European press review

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's death in his cell in The Hague dominates today's papers.

And the forcible removal of French labour law protesters from the Sorbonne evokes memories of May 1968's student revolt.

Consolation

A headline in Germany's Berliner Zeitung says of Milosevic's death: "The dictator died at the wrong time."

It adds: "After years of wearying court hearings, the victims of his policy of violence will not be able to see the day of justice.

The dictator died at the wrong time Berliner Zeitung

"The only consolation for those whom he had made suffer," it says, "is that for criminals such as Slobodan Milosevic, there is no appropriate punishment in this world anyway."

Spain's La Vanguardia also voices the frustrations.

"The Milosevic chapter... has ended unsatisfactorily."

But it does see the death as an opportunity for Serbia and Montenegro to accept their past and face up to their future.

And it hails the trial as "a precedent, a first step in the search for an international justice by which war criminals can find no refuge in any corner of the world".

Who's to blame?

Austria's Die Presse says Saturday was a bad day not just for "Milosevic's victims" but also for "Serbia, and above all for the tribunal in The Hague".

It says the court knew he was seriously ill and possibly suicidal, but it failed to pay sufficient attention - "a disgrace for the tribunal".

Slovakia's Pravda is also critical of the court, saying Milosevic's death damages the authority of the tribunal.

It regrets that the victims will "forever face Milosevic's ironic smirk".

Germany's Die Welt accuses chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte of having pushed through a "marathon trial" which was "unmanageable" in its complexity.

Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes believes that while the former president's death is "frustrating", his life can teach us a lesson.

"It is a warning about how easy it is for a charismatic demagogue to use a favourable moment and turn an entire society into fanatics," it says, and "about how mistaken we are to assume that somebody will immediately rush to save the victims."

History's verdict

The Bosnian Serb daily Nezavisne Novine argues that historians will now have to assume responsibility for judging Milosevic and his epoch, marked by "wars, exodus, blood and tears".

Justice has not been served Nezavisne Novine

France's Liberation notes that hardly anyone now defends Milosevic.

"This unanimous disapproval must not make us forget that he was once close to succeeding in... the last war of conquest in European history, codenamed Greater Serbia," the paper says.

It accuses the Europeans of "passivity" and says only American weapons were finally able to halt the Serbian leader's ambitions.

"In Kosovo or in Montenegro and indeed in Bosnia, the consequences of his actions, far from being the memory of a bygone era, fuel the problems of the present," it concludes.

Spain's El Pais says Milosevic was a terrible surprise for a world that believed democracy in Europe and the break-up of the Soviet Union would bring peace and harmony.

"The positive and exemplary lesson is that his crimes did not go unpunished and will act as a deterrent factor for any potential emulator," it adds.

Finally, Bulgaria's Sega delivers a veiled warning.

"Any single person is neither the beginning nor the end of nationalism."

French labour reform

French papers assess the strength of opposition to a controversial new type of employment contract after hundreds of protesters, who had occupied the Sorbonne University in Paris, were forcibly removed by police.

Le Monde carries a front-page photo of the Sorbonne protesters trying to stop riot police from entering a room in which they had barricaded themselves.

It says Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is seeking to establish dialogue over the First Employment Contract, or CPE, which makes it easier for young workers to be dismissed during their first two years of employment.

Le Figaro leads on the prime minister's defence of the CPE in a television interview.

"Ten months after his arrival at the prime minister's office, despite the fact that he is much weakened, Dominique de Villepin does not intend to back down over the flagship measure in his fight for jobs," the paper says.

It adds that the intervention of police at the Sorbonne was "necessary" after the university became the scene of "many acts of destruction".

But the paper warns that trade unions, students and high school pupils remain "very mobilised" over the CPE, with three demonstrations planned for this week.

"Villepin barricades himself in", reads Liberation's front-page headline after the prime minister said the law to introduce the CPE would be put into effect.

The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.