European press review

Today's European papers continue to reflect on the Italian election and its impact on the future for democracy in Europe.

The Middle East peace crisis is covered extensively, with calls for greater international pressure to ease the crisis.

But some papers also find time for a spat between Germany and Spain.

And for Tony Blair's secret weapon: Millbank Spice.

Irritant for the EU?

Austria's Der Standard says that following Silvio Berlusconi's victory in Sunday's election, the EU is now facing one of its most difficult problems ever.

The paper says the Italian media mogul's rise to power could place a serious burden on democracy in Europe.

"In Italy, a man has come to power who already controls almost half of the country's [media] market," it writes, adding that "such a blend of economic interests and political power has so far occurred only in Yugoslavia under Milosevic or in Russia".

"If this is tolerated within the EU, where are all our democratic principles?" it asks.

The paper casts doubt on Berlusconi's business activities and warns that "if the new leader in Rome fails to make a clear distinction between his economic interests and political obligations, it will spell the moral bankruptcy of the EU."

Berlin's Die Welt says Europe's right-wing parties are wrong to see the Berlusconi victory as the beginning of the end of what it describes as "the social democratic era, New Labour and the new centre".

The paper notes approvingly that the European left has failed to react to the event with what it calls "the shrill comments" that accompanied Joerg Haider's success in the Austrian elections.

It suspects this muted response may partly be a result of the fear that Mr Berlusconi's victory might be part of a general shift to the right in the Western world.

"The rejoicing of conservative, non-socialist parties is nevertheless premature," the paper warns, arguing that there is no simple line from Joerg Haider to Silvio Berlusconi via George W Bush.

International pressure

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says Israel's cautious response to the Mitchell Commission report bodes ill for the Middle East peace process.

For the paper, the commission was more interested in identifying a way out of the current crisis than in apportioning blame.

"The world," the paper says, "following the lead of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, has as a result been pleased by the balanced investigation".

It adds, however, that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is opposed to what the paper calls a "key demand" of the Mitchell report: a ban on further settlements.

"The chances of a new beginning in the peace process are therefore slim," the paper concludes, "unless the USA were to make it clear to Israel that it can't have its cake and eat it: Least of all the occupation and the construction of settlements in peace and security."

Writing in France's Liberation, Israeli novelist David Grossman agrees that international pressure may be needed to escape from the spiral of violence.

For him, "the glaring truth" is that there will never be peace as long as Israel makes talks conditional on the eradication of terrorism and the Palestinians refuse to put an end to violence while Israel's occupation continues.

He adds that, as a result, only a miracle or a catastrophe will change the situation.

"For those who don't believe in the first and fear the second," he argues, "the only realistic chance of saving Israel and the Palestinians from a mutual massacre lies in putting international pressure on them."

'Remarkable selfishness'

Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung says Spain's opposition to an initial delay in granting freedom of movement to workers from new EU member countries is partly motivated by selfishness. Berlin is concerned that Eastern Europeans will head for Germany in large numbers once their countries join the Union.

The paper suggests that the Spanish Government is using the issue "with considerable obstinacy" as a bargaining tool to maintain the level of EU grants it currently receives even after enlargement.

It suspects Spain's demands are the result of a feeling of marginalisation in Europe but also of what the paper calls "remarkable selfishness" on the part of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

But Aznar's harshest critics are at home, where El Pais says the Spanish prime minister is giving the country an "inopportune and sordid" image and "earning a reputation for intransigence: for making demands without being constructive".

ETA's bloody 'trade'

Most Spanish papers carry graphic front-page photos of Gorka Landaburu, a Basque journalist seriously injured by an ETA letter bomb on Tuesday. The headlines in ABC and El Mundo describe the injuries to his hands as "mutilation".

In an editorial headlined "An attack on freedom of expression", Diario 16 says: "Independent journalists must be supported by the Basque public because their presence in the Basque Country and the work they carry out are essential for building a peaceful future".

El Pais says: "Journalists and media organisations which refuse to accept that the violence is the corollary of a 'political conflict' have become a prime ETA target".

Landaburu had refused to practice "self-censorship" in his reporting on the Basque Country, according to the paper. That was why ETA sought to silence him, it said.

It says the attack shows that ETA is sticking to its "trade" despite Sunday's regional elections.

Millbank Spice

Tony Blair's bid to invigorate the British election campaign with a bit of "Girl Power" has certainly worked in France, where the leading daily Le Monde holds the front page for news that Geri Halliwell is stoking the New Labour "election campaign engine" by appearing in a party political broadcast.

"When it came to singing his praises and spicing up his first televised election slot, Blair would certainly have preferred to enrol 'the original Spice Girl, the first of us, the pioneer of our ideology', [quoting former colleague Ginger Spice]", the paper said.

"But the woman in question, Lady Thatcher, was not free", the daily explains.

Monetarist Spice was "too busy celebrating her friend Silvio Berlusconi's victory", it said. "The time of complements between the herald of New Labour and the still vigorous Iron Lady is past", it added.

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