European press review

The EU's summit in Copenhagen dominates many front pages, while Spanish dailies are unhappy with the release of the Scud shipment to Yemen.

And in Paris, a left-leaning daily expects a report to confirm the Teflon-like qualities some see in President Jacques Chirac.

Summit talk

With the EU's 10 prospective members busy negotiating minute their entry terms until the last minute, the Swiss daily Le Temps expects the summit to be "either historic or chaotic".

The newcomers feel like unwanted guests

Sueddeutsche Zeitung

France's Le Figaro identifies four "snares" that will have to be negotiated: Enlargement, Turkey, Fishermen and Germany.

Regardless of the pitfalls, it says the 15 "must conclude the enlargement procedure".

Most papers focus on enlargement, and Le Temps identifies Poland as a major problem.

The paper says the largest of the countries due to join in 2004 "is determined to extract the best deal possible, even at the risk of blocking the whole proceedings".

That would be no surprise to Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which detects a lack of "real enthusiasm" about enlargement either among candidate countries or existing members.

It says "squabbling about money... is causing considerable psychological damage".

It adds that the "tough funding negotiations" have confirmed the candidate countries' negative impression of "the Brussels edifice".

Berliner Zeitung disagrees, reporting that economists think enlargement is good for Germany, and that most people in applicant countries support membership.

It says that only in Malta and Estonia do less than 50% of the population support joining the EU.

Money matters

Austria's Der Standard is depressed by the narrow pursuit of national interests.

"The European Union," it laments, "looks increasingly like a bazaar where national interests are used as bargaining counters without restraint."

The paper is especially critical of established members use of the strategy, saying that it is perhaps understandable in the case of candidate countries.

In France, Le Monde's front page reports that enlargement will cost 40bn euros.

The paper calculates that "between 2004 and 2006, every western European will pay approximately 25 euros a year... to finance enlargement."

Although enlargement is expected to be pushed through, Le Temps warns that Turkey poses an even greater risk of "poisoning the celebrations".

The Swiss daily says that Ankara is "fed up with being led up the garden path" and "demands a firm starting date for its membership negotiations".

And the omens are not good, according to Le Figaro.

It reports that the discord is deepening on Turkey's membership.

Stormy waters

America wastes Spain's good work

ABC

There is some dissatisfaction in Spain over the boarding and subsequent release of a North Korean vessel carrying Scud missiles to Yemen.

Spanish annoyance shows in headlines like El Periodico's "Frustration in the Indian Ocean" and ABC's "America wastes Spain's good work".

Relenting would be dangerous because North Korea represents a security risk which can hardly be quantifiable

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

El Mundo urges Madrid to demand an explanation from Washington of why it allowed the freighter to continue to Yemen after the "difficult task" of boarding carried out by the Spanish navy and the "unarguable risks faced by our forces".

Barcelona's La Vanguardia says the operation was justified and the Spanish navy "deserves to be praised".

El Periodico also praises the Spanish navy for doing its duty and describes the decision to let the ship sail on as "inexplicable" except in the "anti-terrorist context".

It notes that the US has approved delivery of "an arsenal" of Scud missiles for "a country used by al-Qaeda activists" and in which "anti-American feelings" prevail.

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wonders if North Korea is trying to justify its inclusion in the "axis of evil".

Following Pyongyang's admission that it was still working on a nuclear weapons programme, it says the missile shipment shows that monitoring North Korea is not an unfriendly act but a necessary one.

"Relenting would be dangerous because North Korea represents a security risk which can hardly be quantifiable."

Immune system

In France, a commission of jurists is due to report today on the question of presidential immunity.

The review was a response to the controversy caused by President Jacques Chirac's refusal to give evidence in one of several investigations into alleged wrongdoing during his time as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.

The president is assured of a solid immunity which will shelter him... until the end of his term in 2007

Liberation

Le Monde declares that the head of state's "penal fate" will finally be fixed.

But, noting that the commission was appointed by the president, Liberation has little doubt what it will conclude.

Its front-page headline predicts that the report will reinforce the president's immunity with "a layer of concrete".

On the bright side, the left-wing daily says that France still has some way to go to match Italy, where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi "is building up his immunity with law after law".

But it warns that "what is known of the justice minister's plans" shows a departure from "a more transparent, more independent, and therefore more responsible, legal system".

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