European press review

A number of fears feature in today's European papers - over a wider conflict in the Caucasus, with great-power rivalry thrown in; hijacking of the debate on the EU's future; and Europe's ability to influence US foreign policy.

'Great Game' in the Caucasus?

With Russian officials suggesting their troops could attack suspected Chechen rebel bases in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, and Georgia condemning this as close to a declaration of war, France's Le Monde sees a modern-day version of the "Great Game" emerging.

The fight against terrorism in the Caucasus is increasingly taking on the look of a struggle for influence between America and Russia

Le Monde

The daily is in no doubt about Russia's motives - or those of the US, which is training Georgian anti-terrorism forces.

"The present arm-wrestling between Moscow and Tbilisi is probably about Russia's temptation to regain control over the southern Caucasus," it believes.

With US troops in the area too, "the fight against terrorism in the region is increasingly taking on the look of a struggle for influence between America and Russia", it says.

In Russia, the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta agrees that both Russia and the US are involved - while being less cautious in deciding who is in the right.

Responding angrily to a US State Department expression of support for Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity, it accuses the US of pursuing a long-cherished dream of creating a "strategic outpost" in the Transcaucasus and forgetting too readily "the need to combat international terrorists wherever they may be".

Dangerous void

Meanwhile, a German daily laments the lack of serious debate on European Union reform, and a paper in Austria worries about who is filling the gap.

Berlin's Die Tageszeitung fears that the EU's Constitutional Convention risks missing the point by focusing on institutional points at the expense of issues that really concern voters.

For fear that any criticism of the Union might threaten the entire European project, "discussion of Europe-wide topics drowns all too often in a general need for consensus on the part of Euro-enthusiasts", it complains.

And Vienna's Der Standard is concerned that the only people currently using European issues to good effect are those who dislike Europe the most.

"The right-wing populists, the right-wing nationalists, the right-wing extremists whatever else may differentiate them, their common denominator is their opposition to the Union's enlargement and deeper integration," the paper says.

What is needed to oppose the populists, it believes, is "a realistic kind of European, who despite all the necessary pragmatism never loses sight of the vision".

'Latter-day slave-traders'

One topic often exploited by the far right - illegal immigration - is the focus of attention in Spanish newspapers.

The Moroccan government must redouble efforts to check the uncontrolled flow from its more than obliging shores

El Pais

Following Thursday's discovery of 13 bodies on a deserted stretch of coast, near the town of Tarifa, Madrid's El Pais is shocked by this "brutal reminder to a country on holiday".

It believes the dead were would-be immigrants forced to jump overboard by human traffickers keen "to return to base without further risks".

ABC condemns "these latter-day slave-traders" and calls on the EU to view "in a better frame of mind" proposals from Spain - "the main gateway into Europe" - to tackle the problem.

Criticism of Morocco is not far from the surface, either, after the two countries' recent spat over the uninhabited islet of Perejil.

"The Moroccan government, with Spain's cooperation, must redouble efforts to check the uncontrolled flow... from its more than obliging shores," demands El Pais.

"More efficient controls by Morocco would help reduce the traffic", agrees El Mundo.

Can we or can't we?

US plans for Iraq are impossible to ignore, and some papers reflect differences over whether Europe can influence the outcome.

It is because we are friends of the USA that we must prevent it from making what may turn out to be a colossal mistake

L'Express

The French L'Express is confident about Europe's power of persuasion.

"The views of America's allies and their public opinion will carry more weight with Washington than people think," it believes.

"It is because we are friends of the US that we must prevent it from making what may turn out to be a colossal mistake."

Die Tageszeitung, however, is pessimistic about Germany's role.

If Berlin wants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the paper says, it should "back modern forms of conflict prevention loud and clear - then it would be only a matter of time until most UN members started to regard us as a trustworthy partner".

But "a German seat in the Council will not become a platform to criticize the big brother", it concludes, with regret.

Drinking like a fish?

Finally, back in Russia, the Trud daily reports that poor-quality vodka is not only boosting the country's already-high alcoholism figures, but causing a surge in psychiatric disorders too.

Symptoms of "alcohol-induced psychosis" include conversing with the cosmos, delusions of grandeur and an irresistible urge to go fishing in the middle of the night, the paper says.

"One-third of Russians regularly run the risk not just of dying, but also first going off their heads," it concludes.

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