European press review

Transatlantic relations top the agenda in the European press. Some papers suggest the US president may have to seek more assistance if he is to manage the situation in Iraq.

Others suspect that Europe is not going to go out of its way to give America a helping hand.

In Denmark, the press is split over the government's interpretation of UN reports on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile in Sweden, one paper reflects on the benefits of working beyond retirement age as the Rolling Stones arrive in town.

US-Europe ties

Vienna's Der Standard suggests that US President George Bush may need to court not only his "friend Tony Blair" if he is to see success in Iraq.

"If Bush wants to get some sort of grip on the crisis, he will have to rely on help from the British, but perhaps also from the French, Germans and others," the paper says.

It suggests that while such a move "may have little to do with friendship, it is quite clearly in Bush's own interests".

What will be of help is the joint interest in saving Iraq from looming chaos Frankfurter Rundschau

Frankfurter Rundschau is cautiously upbeat over relations between Germany and the US after Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's visit to Washington.

It says the opportunity to repair damaged relations "must be seized with both hands".

"What will be of help," the paper suggests, is "the joint interest in saving Iraq from looming chaos."

But it warns Berlin against adopting an "I told you so" attitude towards Washington regarding the situation in Iraq.

'Drowning'

Kommersant, however, believes that Europe may be somewhat reluctant to offer help.

"Many in the world, and particularly in Europe, believe that saving the drowning is a job for the drowning themselves," the paper says.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller only succeeded in digging himself deeper into the quagmire of self-contradictory drivel B.T.

Their attitude, it maintains, is that "the Americans have got themselves in to this mess, so they can jolly well sort it out themselves".

Rossiyskaya Gazeta is sceptical of what it calls the US's "feverish steps to drag as many other countries as possible into the conflict".

It views this as sign of Washington's "serious concern" over the situation and a desire to take its own troops out of the firing line.

The paper warns against such tactics, however, saying they will provoke "instant negative reverberations".

Weapons debate

The issue of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction takes centre stage again in Denmark, with the press divided over the government's interpretation of UN reports.

Tabloid BT writes disparagingly of Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller's appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee following accusations by former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix that he gave false information on Iraqi arms.

If it had been down to Blix alone, he and his inspectors would still have been ferreting around in leaky garages and disused warehouses Berlingske Tidende

Moeller, the paper says, "only succeeded in digging himself deeper into the quagmire of self-contradictory drivel".

However, Berlingske Tidende directs its fire instead at Mr Blix.

"If it had been down to Blix alone, he and his inspectors would still have been ferreting around in leaky garages and disused warehouses in an Iraq that was still groaning under Saddam Hussein," the paper says.

Never too old

In Sweden, the Rolling Stones' world tour arrives in town.

"An aeroplane loaded with pensioners has landed in Stockholm," an article in Sweden's Expressen says rather cheekily.

The paper uses the event to reflect on the positives associated with working beyond retirement age.

"Despite a hard life of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll it is difficult to see any symptoms of the widespread Swedish condition of burnout," the paper says of the visitors.

It cites a study that found that one in three Swedish pensioners would have retired later if they had been permitted to. "The fact is that many people would like to keep working longer," the article says.

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