European press review

Europe's twin farming crises continue to dominate the papers, which also find time for views on Slobodan Milosevic, the Middle East, Borneo and ageing Spaniards.

Farming crises sow despair across EU

"Twin crises caused by the mad cow epidemic and foot-and-mouth disease threw the European Union into disarray on Tuesday," reports the Paris edition of the International Herald Tribune.

It notes that EU farm ministers meeting in Brussels "failed to agree on measures to deal with the collapse of the beef market caused by fears over BSE", while in Britain "five more cases of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease were reported... bringing the total to 16 in various parts of the country and resulting in the incineration of thousands of animal carcasses".

"The British have a bad reputation in Europe for allowing the export of meat and bone meal while knowing that it carried a risk of spreading mad cow disease," the paper points out. But this time "we are not going to export our problems to other people", it quotes British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown as saying.

A commentary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that the TV footage from Britain of "the summary disposal of animal carcasses in mass graves, smoking pyres and eerily clad culling crews are haunting not only children in their sleep".

"Ordinary adult consumers are also feeling pricks of conscience," the paper says. "Anyone who still has a trace of respect for God's creatures cannot close his eyes to the sacrilege. Farm policies that produce such scenes at ever shorter intervals are in dire need of change."

In an article headlined "Something in the Wind", the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag writes that "hardly a day passes without news of the outbreak of another disease in the Union, followed by news of ever stricter official measures, which, however, seem totally ineffectual for the time being".

It hopes the latest foot and mouth crisis might present an opportunity for poorer eastern European farmers.

Cook must demand Milosevic handover

London's THE Independent is pleasantly surprised that the International Criminal Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia has proved more than "a mere face-saver" for governments in the West.

"The sentencing this week of Dario Kordic, a Bosnian Croat leader, in connection with massacres in 1993, is a reminder that the net is closing all the time," the paper says. "The jailing of politicians like Mr Kordic... demonstrates that the tribunal now has real substance."

Looking ahead to UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's meeting with his Yugoslav opposite number later on Wednesday, The Independent urges him to, as the paper puts it, "make it clear that Slobodan Milosevic, the biggest war criminal of all, needs to be delivered up for trial".

"Anything less would be an insult to the memory of all those who died," the paper concludes.

A deal too far for Shimon Peres?

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says that while the Israel's centre-left Labour Party's decision to join a broad-based coalition with Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud might be good for Israel, it might also mean that the Labour Party has just committed political suicide.

"The right-wing ex-general has always been considered almost an arch-enemy of Israel's Labour Party, the antithesis of its peace policy. How can Sharon now head a government coalition consisting of the Likud bloc and the Labour Party?" it asks.

The paper warns that this awkward situation is threatening to "split the party" because its policies are unacceptable to Sharon and his Likud.

"Many ask themselves whether a way of achieving peace can be found under these circumstances," it says.

"This coalition might be good for Israel, but it might also mean an end to the Labour Party itself," it concludes.

Pondering the way former Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres steered his party into the alliance with Sharon, the Swiss Le Temps says that Mr Peres "had to deploy the full gamut of his powers of persuasion".

"But this victory presages a crisis for the future national union," the paper warns. It points out that a section of Mr Peres's party, led by former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, has chosen to go over to the opposition instead.

"Now aged 77, Shimon Peres is playing his last political card. If he loses, his prestigious political career will be forever tarnished."

Putin in smart Korea move

Frankfurter Rundschau describes Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to increase Moscow's role in improving ties between the two Koreas during his historic visit to Seoul as "Putin's Korean gestures".

The daily writes that Putin never misses an opportunity to make a political gesture. "His appearance at a cemetery where South Korean soldiers killed in a war with North Korea 50 years ago were buried is just such a gesture," it notes, alluding to the fact that the Soviet Union, then led by Stalin, fought on North Korea's side.

"Clearly, the Russian president does not want to play a mere supporting role in the process of bringing the Koreas closer together," it writes.

The paper adds that Putin's Seoul trip has also fuelled Russia's burning desire to connect the planned rail link between the Koreas to its Trans-Siberian railway.

Indonesian soldiers ignore killings

The Swiss La Tribune De Geneve says that Indonesian soldiers "calmly continue to play checkers by the roadside", watching "the panic-stricken survivors of the tragedy" that has already seen over 400 Madurese settlers massacred by the indigenous Dayaks in the island of Borneo.

The West has nothing to be patronising about because "it was Europe that invented the extermination of whole peoples and its sad and recent reincarnation in the form of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans", the paper points out.

It suspects what it calls "some invisible manipulation", with "economic interests pulling strings... to make communities tear each other apart and ensure that the pack of cards of Indonesia's natural resources is reshuffled and dealt again".

"Meanwhile President Wahid, suspected of corruption, senile, and poorly supported by his army and government... plays for time while his 14,000 islands start to drift apart and Asia's old economic dragon collapses," the paper concludes.

US rights report not a pretty sight

Slovakia's daily Pravda takes a slightly tongue-in-cheek stand on the United States' annual report on human rights

It writes that the general idea of monitoring the observance of human rights around the globe is good, but adds that the process of putting it into practice can often come across some hiccups.

"The funny thing is that all countries, including the tiniest ones, come under the US's scrutiny - with one exception. And we can all guess what this exception is," it says.

The paper argues that the US should offer a bit of self-criticism and adds that the country's human rights situation leaves a lot to be desired. "If the United States asked the rhetorical question 'Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?', it would get the following answer: "Move over and let me have a look".

Ole for Grey!

"Spain's population will drop from 40 to 31 million in the next 50 years" says a shock headline on the frontpage of Madrid's El Pais.

The daily explains that according to the latest UN demographic report, as a consequence of its aging population, "no less than 44 per cent" of Spain's population "will be over 60" in 2050.

The study shows that "the aging tendency is a common one across all developed countries". However, the paper stresses that "the Spanish population will be the oldest on the planet", with an average age of 55.

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