European press review

Many of today's European papers focus on the weekend France-Germany-UK summit and the heavy defeat for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats in Bavaria.

European defence debate

"More than expected, less than necessary," is how Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung sums up the Berlin summit, which brought together Mr Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"With regard to European policies, the three politicians conspicuously emphasised consensus," the paper says, while on Iraq "they tried in vain to cover up disagreements".

But the dispute over Iraq is essentially between US President George W Bush and Mr Chirac, the paper adds.

Die Welt urges Mr Schroeder to side with the US, rather than France.

It believes Mr Bush and Mr Blair have "opened a door" for him.

Failure?

Berliner Zeitung regards the summit as a failure because there is still no joint position on Iraq among the big powers in the European Union.

"A PR disaster?" is how Copenhagen's Information headlines its editorial on the summit.

"So far, so bad. Then add that the three core European countries deeply disagree about strategic future perspectives when it comes to Europe's military role in the world."

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau highlights what it sees as considerable summit progress on a European defence policy.

"Britain is apparently willing to make concessions with regard to the construction of a common security policy," the paper says.

It observes that, according to experts in Mr Schroeder's office, the change could amount to "the decisive step away from a blanket objection to an independent military capability".

If this is confirmed, the paper believes, the Berlin summit could become a landmark in EU history.

Bavarian elections

Papers in Germany and Austria are divided over the significance of Sunday's clear victory for the Christian Social Union (CSU) in the Bavarian elections.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung puts the result down to the CSU's traditional position of dominance in Bavaria.

It believes that in the past decades the CSU has become "the party of the Bavarians".

"While the political mood and the economic situation in Germany may be worse than ever, people in Bavaria have long believed that almost everything in their state is in better shape than in any other region of this country," it observes.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung agrees, arguing that voting for the CSU is a tradition in Bavaria.

Die Welt, however, rejects this interpretation.

"The Bavarian result is not the expression of a tribal custom," it says, arguing that the election was dominated by the same themes as the last general election.

Oslo integration 'success'

The city council needs the expertise the immigrants represent Aftenposten

Oslo daily Aftenposten welcomes the election of 12 councillors from a non-Western background to the city's 59-seat council.

"Oslo City Council has never had so many representatives with foreign backgrounds," it states.

"The most remarkable fact is that only four of the 12 ... stood in safe seats," it goes on.

"It is of course edifying that thousands of immigrants have demonstrated that they understand the Norwegian electoral system and are ready to use it... This is a successful integration policy."

But there is still room for improvement in Oslo, the paper says.

"The city council needs the expertise the immigrants represent," it stresses.

Latvia's EU referendum

Austria's Der Standard says Latvia's vote in favour of EU membership was surprisingly clear-cut - and its significance was more political than economic.

"With their accession, more than one million ethnic Russians will come under Brussels' supreme authority, as it were. This will give rise to a new political testing ground for relations between the EU and Russia," it says.

French car-free day

The Paris daily Liberation assesses the pros and cons of the so-called "Day without my car" - Monday's clampdown on drivers in 72 French towns and cities.

Car-free days work, says the paper, quoting Paris city council figures showing a 7% drop in traffic since 2001.

As with the increasingly fashionable tobacco- or shopping-free days, they target the consciences of people who, it says, "sometimes regret these various addictions, without being able or even willing to shake them off".

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