European press review

The subject of National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's success in the French presidential elections dominates the editorials of papers across Europe.

Veering to the right

France's Le Monde believes Europe is "veering to the right" and that "sadly" France is "ahead of everyone else".

It adds that the extreme right is making breakthroughs across the continent, but France "appears less than ever in a position to lecture the others" about the phenomenon.

The Austrian newspaper Neue Kronen Zeitung agrees, remembering the furore in 2000 when the far-right Freedom Party of the populist Joerg Haider entered the Austrian Government.

"The Paris press attacked us and made Austria out to be an incorrigible Nazi country", the paper recalls.

France played a leading role in a seven-month EU boycott of Austria, and the right-leaning daily says that now "France should pay more attention to itself than deliver moralising political lectures to others."

Who voted?

"Who voted for Le Pen?" wonders Le Figaro.

The French paper investigates Jean-Marie Le Pen's "incredible breakthrough" and finds that virtually all his strongholds are in France's east, in areas marked by "large numbers of immigrants and by unemployment".

The paper says that while only 13 per cent of women voted Le Pen, compared to 21 per cent of men, his voters came from all social classes and age ranges.

However, it says that Le Pen gets strong support from less educated people, with 38 per cent of the unemployed and 30 per cent of manual workers backing him.

It adds that 74 per cent of Le Pen's voters class crime as their main concern.

European vibrations

Le Monde says that while loss of sovereignty to the EU, globalisation and perceived rises in crime have all been blamed for left-wing losses in Europe, the common, dominating theme is immigration.

It adds that it is, therefore, up to social democrats to "quickly re-invent a model of integration" to tackle the issue.

The Berlin newspaper Die Tageszeitung says that Le Pen's strong showing is no surprise. It blames it on Jospin's campaign.

The Socialist prime minister, it says, veered right as Chirac and Le Pen played the law-and-order card, adding that the result is a lesson for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"A similar scenario can repeat itself in Germany," the paper warns, predicting that Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber's campaign will centre on immigration and security issues.

The Parisian political elite is acting blind, deaf and arrogant towards the insecurities and needs of the people.

Frankfurter Rundschau

The fate of Jospin shows Schroeder what could happen if he responds by imitating the right rather than running on a social democratic platform, the leftist daily says.

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau wonders if the strong showings of right-wing populist politicians in Austria, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands of late are just a series of accidental outcomes "or the brewing storm of a post-modern crisis of democracy?"

It blames the current political class not just in France but elsewhere in Europe too.

"The Parisian political elite is acting blind, deaf and arrogant towards the insecurities and needs of the people," it says.

This insecurity can only be overcome, the paper believes, by what it calls "the resurrection of a civil engagement in everyday life".

Right-wing breakthrough

Copenhagen's Information sees a link between the French election result and last year's Danish parliamentary election, in which the far-right Danish People's Party doubled its vote and became the third-largest party in parliament, holding the balance of power.

"The French election result can be characterised as the breakthrough of right-wing populism and the collapse of social democracy - a situation Danes know all about," the paper says.

Information attributes the defeat of Jospin - "perhaps a textbook example of the administrative, technocratic socialist who doesn't speak to the people" - to "the dry, uninspired and visionless campaign he fought".

Sweden's Dagens Nyheter contrasts the new situation in France with that four years ago, when Zinedine Zidane led the country won the football World Cup with a team that reflected the country's ethnic diversity.

"The Arc de Triomphe was decorated with a large sign with the text 'Zidane - president'. Half seriously, half in fun, the people wanted to see the son of a poor immigrant from Algeria, born in one of Marseilles' tough suburbs, as the country's leading man.

"Jean-Marie Le Pen was in the doghouse. The leader of the National Front had condemned the French team in advance - it was not 'French' enough."

A warning to Russia

Russian newspapers also draw parallels between the French vote and the situation at home.

Leading daily Izvestiya says that Le Pen's supporters declare openly that "the Arabs are to blame for everything" and that the authorities gave them too many rights.

This is reminiscent of Russia - the fight against non-Russians in the capital and in the southern regions of the country, and the authorities being accused of "excessive liberalism", the newspaper says.

It adds that Le Pen - despite his election promises - does not know how to solve the problem of immigrants.

But then neither does the government in France, with its five million immigrants, nor in Russia, with Chechnya, or the Azeri pogroms in Moscow or ethnic problems in Kuban.

At least Le Pen is not afraid of speaking about it openly, Izvestiya says.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta says that the results of the first round of elections in France can be viewed as a warning to Russia.

The official newspaper notes the conviction that Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy will never win more than 5 per cent of the votes, but says this is ignoring the facts.

"We do not want to see growing discontent over the fact that the issue of personal safety, which is the main issue on the agenda of the election campaign in France, is topical in our country too," the newspaper concludes.

France has offered a big lesson to Europe for free. Merci!

Mlada Fronta Dnes

Nezavisimaya Gazeta also says the French vote shows a worrying trend.

The broadsheet says that it proves that right-wing extremists, opposing "the process of globalisation from nationalist positions, are becoming ever stronger in EU countries".

A free lesson

The Czech newspaper Mlada Fronta Dnes attributes Le Pen's success to a post-September 11 world.

"Le Pen is a kind of a symptom of a widespread disquiet, people's apprehensions of a decline and murky processes which they view as a threat, no matter if they call them globalisation, immigrants, Americanisation, Brussels or al-Qaeda," it adds.

"France has offered a big lesson to Europe for free. Merci!" the paper concludes.

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