European press review

Papers comment on the ongoing controversy over the use of intelligence material to justify the war against Iraq. Belgium's press takes the measure of the country's new government.

The war of words between Germany and Italy over remarks by an Italian minister continues to attract comment, while French President Jacques Chirac stands accused of "silence" as France celebrates Bastille Day.

"Bush in great difficulties", reads a headline in Germany's Die Welt after the CIA said it allowed the controversial claim Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa to be included in a speech by the US president.

"Bush has to ask himself whether he wasn't deceived by his team, his closest advisers, the Pentagon," it says.

Now Bush, too, is going through a serious crisis of credibility, with the awkward accusation that he deceived his people and the world. Die Welt

According to the paper, Mr Bush now finds himself in a situation similar to that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who, it says, used "dubious" information to go to war on Iraq.

"Now Bush, too, is going through a serious crisis of credibility, with the awkward accusation that he deceived his people and the world."

In Austria, Der Standard believes Mr Blair's position is "shakier" than that of Mr Bush because London's reasons for going to war was the danger posed by weapons with no mention of "regime change".

And questions over British intelligence on Iraq have become the focal point for wider discontent in the electorate.

"Run-down hospitals, no money for schools, an old railway network, a high crime rate - these are the real criticisms of Tony Blair," the paper says.

Law and government

Belgium's De Standaard is critical of what it sees as an overstaffed new Belgian government which was sworn in on Saturday.

Belgians want "a limited, talented and resolute team which dares to take tough decisions in relatively difficult economic times," it declares.

The paper suggests that some appointments are designed to give Flemish and French-speaking parties equal representation, but the result will be "infighting, quarrels [and] conflicts over people's fields of competence".

The Northern League knows no bounds when it turns its fire against supposed scroungers from southern Italy and the south of the globe, against Muslims and minorities Frankfurter Rundschau

And still in Belgium, Le Soir leads on the new government's decision to withdraw a controversial war crimes law by "severely limiting" its applicability.

According to the paper, the move has left supporters of the law "disappointed " and "furious". And it quotes the head of Belgium's Human Rights League, Dan Van Raemdonck, as saying the plan is a "scandal", accusing the government of bowing to US pressure.

German-Italian spat

The Sunday edition of Germany's Bild defends Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder against opposition charges of populism over his decision to cancel his holiday to Italy.

"It is true that it is populist to blow up one's private holiday into an affair of state, but accusing a politician of being guided by the public mood is as clever as accusing a musician of musicality," it says.

The paper argues while the chancellor's decision was in the national interest, after the resignation of Italian Undersecretary Stefano Stefani, whose remarks sparked the cancellation, the affair should be regarded as closed.

And the paper even suggests Mr Schroeder might, as a "friendly gesture", visit Italy on holiday in the future.

Another German paper, the Frankfurter Rundschau, also defends Mr Schroeder's stance, in the face of what it sees as typical rhetoric from the likes of Mr Stefani and his far-right Northern League party

"The Northern League knows no bounds when it turns its fire against supposed scroungers from southern Italy and the south of the globe, against Muslims and minorities."

By standing its ground, Germany has brought into the open what, as the paper puts it, "unfortunately has become commonplace in much-loved nearby Italy".

Chirac's 'silence'

As France marks Bastille Day, Liberation laments French President Jacques Chirac's growing distance from his public.

"What use is a silent head of state?" the paper asks, noting the president's falling score in the popularity stakes.

"In the space of a few months, we have seen France torn apart by social tensions, a failed referendum in Corsica, a union leader jailed... and the man elected on 5 May 2002 has not had much to say about it all," it observes.

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