European press review

Today's European newspapers analyse France's new plans to crack down on street crime, whether creationism should be taught in Danish schools, and debate the structure of the Russian government and conflict between Russia's Christian Orthodox and Muslim communities.

Tough on crime, weak on the causes

The Paris daily Liberation looks at a controversial proposed internal security law in France which toughens penalties against migrants, beggars and prostitutes.

What should happen to these people, who are a reminder of the ills of our society?

Liberation

The paper says the left-wing opposition has accused the government of wanting to declare "war on the poor", while the centre-right government says it wants to protect the people the left has abandoned.

Liberation says that the poor are the main victims of crime and one of the reasons why the former Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, lost the presidential election earlier this year was because he failed to deal with the problem.

But the paper says: "It is not so much the 'poor' or even delinquents that the interior minister has in his sights as much as anyone on the streets who is out of the ordinary."

France seeks Muslim figurehead

Le Monde in Paris looks at another controversial initiative by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - his attempt to create a representative authority for the Muslim religion in France, similar to those representing other major faiths.

The paper says he believes setting up such a body would be a way of responding to the "equating of Islam, Islamism, fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism and totalitarianism".

The paper agrees that "there is a crying need for a representative authority."

But it says there has only been a large minority of Muslims in France for 30 years and they don't have a common history.

The paper says Islam "can't be asked to rise up, overnight, to the same level as other religions" who have been organized in France for much longer.

Creation row for Danish schools

A proposal by the Danish Christian People's Party that the Biblical story of the Creation should be taught alongside evolution in school biology classes is criticized by Berlingske Tidende.

The first book of Moses is not relevant as a theory of natural science

Berlingske Tidende

The paper says the proposal shows that "fundamentalism is growing as an underlying tendency and it isn't only found in small closed Christian sects, nor is it something which Islamic movements hold the patent on."

The paper says that although Danish schools' external framework is a Christian society, state schools should be for everyone.

"For this reason they shouldn't force a view of the world which is determined by religion on any children.

"If you want a clearer Christian basis for all teaching you can send your children to independent school. But the first book of Moses, or other religious accounts of the Creation for that matter, are not relevant as theories of natural science."

Let's think locally

The way in which Russia is governed is set to change.

On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin will be hosting a much-anticipated meeting of the State Council, an essentially consultative body which specializes in relations between the country's federal, regional and local authorities.

The Kremlin is promising to share federal money with the governors

Gazeta

The lone item on the agenda is local government reform, and the Russian papers are keen to speculate.

As the mid-market Gazeta explains, "each region will be divided into a large number of municipal districts, each of which will have its own legislature and executive.

"The main thing," the paper continues, "is that governors will have to hand over some of their power and money to these municipal districts."

Of course, local government will also have greater responsibilities as well.

"The municipalities will collect their own taxes, and fund their own police force and schools."

But while this may seem a pretty raw deal for the governors who currently dominate the country's outlying regions, they will get their share as well.

"In return, the Kremlin is promising to share federal money with the governors. The regions will receive an additional 5% to 10% of the country's budget."

Religious conflict

Meanwhile, a damaging conflict is brewing between representatives of the two dominant forces in Russia's complex religious mix.

The heavyweight broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports that members of the Orthodox and Muslim communities are in dispute over the planned construction of a mosque in Sergiyev Posad, a town not far from Moscow, and home to the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, one of the country's most famous monasteries and an important focus for Orthodox worship.

As the paper explains, a number of Orthodox organizations have been campaigning against the building of the new mosque, given just how close it would be to the monastery, a place to which they attach particular importance.

And last week the campaign escalated further, when an organization by the name of the Union of Orthodox Citizens reiterated its own opposition to plans for the Islamic shrine, on the grounds that Orthodoxy was being subjected to a policy of segregation in the Muslim-dominated republic of Tatarstan.

The protesters also claimed that the city's authorities had already given the mosque the go-ahead.

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