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EUcrisis on the ground
Join the family business in Crete
According to a study conducted by Philomila Tsoukala, a lecturer at Georgetown University, 75% of Greek companies are family-owned, and even then, youths start earning a living between the ages of 30-35. What's going on?
eucrisis on the ground, media, greece, tourism, youth, financial crisis, european media
Greece's crisis, a modern myth
At first sight, it all looks business as usual - Athenian terraces are packed by day and its lounge bars are heaving by night. But members of the European media should get themselves to Athens. The devil is in the detail: you only see that when you're forced to get off the metro mid-way through a journey because of a spontaneous strike, or when you see anarchist graffiti all over the walls of the district of Exarchia. When five cafebabel.com journalists headed to the Greek capital on an editorial mission in early July, they discovered that the blown-up version of the crisis is as mythical as the Trojan war. Read our perception of the symptoms of the crisis, which are also its remedies: Greek-German tensions, a generation of well-qualified but underpaid graduates in images, as well as the development of the country's solar energy sector and the successful integration of an Albanian community. Final special edition of cafebabel.com's 'Eucrisis on the ground' city series
Bucharest falls from on low
Romania's drastic means to secure IMF and EU loans has incensed its people: 'why do we pay the government's debts?' The May 2010 protests – the 'largest in 20 years' – revived the revolutionary memory, but the threat of salaries chopped by 25% barely provoked civil unrest on a Grecian or French scale. Whilst relaxed anti-corruption laws protect politicians and their copii de bani gati - the 'young rich kids' who are the stars of society - a thriving blog scene works out its own ideas on its own terms. And whilst 'green' and 'touristy' don't define Bucharest, ideas and passion do exist in the 'petit Paris' of the east. cafebabel.com journalists attempt to redefine the culture of the street. Penultimate in a monthly cities series, 'EUcrisis on the ground'
Warsaw wannabe
Dare we call it the new Berlin? The Polish capital's showing off with its edgy art and theatre expos, amidst fancy glass towers which spring up like mushrooms in the otherwise socialist scope of the city. Euro 2012, which Poland co-hosts with the Ukraine, assures a further polishing-up of the international reputation of the eastern metropolis. Meanwhile there's only one neighbourhood to be on the other side of the city on the Vistula; the Amy-Winehouse-statued 'Praga' is an artist and party people hotspot. Five pan-European cafebabel.com journalists analyse 'WaWa' - as the locals affectionately call their city -in the antepenultimate city special edition of our monthly series
Sexy poor Greek Berlin
Maksim says Berliners 'are nuts', Emil only wears vintage 'because appearances count' and Paul views the city as a huge entertainment park for artists across Europe. Hearing so many hippy points of view seem to confirm that the German capital remains the Barcelona of Germany. Hailed within this adage to the city is the acceptance of its fashionable 'sexy poverty' – but on the social and economic scale, poverty remains poverty, and no-one can run too far with the idea. Unemployment, creativity and crisis are complementary stars in the Berlin sky. One enhanced vision of the latter is the so-called Greek crisis which separates Greek and German communities – read the articles dedicated to the next installment of a monthly cities reporting mission, 'EU crisis on the ground'
Felix Vogel, youngest curator of a European biennale
The German was picked three years ago when he was just 20 - in Venice, the youngest curator was 46! With a team averaging an age of 24, the Bucharest Biennale between 21 May and 25 July 2010 gives youth the chance to show what they can do
eucrisis on the ground, contemporary art, bucharest, felix vogel, germany, brunch, exposition
Vilnius, crisis from beginning to end
Does crisis come in twos? There's always a definite serving of anger, often directed against 'the others'. It might come in threes too, because apathy is never far behind, which in the darkest of cases can lead to the deliberative loss of one's own life – why does Lithuania have the highest suicide rate in Europe? Less dramatically, it can force the fresher, younger ones to emigrate for brighter horizons. When six pan-European journalists spent a few days under the watchful eye of an Icelandic volcano in Vilnius in April, they encountered these different facets of the economic crisis (Image: ©Pablo Pecora – PnP!/ Flickr)
Budapest tests
April is Hungary's month: we watch it make a staggering sway to the political right on the 11th and 25th, which are election days. 'Financial crisis' is an easy towel to throw in and explain this alarming wave - others include discontent from empty political promises and the rising poverty rate of the country. This has nurtured a breeding ground for xenophobia and increased the backlash on the nation's black sheep. Against the backdrop of this political dilemma, the cultural, social and economical landscape is awash with the likes of stand-up comedy, social lending practices and monthly design fairs. Citizen initiatives are fashioning the road out of the crises. Five pan-European journalists hit the Hungarian capital for the next installment of a monthly cities reporting mission, 'EU crisis on the ground' - read what they discovered, with an image gallery from the streets of Buda and Pest below
Paris: the poor party, prickly periphery psyche
Today, Paris stands accused on two popular charges: by day it's become too much of a museum city, and by night it's killed any party pulse it ever had. The metropole's veins are in its overcrowded metros which wind outwards and across the periphery to the stained memory of 2005's suburban rioting. However inside the city, young people are managing to find ways to live cheaply. Five pan-European journalists (and a Taiwanese!) hit the French capital for the next installment of a monthly cities reporting mission, 'EU crisis on the ground' - read what they discovered, with an exclusive video and image gallery below
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