European press review

Anti-globalisation, EU membership, German-US relations, immigration and Nato are some of the topics which Europe's newspapers range over on Monday.

Italian fallout

Germany's Die Tageszeitung says the European Social Forum in Italy has shown that anti-globalisation is still a force to be reckoned with.

In an editorial entitled "Super summit rather than counter-summit", the paper argues that, other than at previous counter-summits, the movement proposed an agenda of its own.

The daily welcomes the fact that the demonstrators refused to be drawn into a spiral of repression and violence.

"With their peaceful and cheerful march", the paper says, "they denied Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi the pleasure of diverting attention from their issues to the issue of violence."

Talking Turkey

Austria's Der Standard criticises Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe, for speaking out against Turkey's accession to the EU.

The paper agrees that "now is not the right time" for talks with Turkey about the start of accession negotiations.

"The acceptance of another big country struggling with enormous economic problems," it says, "is currently simply not feasible".

But it criticises what it calls "the astonishingly clumsy way" in which the former French president expressed his view.

"He has done the EU as a whole a disservice," it adds.

Germany's Der Tagesspiegel agrees, saying that he "should have known better".

German-US thaw

Germany's Berliner Zeitung welcomes the resumption of a working relationship between the United States and Germany.

"The fact that the administration in Washington has abandoned its huffiness is good and was overdue," the paper says.

It argues that it must be possible for a government to adopt a position different from that of the US.

But it anticipates more disputes, such as over the sincerity of Germany's support for the US-proposed Nato rapid reaction force.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is not so sure that US-German relations are back on track.

It says that following his Saturday talks with his US counterpart, German Defence Minister Peter Struck said he thought the ice had been broken.

"It remains to be seen whether or not his host, Donald Rumsfeld, shares this view," the paper says.

Immigration fears

France's Le Figaro looks at the closing to new arrivals of the Sangatte refugee centre near Calais.

It says that Calais's Communist mayor opened up a church on Saturday for around 100 immigrants who had been turned away from Sangatte.

It quotes Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy as saying that he wanted to send out a clear message by refusing to admit any more people to the centre, which is due for closure next year.

That "policy doesn't seem to have convinced the region's elected representatives", the daily says, who are demanding an urgent meeting with Mr Sarkozy.

Geneva's Le Temps also looks at immigration and a proposal by the right-wing Swiss People's Party that asylum seekers in Switzerland should be sent back to the last "safe" country they were in.

"This would require sending 95% of the people back to Austria, Italy, France or Germany," it says.

The daily argues that the result would be "completely ineffective" and "absurd" as many rejects would return and go into hiding.

"It would also be disastrous for Switzerland's image and conscience," it adds.

Romania and Nato

Romania is expected to be invited to join Nato in 10 days' time at the Prague summit, and President Bush is due to soon visit Bucharest.

Romania's Nato entry is a result of an internationally favourable context rather than the results of the present left-wing government.

Romania Libera

The centre-left daily Jurnalul National believes the "country should be ready to lend its support to the allied countries in the war against terrorism".

The topic of Romania's invitation to join Nato is also taken up by the centre-right daily Romania Libera.

It says that "Romania's Nato entry is a result of an internationally favourable context rather than the results of the present left-wing government".

"The government plans to recruit future representatives," it adds, "to take charge of Nato relations from the Nato Study Centre and from among political activists who are members of the ruling party".

Hungarian army under fire

The "grace period" that Hungary has enjoyed so far within Nato has ended, says the Hungarian paper Magyar Hirlap, drawing on what it believes is Washington's verdict on the country's performance within the organisation.

The paper believes the US view is this: "The Hungarian army is obsolete and our international involvement is reluctant and insufficient."

It blames Hungary's "conscription-based army" which, it says, is "untenable".

The paper calls for "brave" modernisation to create a professional army because "it is no longer the 'enemy' which is watching the country's vulnerable points but its major ally".

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