European press review

Crises in the Middle East and European farming take up many column inches in the European press, while Tony Blair's praise for the new US president and hysteria over illegal immigration are also covered.

Powell steps into minefield

The German press take the view that the Middle East is going to be a minefield for the new US administration as US Secretary of State Colin Powell tries to tread a fine line between Arab and Israeli interests during his tour of the region.

"Washington is facing conflicting aims in that winning over the Arab world for a common policy against Saddam Hussein requires at least a certain amount of distancing from Israel," Sueddeutsche Zeitung points out.

It says Mr Powell's credibility has evidently suffered as a result. "In the Palestinian areas he was greeted by furious demonstrators who burnt American flags. In Cairo he received an official rebuff when his warnings about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction were coolly countered by the retort that Saddam posed no threat to Egypt."

And his call for an end to the siege of the Palestinian territories will be met with some concern in Jerusalem, "which must be wondering whether it can still rely on its great ally", the paper says.

Die Welt says that Powell's first trip abroad is to a "fractured landscape for which Machiavelli could have written the political guide book".

Although peace is unattainable, the US is nevertheless the only power that can at least ensure stability in the region.

"There will have to be a Pax Americana or else peace in the region will remain elusive," it says.

The left-wing paper Tageszeitung agrees that there will be no movement in the Middle East peace process without the Americans, something the Palestinians, in particular would do well to remember, it says.

"Who, if not the Americans can help them in their present need and who has the necessary influence and required determination if not big brother in Washington?" it says.

Warring parties all over the Middle East must have reason to be thankful that the "new US administration, like its predecessor, wants to continue playing the key role in the future Middle East peace talks".

The Slovak daily Novy Cas criticises Yasser Arafat's recent mission to persuade major international players to send international peacekeeping forces to the Palestinian territories.

The daily says that the Palestinians want to turn the intifada into an international issue. "The problem is that playing this card is a two-edged weapon. The self-administration which severed its ties with Israel, and suffered enormous economic losses as a result, is close to collapse," it says.

The Israelis unyielding approach to the problem pours oil into the intifada fire, thus making matters worse, it adds.

"In no case can the peacekeepers make the first accommodating step...which could bring the dead peace process back to life," the daily concludes.

Crisis call for farming

Sueddeutsche Zeitung says that the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain has sparked a debate about what kind of agriculture the country really wants.

The paper believes consumers are now seriously worried by all the health scares. "If, as a result of the BSE crisis, they cannot even be sure that it is not dangerous to drink milk and to eat cheese and when the incidence of food poisoning has risen ten times within two years...then it is high time to think about new farming methods," it says.

The paper sees one consolation in all this. "In contrast to the BSE crisis, when the dangers were played down, suppressed and made out to be harmless for years, the authorities have responded quickly and with the necessary radical measures this time."

France set to defy EU

French newspapers look at the meeting of European agriculture ministers taking place in Brussels today in the midst of the crisis affecting the European beef industry.

Paris's Le Monde says "France and Germany are heading straight for a confrontation" with French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin calling on his German counterpart "to halt the collapse of beef prices, and informing him of his wish to see the Commission grant direct aid to farmers".

While "before German reunification France would decide on the Common Agricultural Policy and Germany would pay", Le Monde notes that the roles are now reversed with Germany stressing "that the issue is no longer about solving a financial matter, but reforming agricultural policy".

Le Figaro chooses to emphasize Paris's determination to support French farmers, at the risk of breaking European rules.

The newspaper quotes an adviser to Prime Minister Jospin as saying that "if Brussels refuses to dig into its budget to compensate farmers, we will dig into France's budget" knowingly putting the country in "an illegal position".

Praise be to W

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair came back from a visit to the United States full of praise for American President George W Bush and, it seems, more sensitive to his arguments in favour of an antimissile shield," says the Luxembourg newspaper Tageblatt.

"I found him very impressive, fully in control with a very clear vision of what he wants to achieve, and also very direct. He simply says what he thinks," it quotes Mr Blair as saying of the new president.

"This praise was certainly predictable", the paper adds, "but Downing Street officials in private stress the good impression that the new American leader made on them."

And the paper says that the meeting was not completely one-sided. "On the other potentially contentious transatlantic issue, the outlining of a European defence policy, Mr Bush affirmed that he supported the vision that Mr Blair has of a European rapid reaction force," it says.

Europe's immigration hysteria

With the trial starting in England today of a Dutch lorry driver and a Chinese national accused of the manslaughter of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants who were found dead in the back of a lorry at a British Channel port in June, Paris's Liberation dedicates a series of articles to the subject of illegal immigration.

"Tony Blair's government wants the trial to set an example," the paper says, adding that: "The hearing is taking place in the middle of a British crusade against illegal immigration, set against the backdrop of an election campaign."

"But this topic is also a priority for other countries", the paper says, with G8 ministers also due to meet today to discuss the problem.

"European governments are in fact being affected by a virtual hysteria," the paper says.

ETA suffers further "blow"

Like many of the Spanish papers, Madrid's El Pais leads with the arrest of 10 suspected members of ETA's Donosti commando group which the country's interior minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, described as the organisation's "flagship and supply vessel".

The paper says that "the terrorist group's most bloodthirsty" commando has suffered "a new political blow" following the arrest on Friday of another suspected ETA killer.

Hungary's Easter clash

With Hungary commemorating the victims of communism yesterday and also due to do the same for the victims of the Holocaust on 16 April, Budapest's Nepszava says the far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party has protested against this date because this year it will fall on Easter Monday.

On this day "we, Christians, commemorate Christ, who was crucified by the Jews" the paper quotes a statement by the party as saying.

The paper hopes that, faced with this provocation, the government's leading party - which likes to call itself a moderate conservative party - can no longer avoid making its relationship with the far-right party clear.

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