European press review

Elections continue to dominate the European press, which looks back at the votes in Ireland and the Netherlands and forward to the parliamentary elections in France.

While Germany's and Austria's dailies enjoy a Whit Monday break, one German Sunday paper comments on moves to protect animal rights and another expresses doubts about the EU's decision to receive 13 Palestinian militants.

And in Ukraine the case of a German couple who illegally adopted a young girl is reviewed.

Irish continuity

The Barcelona daily La Vanguardia in its Sunday edition analyses the results of Friday's Irish elections, focusing on Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's victory and what it calls the "spectacular advance" of Sinn Fein.

Gerry Adams' people have seen their political stance endorsed and leave those who wanted to carry on the armed struggle bereft of arguments

La Vanguardia

"The Republic of Ireland is opting for continuity, albeit with considerable nuances," it says.

The paper also sees Sinn Fein's success as an added guarantee of the Ulster peace process.

"Gerry Adams' people have seen their political stance endorsed and leave those who wanted to carry on the armed struggle bereft of arguments," it says.

London's The Independent describes the election result as a "well-deserved" personal victory for Mr Ahern.

It, too, interprets Sinn Fein's showing as "a vote for peace".

The rise of populist movements expresses the inability of our democratic systems to cope with the challenges of the contemporary world

Le Monde

But the paper points out that the party was outperformed by the Greens, whose perspective it considers a valuable addition to mainstream politics.

It also argues that Ireland has bucked the current European populist trend.

"Ireland is one modern European country where the people are not fed up with their consensus government," it says, "and where, despite a recent sharp rise in immigration, they are not turning to parties of the racist right."

Populism examined

France's Le Monde devotes eight pages to the rise of populism.

It contends that the successes of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the French presidential election and the Pim Fortuyn List in the Netherlands are far from isolated events.

It believes populism can feed on anxiety about economic change, as in eastern Europe, or on doubts about the impact of Muslim culture, as in northern Europe.

Washington shovels dirt from the world stage, Brussels disposes of it

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

"Everywhere the rise of these movements expresses the inability of our democratic systems to cope with the challenges of the contemporary world," it says, "and the inability of the elite to respond to the deep uneasiness of the peoples of Europe."

Hungary's Nepszabadsag also tries to explain the rise in populism and the difference between its Western European and Hungarian variants.

It describes Western populism as "preventive" and based on what it calls "the panic reaction of ordinary people" who feel threatened by globalisation, while Eastern populism has more to do with "past failures" and the revival of historical attitudes.

The paper says this Eastern "desire for a safe, predictable life regulated by the state" and the "dream of simple explanations about the world" is a sign of the "latent survival of world views based on Eastern European self-defence reflexes".

"The battle commences," France's Le Figaro trumpets on its front page in a reference to the start of France's parliamentary election campaign.

The paper says that the right "wants to consolidate its presidential election win", while the left "dreams of revenge" and both the far right and the far left "once again want to be spoilsports".

EU pledge on militants

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung believes the EU's decision to receive 13 Palestinian militants from the Church of the Nativity siege in Bethlehem will come back to haunt it.

It argues that Europe has not gained credibility in the fight against terrorism by agreeing to take in activists whom "Israel calls 'terrorists' after all".

Although any form of cruelty against animals is illegal under the German Animal Protection Act, large parts of the farming and research industries have contravened the ban for decades

Welt am Sonntag

The paper also doubts that "in these times of open European borders" the group can be split up by distributing its members among six countries.

It concludes that the whole episode is symptomatic of a new division of labour between Europe and the USA.

"Washington shovels dirt from the world stage, Brussels disposes of it."

Animal rights

Berlin's Welt am Sonntag describes Friday's vote by German MPs to enshrine animal rights in the constitution as long overdue.

But it argues that words must now be followed by deeds in animal testing and in improving conditions in which animals are kept.

"Although any form of cruelty against animals is illegal under the German Animal Protection Act, large parts of the farming and research industries have contravened the ban on animal cruelty for decades," it says.

The constitutional move, it adds, will not amount to much unless it leads to "radical change".

Illegal adoption

The popular Ukrainian tabloid Segodnya looks at the case of a childless German couple who kidnapped a nine-year-old girl from an orphanage in Kanev in central Ukraine.

The couple had been refused permission to adopt the girl, Vika, but persuaded a teacher at the orphanage to sign her out for a weekend.

They then contacted her mother, a schizophrenic alcoholic, and convinced her to renounce custody.

On the basis of papers her mother signed, Vika is now a German citizen.

"When people in Kanev found out that one of their own had ended up abroad, many of them were sincerely happy for her," the paper reports.

"Is it really necessary to explain what would have awaited Vika in our country after she left the orphanage?" it says.

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