Today's front pages

Published on 30 October 2012 at 10:15

Outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte of the conservative VVD and Diederik Samsom of the Labour Party (PvdA) have reached an agreement to form a coalition government, a month and a half after the general elections. Concessions were made on both sides: "The VVD has the right to make budget cuts, the PvdA softens the blows for those on low income," writes the Amsterdam daily.

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No nonsense government – De Volkskrant

The Sicilian regional election saw a narrow victory for anti-mafia activist Rosario Crocetta, heading a multi-party alliance of the centre-left. The protest Five Star Movement led by former comedian Beppe Grillo became a major force in the regional parliament by winning a surprise 18%. Former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Liberty (PdL), which traditionally enjoys strong support on the island, got less than 13%. Considered an indicator for Italy’s general election next spring, the Sicilian election saw a record low turn-out, at little over 47 percent.

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Sicily, earthquake at polls – La Repubblica

Following the US example, the European Commission wishes is to authorise "financial incentives for employees who can deliver important information concerning violations" within their companies. It hopes that the member states will implement mechanisms linking financial rewards to "new information leading to administrative acts or criminal or administrative sanctions."

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A bonus for whistleblowers? – Handelsblatt

During a final vote on Hungary's new electoral law, members of the green LMP party threw blue cards at other elected officials from the parliament rostrum. This is an allusion to the elections of 1947, rigged by the Communists, when a blue polling card allowed a single person to vote several times outside his own constituency. The new law means that voters are no longer automatically registered on reaching voting age. Critics argue that this will prevent many from participating in the 2014 election.

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Blue polling cards from rostrum – Népszabadság

While car manufacturers are closing factories in Western Europe, the Volkswagen, Kia and PSA Peugeot Citroën plants in Slovakia are operating at full capacity. Record production of 850,000 vehicles is expected this year, up 30%, while a decrease of 5% is expected across the EU.

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Car industry will not be affected by redundancies – Pravda

98 heads of France's largest companies have sent an open letter to the government urging it to trigger a "a competitiveness shock" by lowering labour costs by at least 30 billion euros over the next two years, an idea that was rejected by President François Hollande two days earlier.

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Bosses fight the left – Libération

The publishing giants Bertelsmann (Germany) and Pearson (UK) have merged to create Penguin Random House. The new structure will be by far the largest publishing house in the world. According to its own estimates, it will control 25% of the global trade in printed and digital books, and should serve as a riposte to the online giant Amazon.

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Publishing houses make pact against Amazon – Financial Times Deutschland

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