European press review

Opinions differ about who stands to gain the most in the French local elections, as the Socialists look set for an historic victory in Paris. According to a Swiss daily, it is women, not political parties, who have carried the day.

By destroying much of Afghanistan's cultural heritage, the country's Taleban authorities may have put paid to hopes of international recognition and aid, a German paper says.

Hopes are high in Mexico that politics may be taking over from guns to resolve the issue of indigenous people's rights.

And Hungary is advised to reconsider its approach to Russia.

France votes, Paris wobbles

With exit polls giving the right a slight lead nationally in the first round of the French local elections - but looking like it could lose control of Paris city council - the lead headline in Paris' Le Figaro says: "The right holds up well, Paris wobbles".

It is accompanied by pictures of some of the best-known winners and losers in Sunday's elections. The latter category includes Environment Minister Dominique Voynet, Employment Minister Elisabeth Guigou and Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot.

"Several ministers learnt to their cost yesterday that belonging to the Jospin government doesn't constitute a comprehensive election insurance," the paper says, referring to the failure of several ministers to be elected mayor in their chosen towns and cities.

"The municipal elections show that the outgoing mayors have generally stood up well to the challenge of their opponents," it says.

Liberation makes a similar analysis, but highlights the "record abstention rate", estimated at 33.8% of the electorate, and says the results do not point to any national tendencies.

It also highlights the situation in the former right-wing strongholds of Toulouse, Lyon and Paris. The Socialist Party's mayoral candidate, Bertrand Delanoe, has made a "good start" in the capital, it says.

France Soir's lead headline is "Paris wobbles," while with the headline "Serious warning for Jospin in the municipal elections" La Tribune believes the results send a message to the socialist prime minister.

Geneva's Le Temps believes the results confirm that the municipal elections are "above all about local issues" and that "the outgoing teams who have carried out effective work have won, whatever their political tendencies are".

But it says that in the capital, the political career of President Jacques Chirac, a former Gaullist mayor of Paris, is at risk.

"A bad defeat in the capital," it says, "and simultaneous setbacks in Lyon and Toulouse could be an early sign of an even greater disaster in the presidential elections against Lionel Jospin".

"The left bungles its first round" says Le Soir in Brussels.

"'The machos are the losers of the French local elections," says Switzerland's Basler Zeitung.

Even though the outcome of the elections will not be known until after the second round next weekend, "there was nevertheless an historic landslide to be celebrated yesterday," the paper says.

"Thanks to gender parity on the election lists," it says, "French women have made huge gains in the local representative bodies, where, as everywhere else in politics, they were blatantly under-represented."

Demolished hopes

Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that by destroying the country's Buddhist statues, Afghanistan's Taleban authorities have also dashed their chances of international assistance.

"They will long wait in vain for political recognition and urgently needed international help," the paper says.

Even countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, the only ones to have recognised the Taleban's rule, it says, will now face intense pressure to break off relations.

But most of all, the paper says, it is Afghanistan's people who are suffering at the hands of the Taleban.

"That is why," it says, "international pressure on that barbaric regime must be increased by all means".

Slovakia's Praca is sad and outraged at the destruction of the unique Buddha statues in Afghanistan.

With the destruction of these ancient statues "Sunday 11 March 2001 has became one of the saddest days in the history of mankind," it says.

"The statues which survived Mongolian hordes' raids and which were lovingly created for many decades, were destroyed in a matter of days through a combination of modern weapons and religious fanaticism," the daily says.

It does not blame just the Taleban, however.

"Responsibility also lies with the international community, which tolerated all the Taleban's actions," it says. "Despite various warnings, the international community's behaviour was reminiscent of the three monkeys who hear nothing, see nothing and say nothing."

Zapatour

Madrid's El Pais comments on the Zapatista rebels' triumphal entry into the Mexican capital, led by Subcomandante Marcos. It says the chances of ending the conflict between the rebels and the government have never been better.

"No constitutional reform in Mexico has been as polemical as the one which now intends to recognise the rights of the Indians," the paper says, adding that the Indians in Mexico have never been treated as full citizens.

"Parliament now has a chance to repair an historic injustice and pave the way for peace in Chiapas," Mexico poorest region, where the rebellion started seven years ago, the paper says.

Vienna's Der Standard says Subcomandante Marcos' visit to Mexico City has benefited both him and President Vicente Fox.

"Both have profited from the Zapatour," the paper says, "because both are, as far as public relations are concerned, extremely talented. The people love both of them".

Yet the political change under way must now be matched by a far more difficult social change, it adds.

The Zapatistas, it says, want to preserve the traditional way of life of the indigenous people, thus leaving themselves open to accusations of "social-revolutionary romanticism".

On the other hand, it says, Subcomandante Marcos reproaches President Fox for conducting a "neoliberal policy... which is only concerned with company profits and not true development".

Hungary and Russia

Following the recent unexplained postponement of the Russian prime minister's visit to Hungary, Budapest's Nepszabadsag concludes that Hungarian-Russian relations are "not good," and suggests a change in the Hungarian approach.

According to the paper, Hungary's "negative gestures" do not help to restore Russia's trust.

"We look at major Russian investors as money-laundering brokers and accuse their secret services of damaging our reputation through manipulating our Romany affairs", the paper says.

Hungary should understand that Russia sees "anti-Russian feelings" behind these gestures if they come from a former ally, it says.

"To understand that the Russians are sentimental and often romantic people in politics ... is one of the big lessons to be learnt by Hungarian policy," the paper concludes.

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