European press review

The foot-and-mouth disease crisis on Europe's farms continues to dominate the headlines.

The prospects for stability in the Balkans also come in for scrutiny, as does the German chancellor's apparent conversion to United States' plans for an anti-missile shield.

Farmageddon

Vienna's Die Presse writes that, as fears grow that Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis will spread to mainland Europe, more and more areas of the UK are being affected by the pungent smell of burning carcasses.

"It is hard to forget the smell. Thousands of carcasses engulfed in flames, massive clouds of smoke darkening the sky - it is like a scene from a film about the apocalypse," the daily writes.

"The difference is that these flames are real, just like the despair of farmers whose herds are disappearing in them," it adds.

The paper warns that this crisis could deal a mortal blow to Britain's farming industry, still reeling from the impact of the BSE disaster and recovering from a recent outbreak of swine fever.

"Along with the carcasses, the self-declared efficiency of Britain's agricultural policy, so often taken for granted, is also going up in flames" it adds.

The Swiss Tribune De Geneve sees the foot and mouth crisis striking a blow against economic globalisation, as Europe clamps down on the movement of livestock to prevent the disease from spreading.

"Through the double shock of mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease," the paper says, "countries are withdrawing into themselves, towards a kind of impossible alimentary self-sufficiency, which one thought had become obsolete with the free movement of goods in Europe."

As France announces the slaughter of another 30,000 sheep who may have been in contact with infected animals from across the Channel, the country's leading daily Le Monde says the outbreak of foot and mouth disease does not spell doom and gloom for everyone in Britain.

"In a country which has been profoundly shaken in its way of life and its eating habits," the paper says, "those activists who espouse the vegetarian cause have been rubbing their hands at a crisis which, in the end, can only swell their ranks."

Macedonia on the brink?

The Bratislava daily Pravda writes that in the light of the recent shoot-out between Macedonian security forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas, Macedonia is well on the way to becoming another Balkan country affected by an ethnic war.

The paper, describing the two-hour gun battle as "the country's first hours at war", warns that Nato should be very careful not to find itself caught in the same trap as in the case of Kosovo.

"The majority of Macedonia's Albanians are still against waging a new separatist struggle," the paper says. "The same situation existed in Kosovo, however, until the province's extremists provoked Belgrade into taking bloody revenge."

Serbia's change pays off

Budapest's Magyar Hirlap sees clear connection between the recent arrest of the former head of the Serbian secret police, Radomir Markovic, and Nato's subsequent announcement on narrowing the demilitarised zone around Kosovo.

"Yugoslavia has asked for it for months. After Markovic's arrest, it was given within three days," the paper says.

It adds that it is now possible that former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will be put behind bars in the near future, a move which, the paper comments, "would also open the purse of the West".

Schroeder takes up the shield

Berlin's Die Tageszeitung can't make up its mind about Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's comments that US plans for a national missile defence shield could have potential economic benefits for Germany.

One commentary takes the view that the NMD project cannot be stopped any more.

"Schroeder's stance," it says, "is based on the simple realisation that it is better to be involved, if only on the margins, than to be left out completely."

But another commentary in the same paper disagrees.

It argues that German and European interests have nothing in common with America's military ambitions.

"If the USA really cannot be dissuaded from NMD," it says, "then let them get on with this nonsense on their own."

Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung takes a sceptical line, too.

The paper says NMD is an issue that should not be discussed in economic terms.

"In the final analysis," it adds, "participation in misguided arms policies also means shared responsibility for misguided arms policies."

But Berlin's Die Welt sees Mr Schroeder's comments as a masterstroke ahead of his visit to Washington.

It says he has destroyed American doubts about Berlin's loyalty, weakened Washington's tendency towards isolationism and signalled to Russian that "it is not possible to drive a wedge between Berlin and Washington".

And it adds that the benefits are not just political.

Neighbourly advice

Belgium's foreign minister, Louis Michel, who has been under fire for suggesting that Italy could face similar sanctions to those imposed on Austria last year if the centre-right wins this spring's general election, finds support in Turin's La Stampa.

The paper's commentator says that, within the EU, a Belgian minister has as much right to comment on Italy's politics as the president of one Italian region has to comment on the policies of another.

"The increasing movement towards majority decision-making in Europe", the paper says, "means that each electorate renounces part of its sovereignty and accepts that electors and elected in other countries take part in decisions which influence its own affairs."

Death on the hustings

Milan's Corriere Della Sera reports that the centre-left candidate for mayor of Turin has dropped dead during his first public debate with his right-wing rival.

The paper says Domenico Carpanini "first slumped, then fell backwards, losing consciousness", as his opponent was speaking at the local chamber of commerce on Wednesday evening.

Carpanini is believed to have suffered a stroke.

The campaign has been suspended, the paper adds.

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