European press review

German newspapers are focused on coalition formation talks due today between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his conservative rival Angela Merkel.

In France and Romania, papers wonder whether the EU was blackmailed by Austria into starting accession talks with Croatia in return for Vienna softening its position on Turkey.

And Russian papers appraise Vladimir Putin's visit to London.

German deadlock

In Germany - where no agreement has been reached on the formation of a government nearly three weeks after the country's inconclusive elections - papers review the state of coalition talks ahead of a meeting today between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and opposition leader Angela Merkel.

Under the headline "It's high time", the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warns that citizens are losing patience with the slow progress of the talks.

The chancellor comes from the stronger partner in a coalition Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"For five months this country has not been governed, merely administrated," it says.

The chancellor's Social Democrats, who have slightly fewer seats than the Christian Union alliance in the new parliament, now need to face up to "current rules", the paper argues.

"The rule is that the chancellor comes from the stronger partner in a coalition and that this partner also decides who should be nominated for this office."

The FAZ's sense of urgency is lost on the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The paper argues that it is "known - and no reason for panic" - that coalition talks can take a long time.

It denies that there is any rule which states that the chancellor has to be nominated by the strongest parliamentary group.

"This is nonsense and contrary to the constitution and the law," it says, pointing out that it is for parliament to elect the chancellor in a secret ballot.

Whether Schroeder or Merkel become chancellor is of secondary importance Berliner Zeitung

The paper believes that the potential coalition partners should discuss policies first and move on to the question of the chancellorship later.

"As important as the leading candidates may be, people did not vote for a chancellor on 18 September," it believes.

The Berliner Zeitung also plays down the import of the chancellorship.

"Whether Gerhard Schroeder or Angela Merkel become chancellor in Germany is, with respect, of secondary importance."

According to the paper, the real issue is the policies which a grand coalition would pursue.

The Frankfurter Rundschau goes further by suggesting that it may be best for both Mr Schroeder and Ms Merkel to take a backstage role in a coalition which would be designed to last no more than one parliamentary term.

"For a coalition whose partners must work towards the prospect of a change in government long before the next election," it reasons, "a cabinet made up of politicians focused on practical issues could provide a more stable model."

Austrian blackmail?

As the EU begins accession talks with Croatia, France's Le Monde wonders whether the political price that had to be paid was too high.

The paper reminds its readers that Austria, which has traditionally protected its Catholic southern neighbour, had made the start of talks with Zagreb the pre-condition for its agreeing to the start of accession talks with that other aspiring EU member, Turkey.

"By giving in to what can only be called blackmail," it says, "the EU leaders have deprived themselves of a weapon which has been used effectively so far to oblige candidate countries to conform to a number of principles."

Once the Croatian precedent was set, the EU sent a disastrous message to countries in the Balkans sheltering war criminals Romania Libera

Recalling that the EU had originally insisted on Zagreb handing over its alleged war criminals to The Hague tribunal before EU membership talks with it could begin, the paper concludes with a warning.

"If... the conditions laid down for Croatia are not treated seriously, it will not be possible in future to use the Serbs' unwillingness to hand over their war criminals - such as the former Bosnian Serb political and military leaders, Radovan Karadzic and General Mladic - in order to keep them waiting on Europe's doorstep," the paper writes.

Romania's Romania Libera fears that giving the green light to Croatia's EU accession talks suggests to other Balkan countries being pressed by the EU to extradite alleged war criminals that they, too, are finally off the hook.

"Once the Croatian precedent was set, the EU sent a disastrous message to Serbia, Bosnia and other countries in the Balkans which are sheltering war criminals, namely that they should not assume their responsibility for the crimes of the past any more, as Croatia does not."

"Reconciliation in the Balkans is threatened," it believes.

"Considering the problems it has, Turkey's EU accession is a matter of decades... Everybody knew that. What they did not know is that one of the EU members, Austria, was willing to throw European principles overboard only to introduce a former imperial subject through the EU's back door."

Mr Putin's visit appraised

A day after Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who also currently holds the EU presidency, Moscow's papers assess what Mr Putin achieved.

A Nezavisimaya Gazeta commentary gushes about the red carpet treatment given to Mr Putin by Mr Blair: "Blair showed his friend Vladimir something no foreigner had seen before, including US President George Bush."

The Kremlin's achieved its aim of strengthening relations with Blair Nezavisimaya Gazeta

"In London, the Russian president visited the holy of holies of the British security services - the Cobra crisis centre in a top-secret complex under Whitehall."

This, it believes, shows that "the Kremlin has achieved its aim of strengthening relations with Blair, whose position is now the strongest among European leaders".

A Trud article, however, sarcastically notes that Britain's decision to shelter Russia's "new political emigres" such as Chechen rebel spokesman Akhmed Zakayev - termed a terrorist by Moscow - and self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky has ensured that Russia's relations with the UK are as "thorny" as its ties with the EU.

But a Rossiyskaya Gazeta commentary is optimistic that London's position may be moving closer to Moscow's.

According to it, "sources in the Russian delegation say that after the tragic events in London in July, British officials are taking a different view on this issue".

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