European press review

The long shadow of terrorism falls across Europe's papers a day after Spain paid an emotional farewell to the 190 victims of the Madrid train bombings.

Madrid mourns, looks ahead

A day after the state memorial in Madrid for the 190 people killed by the bombings on 11 March, Spain's ABC expresses the hope that the Spanish capital may become "a kind of Kilometre Zero out of which will radiate this new spirit of a united combat against all terrorism, with no distinctions, nuances or limitations that can only benefit those who resort to violence".

"Shared grief" is the title of an editorial in La Razon.

The western leaders were united in grief but remain divided over the best way of combating terrorism Le Temps

The paper sees "major significance" in the assurances given by the incoming Spanish prime minister to visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Spain "will continue to regard the terrorist threat as one of its main priorities".

"It is of great importance," it says, "that Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero sends out this message to the international community, so that the terrorists do not believe that they have scored a victory."

According to La Vanguardia, Madrid became the "capital of the world" for a day.

The paper argues that "the good rapport" established between Mr Zapatero and Mr Powell "should now be translated into new United Nations resolutions signalling a real change in the organisation's political and military role in Iraq".

Mr Zapatero's "firm position on the recall of the Spanish troops" from Iraq, it notes, has the support of Paris and Berlin, "and introduces a new factor... that the Bush administration would do well not to ignore".

The Swiss Le Temps has no doubts about the shared emotion in Madrid, but is sceptical about much else.

The horror of Atocha (railway station) must become a salutary shock and release political energy in all capital cities so as to end the dispute over the planned European constitution Sueddeutsche Zeitung

"The western leaders were united in grief but remain divided over the best way of combating terrorism".

As the paper sees it, the efficacy of America's "essentially security-based" strategy against terrorism "is being called into question around the world".

This "scepticism", it adds, "has been boosted by the increasingly scathing criticisms" of the strategy "by former American high officials".

Towards a stronger union

Looking to the future, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung makes a wish that the 11 March attacks in Madrid lead to a European unity that extends beyond the fight against terrorism.

"The horror of Atocha (railway station)," it says, "must become a salutary shock and release political energy in all capital cities so as to finally end the dispute over the planned European constitution."

The paper argues that a constitution would ensure not just greater security and streamlined decision-making, it would also introduce more democracy and checks by independent judges.

It welcomes signs that Spain and Poland are moving towards accepting the principle that decisions should be based on a majority of governments as well as of EU citizens.

"But there is still a threat of rule-by-calculator in Europe's capitals," the paper warns.

Die Welt is also pleased that "the EU has overcome its division", but argues that Europe can be strong only in an alliance with America.

The paper believes that the EU's attractiveness to potential member states should be combined with the "raw power" of the United States to create "a strong, attractive, non-imperial West".

The shadow of terrorism - again

A visit to Djibouti by German President Johannes Rau was cancelled following a reported terrorist threat.

In the opinion of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the development highlights the "indiscriminate nature" of anti-Western terrorism.

This kind of terrorism is directed against the West's very values Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The paper points out that the president's motto is "to reconcile, not to divide", that Mr Rau has shown "tolerance bordering on obliviousness" in the Islamic headscarf dispute, and that he was against the war in Iraq.

But it believes that "Islamist terrorism" follows the simple rule of "hit them where you can".

"This kind of terrorism is not just directed against the presence of Western states in the Islamic world, it is directed against the West's very values."

Otherwise Germany would not have become a target of terrorism, it argues.

Der Tagesspiegel agrees that "Islamist terror does not choose its targets according to predictable moral categories, certainly not Western ones".

And Die Tageszeitung defends the president against the charge that he has caused political damage by cancelling his visit.

"When brother Johannes makes a trip to Africa at the end of his mandate," the paper says, "no questions of prestige are involved, and no principle of honour forces him to expose himself and his entourage to a security risk."

The EU v. Microsoft Corporation

In Austria Der Standard reacts to the European Commission's decision to hit US software giant Microsoft with a 497m euro fine for abusing its dominant market position with the view that the impact of the action should not be underestimated.

Driven by their fear of Microsoft, all players are working their hardest Der Standard

The paper concedes that the record fine imposed on Microsoft by the European Union poses no particular problem for a company which has "about $50bn in the bank".

But it adds that the move not only puts pressure on Microsoft to behave like a "good citizen", but has also "woken up" the competition.

"Driven by their fear of Microsoft, all players are working their hardest," the paper argues, "because those who trip up face the prospect of being superseded".

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