European press review

In today's European press, a German paper accuses Paris and Berlin of high-handedness while an Austrian daily laments Vienna's lack of influence in Europe.

The implications of Washington's decision to maintain a significant military presence in Germany are assessed.

Two Czech dailies take opposing views of President Vaclav Klaus's attitude to cohabiting with his political adversaries.

And in France the debate continues over the nature of an unidentified object allegedly sighted in President Jacques Chirac's right ear.

On the day EU foreign ministers open talks in Naples, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung takes Paris and Berlin to task for throwing their weight around in Europe.

"The wilful wrecking of the Stability and Growth Pact," the paper says, "is only one in a string of instances of high-handedness" by Paris and Berlin towards the European Commission and the EU's smaller member countries.

Doesn't Austria have any friends any more? Die Presse

It cites the French-German position on the common agricultural policy and the draft EU constitution as further examples of a "lack of sensitivity".

The paper is not surprised by such behaviour from France, which, it says, has "for centuries" taken the view that Europe's future should be decided by the major players.

But it regards Germany's "occasional tendency Teutonically to crave great power status" as a new development.

Austria's Die Presse wonders why Vienna's word does not seem to count for much in the EU.

"Doesn't Austria have any friends any more?" the paper asks after the EU ruled that the system designed to limit lorry traffic through the country must end.

But it says the Austrian government must shoulder part of the blame.

"All too often," it says, "different Austrian ministers go to Brussels with different positions and regularly cause dismay among our EU partners."

Still friends?

Berliner Zeitung sees Washington's plan to keep a substantial number of troops in Germany as good news for US-German relations.

This is an element of German-US friendship that survives the most difficult periods in political relations Berliner Zeitung

An often overlooked benefit of the US military presence, it believes, is that the troops spread a positive image of Germany when they return home.

"This is an element of German-US friendship," it says, "that survives the most difficult periods in political relations."

But a more sceptical Der Tagesspiegel believes it would be wrong to read any political meaning into the US plans.

The paper argues that Pentagon strategists are interested only in putting the right number of troops in the right places in order to be able to react to new threats.

"Whether or not this is good or bad for Germans," it says, "rates very low" on Washington's list of priorities.

Czech cohabitation

In the Czech Republic, right-wing President Vaclav Klaus has vetoed two reform bills by the centre-left government: one establishing stricter criteria for the payment of welfare benefits, and the other raising health insurance contributions by the self-employed.

Some may liken President Vaclav Klaus to a good king who feels compassion for the poor, but in fact he is not so much a good king as a partisan president Mlada Fronta Dnes

"Two presidential vetoes in two days may seem excessive, but it is not," says Prague's Hospodarske Noviny.

Mr Klaus, the paper contends, is not critical of the government's reforms as such but "of the fact that the bills... are aimed against small businesses".

"Of course," it adds, "some small businessmen are guilty of tax evasion, but this should not be used by the state to treat them all as tax cheats."

A commentary in Mlada Fronta Dnes takes the opposite view.

Some, it says, "may liken President Vaclav Klaus to a good king who feels compassion for the poor."

"But, in fact, he is not so much a good king as a partisan president."

Mr Klaus, the paper believes, "is using his veto to raise his personal ratings and strengthen his own party", the opposition Civic Democrats.

Chirac's ear

This week's edition of the French magazine Paris Match carries a photograph of President Jacques Chirac wearing what looks like a hearing aid in his right ear.

The magazine says that the photo was taken in June at the G8 summit in the French town of Evian.

But Le Monde recalls that when Ecology Minister Roselyne Bachelot confirmed the rumoured sightings earlier this month her remarks were "denied that very day by the government's spokesman" and "Ms Bachelot was sternly called to book".

The president's office, the paper adds, "also denied Ms Bachelot's assertion and explained that the president had tried such a device but the trial had proved inconclusive."

Nouvel Observateur sees the whole affair as evidence of how "too tight a control over public relations combined with an obsession with secrecy can sometimes go awry".

The case of the president's ear, the paper says, is "symptomatic" of "the Chirac universe" in which "the first reaction is to batten down the hatches and only then, if needs must, to talk".

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