Week for wielding sticks, not carrots

Nothing like a little nuclear test conducted by a madman to get the ink flowing early on a Monday.

Libération expresses the view of most European media by calling on the UN to "adopt ‘sanctions’ against North Korea… The problem is that it lives in such a state of despotism that it is practically immune to such punitive actions, which Kim Jong-Il will have included among the inevitable repercussions of his nuclear test before he even pressed the button".

What worries Berliner Zeitung is that the test confirms "that the concerted pressure of the five most powerful countries in the world to get North Korea to renounce nuclear armament has not worked".

Having a considerably less successful week than North Korean nuclear scientists are Airbus engineers and executives.

Spain’s El Pais worries about the continuing crisis at the aircraft maker following the resignation of CEO Christian Streiff after just 100 days in the post. This is troubling, it says, considering that "he was appointed specifically…to resolve the chaos caused by production of the A380 superjumbo".

It notes the challenge Streiff faced in trying to push through job cuts as if he were working in the private sector, when at Airbus "important decisions have to pass through political filters".

Germany’s Die Welt says the government should buy a stake in Airbus’ parent com­pany, EADS. It argues that planes such as the A380 superjumbo and defence projects cannot be financed without state assistance. Competition lawyers, start your engines.

European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen is ruffling some feathers (ones badly in need of ruffling, it must be said). In an interview with the Financial Times, he says his drive to simplify EU laws is falling behind schedule and blames "officials inside the bloc’s Brussels-based executive for obstructing his campaign to streamline or scrap legislation. Some senior European Commission officials had not adapted to ‘a new political culture’ and still believed their job was to unite Europe through more regulations". He tells the FT: "There is a view that the more regulations you have, the more rules you have, the more Europe you have. I don’t share that view."

In a previous chat with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Verheugen blasted Commission officials for stoking a "permanent power struggle between commissioners and high ranking bureaucrats". These officials don’t just frustrate key reforms, Verheugen says, they also "put their own personal perspec­tive across as the view of the Commission".

Finally, making sure to put her own views across herself is Angela Merkel. Le Monde reports that the German chancellor has been sending out weekly podcasts, the most recent of which outlines her priorities for the EU presidency. Merkel argues that it is important for Europeans to "reclaim their common values" by asking what "represents liberty and human dignity for EU member states".

• Craig Winneker is a freelance writer based in Brussels.

Nothing like a little nuclear test conducted by a madman to get the ink flowing early on a Monday.