European press review

Tuesday's German press welcomes the sentences handed down to members of a neo-Nazi rock group, and a French paper sees Paris increasingly frozen out on the international stage.

A Czech commentator looks at the government's decision to acquire new fighter jets, and a Belgian paper has praise for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Silent Right?

German papers approve Monday's landmark ruling in which a court convicted members of a neo-Nazi rock group whose songs allegedly incited racial hatred and encouraged violence against foreigners.

The leader of the group was sentenced to three years in jail, and other members were given suspended sentences after being found guilty of criminal association in the first case of its kind, the Frankfurter Rundschau notes.

It was long overdue for the courts to deal thoroughly and resolutely with those guilty of incitement Der Tagesspiegel

"Those who distribute revolting neo-Nazi texts, who incite young people to racial hatred and violence, and who accept that their words will be followed by deeds have to expect the full force of the law," the paper says.

It predicts that federal prosecutors will soon take more neo-Nazi bands to court, but it doubts that this will be enough to significantly curb their activities.

"There are at least 90 far-right bands in Germany, and almost every weekend hate musicians play somewhere in the republic," the paper observes.

Der Tagesspiegel also welcomes the ruling, but says it came rather late in the day.

"It was long overdue for the courts to deal thoroughly and resolutely with those guilty of incitement," it says.

Die Welt agrees that the verdict is justified even though it may, at first sight, appear to violate artistic freedom or the freedom of speech.

The paper argues that, on the contrary, the ruling opens the way for a more efficient protection of these rights.

"The hammered rhythms were attacks against a society in which people live together in harmony," the paper says.

Ding-dong merrily on high

Feathers were ruffled at the highest level in France yesterday when President Jacques Chirac's spokeswoman found it necessary to contradict remarks by Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

Ms Alliot-Marie initially said Paris had been kept in the loop on the several months of delicate US-British negotiations with Libya which resulted in Tripoli's dramatic announcement that it was abandoning its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction.

But the presidential spokeswoman later said the talks were "secret .. and France was not informed," prompting Liberation to recycle a Chirac jibe about Eastern European support for the USA.

If splendid isolation is the price of greatness, there is no doubt France is at a high point in its history Liberation

Ms Alliot-Marie "missed another great opportunity to shut up", the paper comments.

"Such amateurism can only comfort those who are busy constructing around France a discreet but effective quarantine."

France's exclusion from the talks with Libya, the paper suggests, is part of a series of moves by which the USA is taking its revenge on Paris after the Iraq war showdown.

It goes on to cite France's bid to host the Iter nuclear fusion project - blocked by America - and the erosion of French influence in the EU as further examples.

"If splendid isolation is the price of greatness, there is no doubt France is at a high point in its history," it concludes wryly.

In the bleak midwinter

With the season of goodwill and peace to all men upon us, the Czech Pravo reflects on the Czech government's decision to lease Swedish-built Gripen fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of MiG-21 fighters, which the Czech Air Force has been using since its Warsaw Pact days.

Europeans, born in the 20th Century and shaped by the constant memory of two world wars, unwittingly tend to advocate pacifism, the paper notes.

It sees an encouraging sign in Colonel Gaddafi's renunciation of Libya's programmes to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

All the signs point towards long-lasting peace ahead, the commentator concludes, tongue in cheek, "so thank God the Czech Republic is going to acquire those Gripens."

Glad tidings of great joy

The Belgian daily La Libre Belgique highlights, in particular, the role of British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the process which led to Libya's renunciation of its weapons of mass destruction programmes.

It says the moves is a greater achievement than the capture of Saddam Hussein, and "a startling illustration" of what can be achieved through negotiation.

Mr Blair, it concludes, is no longer "George Bush's poodle".

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