European press review

European papers say the Iraq crisis has split Europe on a number of issues while a Russian daily predicts swing in support of a military action. And US Defence Secretary Rumsfeld comes under fire in Germany.

France's Le Monde says Wednesday's statement issued by 10 central and eastern European countries backing America's stand on Iraq is yet another sign that "the Iraq crisis continues to cause division in Europe".

"The statement shows that the continent's eastern nations are more attached to America than to the European Union," it says.

The paper recalls that a similar declaration published last week by the leaders of another eight European countries called on Europe "to rally behind the American flag".

The European Commission "has so far chosen to play down the scale of the differences and not to demand that everyone plays by the rules", it says. But "privately its leading members make no secret of their discouragement over these initiatives", it adds.

Facing isolation

In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says the Franco-German partnership or "the European engine" is to blame for precipitating the split.

If Chirac caves in to US pressure, as it seems possible, Schroeder will stand alone in a hostile Europe

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

With their rejection of military action against Iraq without a further UN resolution "Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and, to a lesser extent, his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, have forced European Union countries to pledge allegiance either to Washington or to Brussels," the paper says.

It worries that a shift in the French policy will inevitably spell troubles for the German chancellor.

"If Chirac caves in to US pressure, as it seems possible, Schroeder will stand alone in a hostile Europe." On the other hand, "a retreat from his antiwar position... could cost him the chancellery on a vote of no-confidence".

In Spain, another European leader is criticised for his stand on Iraq.

Barcelona's Avui says Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the US policy makes him, too, look increasingly isolated.

Of all the Spanish state institutions, only the prime minister "advocates... unconditional support for the intervention against Saddam being prepared by the Bush administration", the paper says.

More disagreements

After France, Germany and Belgium were told on Thursday that they have until Monday to decide if they want to continue blocking the deployment of Nato equipment to Turkey, the International Herald Tribune quotes Nato Secretary General George Robertson as confirming that "there is continuing disagreement" within the alliance on the issue.

"Lord Robertson has set in motion a special procedure that would require the three countries to state their objections publicly in order for the assistance package to be blocked," the paper explains.

[The European Union] can only function in unity and not if it turned against itself

La Razon

Ankara, it recalls, asked for its Nato allies' assistance last month "in light of the threat of a war in Iraq".

"There are great differences between the European Union and Nato", says the Spanish daily La Razon, "but both organisations reflect... the internal split which the Iraq crisis has caused on this side of the Atlantic".

The European Union, the paper warns, "can only function in unity and not if it turned against itself".

Name-calling

American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday likened Germany to Libya and Cuba because of its opposition to a war against Iraq.

The German Die Welt believes that Mr Rumsfeld "is obviously engaged in a deliberate strategy of insulting Germany".

Which means, it points out, that "at present, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has no better ally" than the American secretary for defence.

The paper concedes that the name-calling started during what it calls Mr Schroeder's "unspeakable election campaign", when President Bush was compared both to the Roman Emperor Augustus and to Adolf Hitler.

But now Mr Rumsfeld's latest "bon mot" has come to the aid of the chancellor, it points out, because "it has ruined the strong impression caused by Colin Powell's address to the UN Security Council". And "it is of little help to point out that it was Germany that started the insult-throwing," the paper adds.

Russian swing

Several Russian dailies express their doubts about the impact of the Powell report.

Washington had expected Mr Powell's report to be "a bombshell". "This did not happen, perhaps because many Security Council members were in sceptical mood," the Trud daily says.

Russia might declare itself persuaded of Saddam's perfidy by Mr Powell's presentation

Nezavisimaya Gazeta

The Rossiyskaya Gazeta believes that "the US report would have been invaluable if Saddam really had been caught out, and if the international inspectors working in Iraq... had caught the Iraqis red-handed. But the sensational information bomb failed to go off in New York."

The daily Gazeta adds: "The reactions have shown that this historic speech changed nothing in the disposition of forces on the eve of a possible war. The supporters of a peaceful dialogue with Iraq continue to want peace, the doubters still doubt, and those who thirst for war still insist on an invasion of Iraq."

But the Nezavisimaya Gazeta predicts that in the next few days: "We shall be able to speak of adjustments to the positions of states opposing a military operation."

"Russia might declare itself persuaded of Saddam's perfidy" by Mr Powell's presentation, it says.

In that event "and since Saddam does not want to comply, there will be no way out: it will be necessary, if not to vote in favour, then at least to abstain", the paper says.

Such a formula would allow "the rapidly diminishing number of 'dissidents' to save face", and then "a green light will be given to America's plans to curb Saddam".

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