European press review

Today's European papers view important EU enlargement talks in Brussels and the lack of a common foreign policy. They also look at the early release of an ETA killer in Spain and France's plans to integrate its immigrant community. Russia is concerned at cloak-and-dagger nostalgia in neighbouring Belarus.

Key enlargement talks

As European leaders gather in Brussels for a meeting on how to fund EU enlargement, the French Le Figaro notes on its front page that "the outcome of the summit will depend on a last-minute agreement between France and Germany".

"President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hold the key to this summit," the paper says. "So far they have proved incapable of overcoming their differences about agricultural aid to the future members," it explains.

"The Yes victory in the Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty removed a significant obstacle to enlargement." However, "it has not simplified the battle over the funding of the event," it argues.

The egoists and the cowards

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says that according to opinion polls, three out of every four Europeans are in favour of a common European security and defence policy.

Britain and France are egoists over Iraq for following own interests before search for common EU position.

Frankfurter Rundschau

"But the politicians are dithering," says the paper. "An unholy alliance of egoists and cowards is undermining the joint foreign and security policy."

The paper counts Britain and France among the egoists, since in the case of Iraq, it says, both countries followed their own interests even before a search for a common EU position could begin.

Meanwhile, it says, the national unilateralism of the big EU countries suits many of the smaller ones or neutrals, such as Sweden or Ireland, because it relieves them of the responsibility of helping implement a common position.

Under pressure

Hamburg's Die Welt reports that both the German Foreign Ministry and the office of the chancellor have flatly denied the existence of a list of political demands made by the USA to the Germans.

"But it is still clear," the paper says, "that the US is exerting pressure... mainly regarding political support for a possible US attack on Iraq."

The paper believes Washington thinks Germany is the country with enough clout to force the EU to provide Turkey with a date to start talks on EU membership.

"Turkey would probably suffer the most from a new Iraq war," says the paper: "Being brought closer to the EU could serve as a form of compensation."

The paper says Turkey should not be left out of the EU, but it disagrees with the idea of setting an actual date for talks to begin.

"Despite initial real steps to reform," it says, "Ankara remains politically, economically and socially a long way from the European standard."

Outrage at ETA release 'insult'

The Spanish papers are stunned by a judge in Bilbao's decision to conditionally release a six-time killer from the Basque armed separatist group ETA sentenced to 298 years in jail - after just 12 behind bars.

Judge committed injustice by granting freedom to murderer without the slightest sign of rehabilitation.

El Mundo

Felix Ramon Gil Ostoaga's victims in the late 1970s included Civil Guard officers and a Basque mayor.

El Mundo describes the ruling as "an unjust and illegal decision and an insult to the victims".

It says the judge "committed an injustice by so generously granting freedom to a murderer without the slightest sign of rehabilitation".

Tuesday's decision was the latest in a series of controversial parole and bail decisions, including a scandal over the pre-trial release from custody of an alleged international drugs baron. He was never seen again.

El Mundo therefore welcomes the government's announcement that it will set up a new centralised court to ensure sentences are properly implemented in drug-trafficking and terrorism cases.

But the paper says "it is hard to understand how the government has waited six years to persuade itself of the need" for such an initiative.

France's 'first step' on integration

Ahead of the prime minister's announcement of a new plan on immigration and integration, the French Liberation hails the government's move as a "first step".

"If France can't be made a politically correct 'land of asylum', at least let's make sure it is a humanly correct 'land of welcome'," it says.

It stresses that "this is the minimum we can expect" from the so-called integration contract the government is expected to launch on Wednesday.

"It is set to be a rallying point for foreigners who, in the face of a complex legislation and administration, often feel that, firstly they are not welcome in France, and, if they are, that they are actually just tolerated," the paper says.

It hopes that the integration contract "will be the first step in an immigration policy which is badly lacking in France and even more in Europe" provided that "it is a springboard and not a barrier".

Soviet echoes in Minsk

A visiting group of Russian parliamentarians were arrested on arrival at Minsk airport in Belarus then immediately deported.

The Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta restricts itself to a brief factual account at the bottom of the front page, saying liberal MPs Boris Nemtsov and Irina Khakamada were deported by local secret service agents.

Just like in a political detective story of the Soviet era.

Gazeta

It is left to other papers to explore what really went on, and what it might mean for the proposed unification between Russia and Belarus.

The Nezavisimaya Gazeta quotes Mr Nemtsov, back in Moscow, as saying that Belarusian leader Aleksandr "Lukashenko has clearly demonstrated how he sees a unified state working", and that a folder full of dollars and documents had been planted on him by the arresting officers.

Gazeta quotes a Russian spokesman as saying the government was "bewildered and concerned by the incident in Minsk" and its implications for the planned union between Russia and Belarus.

Gazeta thinks the whole episode was orchestrated by the local police "just like in a political detective story of the Soviet era", adding that it is not illegal to import currency in any amounts into Belarus.

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

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