European press review

Today's European papers are optimistic about the first decommissioning of weapons by the IRA, although the Spanish press is doubtful about whether ETA will follow their example.

'Momentous' Irish move

London's The Independent describes the IRA's announcement on Tuesday that it had begun putting some of its weapons beyond use, as being "by far the greatest step forward for the peace process since the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998".

"This is the first time," the paper notes, "that a republican group which has violently resisted the British presence in Ireland has ever disposed of weaponry.

"The Northern Ireland Assembly and executive are safe and the peace process more secure," it adds. "Politics and peace may, at last, be given a chance to work."

Splinter nationalist and loyalist groups, the paper warns, "will do all in their murderous power to destabilise the peace process".

But the IRA's decision, it points out, "offers the best hope of pushing those addicted to terrorism further and further into the margins. It may be difficult to eliminate them, but they should become increasingly isolated".

In Germany, an optimistic Sueddeutsche Zeitung says that "for the first time there are really sound grounds for assuming that the eternal stumbling block in the Northern Ireland peace process - the IRA's weapons arsenal - is about to be eliminated."

Die Welt calls the IRA's move "momentous" and sees two underlying reasons for the shift on weapons.

"Firstly, the IRA will forfeit all sympathy in the US and thus its source of funding in its most important 'catchment area' if it continues its policy of threats and refusal on the decommissioning issue," the paper says.

"Secondly the deadline for saving the Ulster peace process runs out tomorrow. The Catholic 'freedom fighters' will not and cannot live with the blame for squandering the chance."

Will ETA be next?

The Spanish papers wonder what the beginning of IRA disarmament will mean for what El Mundo calls the "only terrorist organization left in the European Union: ETA".

The Madrid paper says that the Basque separatist group, "which has always considered itself a blood brother of the Irish Republican Army," has traditionally compared the situation in the northern Spanish region with Ulster, as has its political wing, Herri Batasuna.

It therefore argues that "following their logic and taking into account that the Basque Country has greater autonomy than Ulster, ETA should follow the IRA's example and Batasuna, Sinn Fein's".

"However, there is not much room for optimism", the paper continues, "because in the radical Basque nationalist network things have always gone the opposite way to Ireland: the hardliners, those who back the shot in the head, have always won the day over those who have been inclined to back the political route, however timidly."

El Pais notes that the IRA move came after Gerry Adams called for "a gesture that lends credibility to its willingness to disarm" and points out that "No-one in Batasuna has ever dared to tell ETA anything similar".

It says that "the supreme outrage" of the 11 September attacks in New York lies behind what it calls "the sea-change in Ulster" because IRA and Sinn Fein could see that "the decisive political and economic support they had received from the other side of the Atlantic had had its day".

Diario 16 is not so sure about a link to the Twin Towers attack.

"It is difficult to reach any conclusion on whether the atmosphere following the 11 September attacks influenced the resolution of the Irish conflict or not", it says.

"But it is obvious that violent groups are facing a world scenario of implacable measures and cooperation between governments, as well as greater public sensitivity to terrorism".

"This should lead them to reconsider their criminal activity once and for all", it argues.

Anthrax: Drug companies avoid bitter pill

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says you could almost hear the sigh of relief in the German pharmaceuticals company Bayer when the Canadian Government agreed to respect Bayer's patent on the anti-anthrax treatment Ciprofloxacin instead of buying cheaper generic copies.

"Not since Viagra has there been such a rush on drugstores in the USA", the paper says.

But it points out that in an ironic twist, Washington is considering circumventing the patent.

"Just six months ago the US proved to be the best friend of the pharmaceuticals industry. At the time Washington ranted against the more than justified demand that the world's poorest countries should be able to produce anti-Aids drugs more cheaply. But at the time there were quite different interests at stake, weren't there?"

Mideast: Actions, not words to move Sharon

In a commentary headlined "American harsh statements are still just mere words", the Slovak daily Narodna Obroda says that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has turned a deaf ear to the US appeal for his troops to withdraw from their new positions on the West Bank.

"If not today, then perhaps tomorrow, Washington will come to understand that no words, not even the sternest ones, will be taken seriously by the current leadership of the Jewish state as long as they are just mere words," writes the daily.

The commentary admits that given the US efforts to keep together its worldwide antiterrorist coalition, "it would probably be unrealistic to expect anything more from US diplomacy during the current military operation in Afghanistan".

However, it warns that a policy which is neither fish, flesh nor fowl has never succeeded before and "does not offer a chance to resolve questions of war and peace".

At last a happy birthday for the UN

Sweden's Sydsvenskan says the United Nations is celebrating the 56th anniversary of its foundation today as a thriving organization.

"The UN has long played an obscure role and been subjected to much criticism, but it is now stronger than it has been for a long time," the paper says.

"In just over a month the United Nations and its Secretary General Kofi Annan will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has thereby not only made a good choice but has also found two prize winners in keeping with the times," it continues.

"The world's need for a coordinating force has rarely been so great," Sydsvenskan concludes.

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