   were not achieved,

so it seems we are   just postponing the targets.

What we have not done...   - I'll just remind viewers that

was to make the EU   the world's most competitive zone.

We know it didn't work.   -Of course, it didn't happen in 2010

so we are postponing our targets to 2020.

The Lisbon strategy was started   by social democratic governments,

whereas now we have more centre-right   or conservative governments.

Do you all agree with me   that it is now really urgent