European press review

Europe's dailies give a qualified welcome to news that major drugs companies have decided to drop their legal action against the South African Government over its plans to import cheaper versions of patented drugs for Aids.

There is continuing concern over the situation in the Middle East.

The slowdown in the US economy is seen as ushering in a new phase of maturity.

And a Belgian decision to allow relatives of Rwandan genocide victims to bring a case against their alleged tormentors in Brussels is praised as "exemplary".

So who won?

There is a broad welcome in Europe's papers for the decision by major drug companies to drop their legal action against the South African Government over its plans for cheaper versions of Aids drugs.

In Paris, Liberation hails "A victory for the poor in the fight against Aids". Rome's Liberazione carries the front-page banner headline "Mandela conquers the giant". The Brussels daily La Libre Belgique takes the same line, speaking on its front page of a "Victory of David over Goliath".

But the welcome is tinged by scepticism about the true significance of the drug companies' move.

In its editorial, La Libre Belgique reflects that the real victors may be the drug companies themselves, in that they have got the South African Government to recognize their intellectual property rights, while burnishing their own image.

Germany's Berliner Zeitung says "no amount of PR could have rescued the pharmaceutical companies' image" if they had not backed down.

But it adds that the Aids epidemic in South Africa has long since reached catastrophic proportions.

"Although this represents a great victory over the companies' greed for profits, the victors are inconsequential in the face of the epidemic," the paper says.

Under the headline "No victory against Aids", Hamburg's Die Welt agrees that what it calls the "triumph of charity over the greedy pharmaceutical companies" is only symbolic.

"The victory cannot act as a brake on the unstoppable, terrifying spread of the epidemic," it says.

The paper blames the high incidence of Aids - one in nine South Africans are already infected by the virus - on the "ignorance of the government".

Instead of educating people about how to protect themselves against Aids, it says, the government has been "stubbornly playing down the threat and even exploits the misery of the sick as propaganda fanfare against the industrialized countries".

Vienna's Der Standard also advises against jubilation over the drugs companies' decision.

For the paper, what looks like a clear victory of good over evil is in reality what it calls "a difficult and controversial legal and economic issue".

The paper points out that private companies develop complex Aids therapies above all in order to make profits.

It argues that this is only possible if patent rights are guaranteed at least for a few years.

"This is why," the paper concludes, "we must hope that other countries won't follow the example of South Africa."

Intervention and indulgence

Geneva's Le Temps says that only an international force can bring an end to the violence in the Middle East, which it says "has not been so serious in 10 years".

But the paper says that America's "indulgence" towards Israel stands in the way of such a force.

"To stop the violence," it says, "the deployment of a buffer force is necessary."

The paper says that Europe is doing what it can to stop the violence, but that the key to a solution lies in Washington.

"The United States is still opposed," it says. "How long will Israel benefit from such indulgence?"

Budapest's Magyar Hirlap agrees that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement has rarely looked as distant as it does these days.

The paper says the tragedy is not just that "hundreds have died meaninglessly during the past seven months", but that the Palestinians could have had "virtually everything" from former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Baraq last year.

"But," the paper concludes, "neither side wants to be seen as weak. Both parties feel they must show determination - even at the price of death."

New economy matures

The left-wing Rome daily L'Unita says that the slowdown in the US economy which led to Thursday's interest rate cut is "not necessarily bad news".

It says the recent slide in high technology shares may indicate that "the 'new economy' is entering a phase of maturity".

"In the first place," the paper says, "the slowdown has burst the speculative bubble which formed during the past year."

It says investors now have to think more carefully before investing in high technology companies.

"In short, in the phase of maturity only companies which are sound technologically and financially should stay in business."

"Exemplary" justice

The leading French daily Le Monde welcomes as "exemplary" the Belgian government's decision to allow relatives of victims of the Rwandan genocide to bring a case against four Rwandan nationals in a Brussels court.

It says Belgium is giving "a good example" by allowing its courts to deal with crimes against humanity committed outside their jurisdiction, and draws parallels with cases in various parts of Europe against Bosnian Serbs and former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet.

"In this age of globalization," the paper adds, "it would be curious to allow national justice systems universal jurisdiction against international crime - financial crimes, for example - and to continue to protect the instigators and culprits of state violence."

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