The paper clip, 9 November

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall features on front pages, news pages and opinion pages of papers across Europe, including Poland's Rzeczpospolita, France's Libération and the UK's Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Le Monde reports that all EU leaders except Demetris Christofias of Cyprus will be present for a commemorative ceremony in Berlin this evening. The paper says that France's Prime Minister François Fillon will host a separate event in Paris. Werner Hoyer, state secretary in the German foreign ministry, and Pierre Lellouche, France's Europe minister, will also participate in the Paris ceremony. The paper also reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy will profit from his visit to Berlin by meeting Dimitry Medvedev, Russia's president. The Czech paper Mladá fronta Dnes writes that in a village that was once physically divided, Mödlareuth, it is still possible to tell who comes from the formerly eastern German and western German halves by their greetings.

Libération reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has apparently been attempting to “rewrite history” on his Facebook page by alleging that he was at the Berlin Wall when the crossing points were first opened on 9 November 1989. The paper pokes holes in Sarkozy's account of events, which appear to include him hearing that the crossing points would be opened more than 12 hours before German radio got an inkling of what was going on. The page also has a photo of a younger Sarkozy attacking the wall with a hammer, although the paper surmises that this was actually taken on 10 November, when Sarkozy really arrived in Berlin. Le Figaro has the same story.

Politicians from the centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), are demanding that Germany prepare the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, writes Der Spiegel. The CSU is the party of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany's new minister of defence.

Le Soir reports that parties from across Belgium's political spectrum have given their support to the idea of Herman Van Rompuy, the country's prime minister, becoming the first permanent president of the European Council, a post that will be created by the Lisbon treaty. Van Rompuy is seen as the leading candidate for the post. Politicians from his own party, the CD&V, have said that it would hurt Belgium's image and standing if he turned down the job to stay in national politics. La Libre Belgique reports that there are “fears” for Belgium's political stability should Van Rompuy depart.

The Times reports that former UK prime minister Tony Blair has made a last-ditch attempt to revive his bid to be president of the European Council with a string of eleventh-hour personal phone calls to European leaders.

Lidové noviny's dramatic headline claims that Prime Minister Jan Fischer is “at war” with the country's two leading parties about whom should be the country's European commissioner. Fischer wants the head of the Czech National Bank, Zdenek Tuma, to take the post. The leaders of both the Civic Democrats (ODS) and the Social Democrats (CSSD) have dismissed the idea. Hospodárské noviny has the same story.

Günter Verheugen, the European commissioner for industry, has warned the government of Angela Merkel that a letter it sent to General Motors, the American parent company of German carmaker Opel, could backfire, writes Der Spiegel. The letter allowed GM to re-open the already agreed sale of Opel to Magna, a car-parts company.

A new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK will be up and running within a decade, the Daily Telegraph reports. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, is to announce a new planning commission that would fast-track planning applications for nuclear plants. The Guardian also has the story.

Hospodárské noviny writes that unemployment in the Czech Republic fell to 8.5% in October.

A new law to raise the minimum wage and pensions could cost Ukraine some €2.7 billion over the coming year, writes Die Presse. The law, passed ahead of a presidential election in January, now threatens the disbursement of the next instalment of a loan by the International Monetary Fund, due in the next couple of weeks.

Le Monde reports that France's political parties have begun preparations for regional elections to be held in March next year. The ruling UMP party plans to fight the elections as part of a coalition involving smaller right-wing and centrist parties. The far-left parties are also considering an alliance.

Gazeta Wyborcza's lead story is a Sejm inquiry into the death, by gunshot, of one of its members, Barbara Bilda, in 2007. Bilda was found dead in April 2007 when the internal security agency ABW entered her home to search for evidence that might have implicated her of taking bribes from a businesswoman, Barbara Kmiecik.

Prosecutors in Sofia want to lift the immunity of Sergey Stanishev, the former prime minister, and Petko Sertov, his intelligence chief, writes Der Standard. The two are suspected of having covered up corruption investigations into members of Stanishev's government.  Sertov has now been blocked from taking up his new job as consul in Thessaloniki.

Libération reports that the French government intervened to secure a grant for Pierre Sarkozy, son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to support a music project. The French Civil Society for Phonographic Producers refused to grant support to the younger Sarkozy, a rap producer. The association was then contacted by an official from the Elysée, the president's administration, and reversed its decision. Le Figaro has the same story. The story follows a recent scandal over the selection of Jean Sarkozy, the president's other son, as a candidate to run the agency charged with managing Paris's main financial centre.

Poland and the Czech Republic are not alone in being affected by scandals about higher education and easily attained degrees: Slovakia's Pravda writes that doubts are surfacing about degrees from the university of Trencín.

The British papers report on the storms that have devastated El Salvador. More than 120 people have been killed by floods and mudslides after a weekend of heavy rains driven by Hurricane Ida. The Guardian and the Times have reports.

The Guardian reports that the UK government is debating how to tackle wealth inequality, either through a high-pay commission or a tax on assets. 

The Daily Telegraph reports that family doctors in the UK are to be told to stop prescribing antibiotics for colds because overuse is contributing to the spread of hospital bugs. It says the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control, based in Stockholm, is to write to all doctors warning them of the dangers of handing out the drugs.