European press review

German papers assess Poland's apparent change of heart on the deadlocked European constitution. There is continuing speculation over the new Spanish government's foreign policy. And Russian dailies ponder the navy chief's explosive allegations about a potentially explosive warship.

Europe, old and new

Under the headline "Nice is dead, long live Europe", Germany's Der Tagesspiegel is upbeat about the prospects for agreement on an EU constitution before the end of June.

Apparently the Poles no longer want to die for Nice Der Tagesspiegel

The paper notes that Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, at a joint press conference on Tuesday with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder after talks in Warsaw, "did not even mention" the Nice treaty.

Poland and Spain blocked a deal on the proposed constitution in December in order to defend the weighted voting rights they won in the 2000 Nice treaty, which gave them almost as much power as the four most populous states - Germany, France, Britain and Italy.

"Apparently the Poles no longer want to die for Nice," the paper suggests, expressing the hope that after the EU summit on 17 June, it will be possible to say: "Europe finally has a constitution."

Austria's Der Standard is in no doubt that after the Warsaw talks agreement will be found.

"There will be a European constitution," it believes. "Poland is abandoning its obstructionist attitude, and Germany, too, will backtrack on one point or another."

In a commentary, the paper argues that the 11 March attacks in Madrid have created a greater sense of urgency regarding the need for European unity and a transatlantic relationship based on trust.

More than hope?

But back in Germany Berliner Zeitung plays down the results of the talks, saying that what the two leaders expressed after their Warsaw talks "amounted to little more than hope".

[Fear of Europe] can only be allayed if Warsaw makes a full and complete commitment to integration Berliner Zeitung

It notes that it is still unclear what shape a compromise on the constitution might take, and urges EU leaders to demand that Poland should "finally" make its position clear.

There is in Poland a widespread fear of Europe, the paper says, which reaches "deep into the machinery of government".

"In the long term", it adds, such fear "can only be allayed if Warsaw makes a full and complete commitment to (European) integration".

Die Welt wonders what brought about the apparent change in position. It believes the Polish premier may be willing to compromise because he is weak on the domestic political front.

But it warns that if he were to lose a no-confidence vote in parliament, everything would become even more difficult because the conservative opposition has promised to fight for Nice and against the constitution "to the death".

After Madrid

With Spain still reeling from the Madrid bomb attacks and subsequent electoral fallout, El Mundo has some words of advice for Jose Maria Aznar's defeated Popular Party (PP).

The PP "will find it hard to regain its credibility" and start a "political recovery" if it refuses to "engage in self-criticism and recognize that some of its misfortunes were the result of the extreme decisions it took while in government", the paper believes.

Instead of blaming others, Mr Aznar would do better if he assumed responsibility for his own mistakes El Pais

La Razon urges Mr Aznar's successor, Mariano Rajoy, to submit his appointment as Popular Party leader to the endorsement of the party's congress, to be held later this year.

"Until then," the paper advises, the PP must work hard... as the parliamentary opposition, while at the same time preparing for the June elections to the European Parliament as a way of regaining lost ground".

The Spanish Socialist leader Jose Luis Zapatero, due to take over officially as prime minister next month, will later on Wednesday discuss Spain's position on Iraq with the visiting US Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

In this connection, El Pais, rebukes outgoing Mr Aznar for the statements he made on Monday in his first interview since the elections. It was "disloyal" of him, the paper says, "to suggest... that his successor is proposing to appease terrorists" with his announced intention to withdraw the Spanish contingent from Iraq.

"Instead of blaming others", the paper suggests, Mr Aznar, would do better if he "assumed responsibility for his own mistakes".

All at sea

Tuesday's statement by the head of the Russian navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, that one of the country's most advanced warships, the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great, was so decrepit it could "explode any moment" has shocked and puzzled the Russian dailies.

It transpires that.. the fate of the entire Northern Fleet and the life of our president hung by a whisker Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Moscow's Nezavisimaya Gazeta calls the statement "unprecedented".

"There has never been such a thing in the history of the armed forces, either of the USSR or Russia," the paper says.

"Taken together with the abortive launch of three strategic missiles" (by Russian submarines on manoeuvres), it adds, "this admission by the navy's highest ranking officer signifies just one thing - the armed forces are dangerous to their own fatherland".

Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes that during the naval exercises a month ago, watched from on board the Peter the Great by President Vladimir Putin, "the cruiser... fired off its missiles successfully, unlike the submarines".

"Now it transpires," the paper adds, "that at precisely that moment the fate of the entire Northern Fleet and the life of our president hung by a whisker... One can say that the navy's commander-in-chief has averted another Chernobyl."

On the other hand, the paper wonders, an admiral "cannot tell that such an enormous cruiser is in an explosive condition simply by going, as he put it, 'where admirals don't normally go'.

"You can see how dirty the ship is," it concedes, "you can meet sailors in tattered overalls who forget to salute out of fright... But how do you make out that the nuclear boilers or the Granit missiles are on the point of blowing up?"

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