European press review

Europe's press comments on what one paper calls the "return match" between the French and US presidents at the United Nations over Iraq.

Several papers examine the consequences of the Bavarian elections for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"Return match"

"Chirac opts for calmer relations with the US", reads a front-page headline in France's Le Figaro.

French President Jacques Chirac had indicated that France would not veto a draft UN resolution on Iraq submitted to the Security Council by the US.

"On the eve of his meeting with George W Bush in New York, Jacques Chirac yesterday made conciliatory gestures while insisting that Iraq should quickly regain its sovereignty," the paper says.

A front-page headline in France's Liberation describes the debate on Iraq at the UN as a "return match" between Mr Chirac and the US president.

An editorial in the paper notes that Mr Chirac has, as it puts it, "provoked" the White House by calling for an early return to Iraqi sovereignty.

It argues that by so doing he has laid himself open to the accusation that he is merely playing to the gallery.

"This is all the more true since the ideas he is putting forward, although beyond reproach in terms of principles, are more doubtful when it comes to their feasibility on the ground," the paper warns.

Switzerland's Tribune De Geneve says that at first sight it could look as if France had thrown in the towel over Iraq after Mr Chirac said that his country did not intend to use its veto.

"France has had more than enough of being the target of smear campaigns in the US media," the paper says.

Schroeder's task

France's Le Monde interprets the election win of Germany's Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria as a sign of dissatisfaction with the governing coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens.

"This setback for the SPD... illustrates the great mistrust of the Germans as a whole with regard to the governing red-green coalition," the paper says, adding that "the chancellor's task is now becoming extremely difficult."

Germany's success is of decisive significance for reforms in the whole of Europe Le Monde

It observes that the government has embarked on what it calls "an impressive series of reforms" to boost the economy, for which it will need opposition party backing in the Upper House.

"Germany's success is of decisive significance for reforms in the whole of Europe," the paper warns.

Austria's Der Standard agrees that the chancellor has not managed to explain his plans to the electorate.

It observes that in Bavaria the SPD mainly lost support among blue-collar workers and the unemployed.

"This should make a party claiming to represent above all the interests of these groups think," the paper concludes.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung believes that the government has no choice but to pursue its current reform plans and to hope that they will bear fruit before the next general election.

It predicts that in this case the CSU's election victory might, as the paper puts it, "quickly sink into oblivion".

Hungarian regret

Hungary's Nepszabadsag fears that early advantages, which it believes the country had, in the process of accession to the European Union and Nato have been squandered.

The paper points out that of nine EU candidate countries, Hungary had the lowest turnout in its referendum on entry.

It suspects that the current government coalition will probably try to engage in what it calls the "politics of window-dressing in the first years of membership".

The paper concludes that Hungary will probably become the "poor relation" skulking in the back of the EU class.

"But it will be better to be in the back than outside," it adds.

Belgian-Israeli ties

The time for a gradual easing of tension between Israel and Belgium seems to have come Le Soir

Belgium's Le Soir says the possibility of a meeting between the Israeli foreign minister and his Belgian counterpart in Brussels adds to the impression of a gradual thaw in relations between the two countries.

In a front-page article, the paper points out that diplomatic ties were restored before the summer and that on Sunday the new Israeli ambassador in Brussels described the Belgian foreign minister as a friend of Israel.

"After months, perhaps even years, of strong turbulence... the time for a gradual easing of tension between Israel and Belgium seems to have come," the paper says.

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