European press review

20 years ago in Bologna...

After marking the 20th anniversary of Italy's worst ever terrorist atrocity - the bomb planted by far-right extremists at Bologna's railway station, killing 85 people and wounding 200 - most Italian front pages give pride of place to Prime Minister Giuliano Amato's outspoken remarks at a ceremony held at the site of the explosion.

"Bologna massacre: Amato feels humiliated by the state's lies", reads the headline in Corriere della Sera.

"Amato: The state lied", says La Repubblica.

"Bologna: Amato's outburst", says the Catholic daily Avvenire, which, in large italics, quotes the prime minister as saying that "it is humiliating to have to admit that the state lied about the massacre".

"Bologna: Too many lies about the massacre", says Venice's Il Gazzettino.

And an editorial in Il Secolo d'Italia calls for a new investigation into the outrage.

...And 10 years ago in Kuwait

"When he went into Kuwait, Saddam Hussein had no idea that the international community would be prepared to go to war against him," says the Belgian Le Soir in connection with the 10th anniversary of Iraq's invasion of its neighbour.

It says that the "savage violence" of the invasion and the "legitimate violence" of the international coalition's riposte were "a brutal parenthesis in the new international order newly emerged from the ruins of the communist bloc".

The war also helped launch a worldwide debate "on how to deal with predatory dictators, the limits of diplomacy, the resort to force, the sufferings inflicted by regimes on their peoples, and the leading role of the United States", the paper adds.

An editorial in the Portuguese Publico looks back more in sorrow than in anger, and takes the new international order with a sizable pinch of salt.

It recalls "a prevailing mood of optimism" at the launch of Operation Desert Storm. "It was a clear-cut violation of international law," the paper says, "and few questioned the right of an international coalition... to go to the aid of a state robbed of its sovereignty."

"We knew who the good and the bad guys were," it adds. "It was, after all, the dawn of a new international order."

But not for long. "The illusion of the new order continued for a little while," the paper says.

"The conditions seemed to be there for a more peaceful and orderly world. But in fact they were not."

Events since have shown the world to be "a much more dangerous, unpredictable and disorderly place than it was in Cold War times", and exposed the United Nations as "the most impotent and paralytic of world governments" it concludes.

"To this very day the question of why American President George Bush did not get rid of Saddam and instead stopped before Baghdad remains a mystery," says the Hungarian Magyar Hirlap.

Referring to unofficial explanations, the paper explains that if "democracy had dawned over Iraq", this would have had tragic consequences, with, for example, southern Iraq breaking away to join Iran, the Kurds destabilizing Turkey by demanding autonomy and then statehood, plus financial and political uncertainty in the Gulf overall.

Another option would have been to place a new dictator on the "throne in Baghdad", it says. "But why have a new person if we already have an old, beloved enemy, a good dictator, who at least keeps order in Iraq?"

Germany's Die Tageszeitung says that Iraq is putting across a defiant image on this anniversary, with Saddam "firmly in the saddle".

In view of the United States' stance, the paper sees little chance of the international sanctions against Iraq being lifted in the foreseeable future.

It quotes Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as saying that the sanctions "will remain for as long as Saddam Hussein rejects the United Nations' demands".

The paper notes that Mrs Albright rejected criticism that the sanctions are causing suffering among the Iraqi people. They certainly do not seem to be harming the country's leadership, it concludes.

Barak's one-man band

"David Levy carries out his ultimatum," says the French Le Nouvel Observateur of the Israeli foreign minister's resignation on Wednesday. It recalls that last weekend Mr Levy had threatened to resign unless Prime Minister Ehud Barak invited the right-wing opposition Likud party to form a government of national unity.

Shortly after Mr Levy's resignation, the Israeli parliament voted 61 to 51 for early general elections, in a procedure that is still in its early stages.

"This vote and Levy's resignation... were a double blow to the prime minister's coalition, already turned into a minority government by the departure of three of its parties," the paper says. The Swiss Le Temps reads a different message between the lines of Mr Levy's ultimatum over inviting the opposition Likud into the government.

It sees it as "a cover for his huge disappointment at being sidelined in favour of Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben Ami" at the Israeli-Palestinian talks that paved the way to the botched Camp David summit.

"The fact is that Ehud Barak distrusted his foreign minister because of his past as a former leader of Likud," the paper says.

With only 11 ministers left of the original 23, "the ministerial hats are piling up on Ehud Barak's head," it adds. "He has become a one-man band in an almost non-existent government looking more and more like a ghost ship."

"It was a truly black day for Barak," says Austria's Kurier. However, the paper points out that the Israeli prime minister remains surprisingly calm and composed as the desertions from his government mount.

"Barak appeared determined to work hard through the coming three-month parliamentary recess and continue peace negotiations with the Palestinians" it says.

He had "clearly decided to stand firm and not give up on his goals".

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says that Ehud Barak "is more than ever in danger of becoming a lame duck of Israeli politics", noting that "the political pendulum has so far swung in his favour, but might swing back soon".

Euro-nightmare for France?

An editorial in the French Le Monde casts a critical look at Paris's monetary plans for Europe during its semester in the presidency of the European Union.

Under the heading of "Monetary Union - Political Nightmare", the paper says that France, having announced an ambitious programme of reforms for the euro almost a year ahead of its presidency, has so far managed to antagonise nearly everyone in Europe.

Its plans, including the establishment of a leading troika, extending the mandate of the rotating presidency, and appointing a "Mr Euro" have not only "provoked the distrust of countries outside the eurozone, particularly Britain, but have also aroused the hostility of 'small' states fearful that big countries will use such measures to further strengthen their domination".

More serious still, friendly governments such as Germany's have been annoyed by an "impressive series of clumsy French moves giving the impression that Paris is bent on strengthening the Euro-11 by weakening the European Central Bank's powers", the paper adds.

The priority now is to accelerate economic integration and harmonisation within the eurozone, Le Monde warns. Otherwise, "the fact of the Union becoming more and more monetary and less and less economic will make it increasingly wobbly".

Russia: Exit six generals

"The Russian Army is in crisis," says Slovakia's Narodna Obroda, pondering the meaning and implications of President Vladimir Putin's sacking of six senior generals.

The paper wonders if Putin's ambition to restore Russia's world power status had anything to do with it.

The Russian Army finds itself again confronted with the daunting challenge of radical modernization, it points out.

"This huge country's once feared armed forces suffered a humiliating defeat from the small Chechen nation in 1996 and are still miles away from ending the continuing conflict," the paper says, with more than a hint that the army's pitiful state may have had a bearing on the sackings.

Venezuela: Chavez woos the bosses

Under the headline, "Chavez woos the bosses", the French L'Express detects a change of tone in the former paratrooper who cruised to re-election as Venezuela's president last Sunday.

It notes that one of the first things President Hugo Chavez did on being re-elected was to call on company bosses "to help save the economy".

"And it does need saving indeed," the paper adds, "because it has been in free fall since this charismatic and inspired former soldier took office in December 1998."

One of the reasons for the economic debacle "is neglect, because up to now Chavez's priorities have been strictly political", the paper explains.

"The other is the fear he inspires in business circles with his hostile speeches and a friendship a little too high profile with Fidel Castro," it adds.

"Only a few days ago the businessmen whose help he is now seeking were a 'rancid oligarchy' that must be swept aside together with the traditional parties, the trade unions, the press and a Catholic hierarchy which he has systematically demonised," the paper points out.

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