European press review

Tuesday's European papers contemplate another day of disruption in France over its new labour law.

In Turkey, the latest spate of violence threatens to cast a pall over the country's European aspirations.

Victory parade?

In France, trade unions and student organisations are taking to the streets again today in another show of mass opposition to the youth labour law known in France as the CPE.

Le Monde points out that in this nine-week protest campaign, "the unions have already beaten their endurance record".

The challenge will be to keep up the momentum, the paper says.

"With each new day, the unions... must do better than the previous one," it says, "as any let-up in the pressure will immediately be perceived as a sign of running out of steam".

Liberation says today's turnout will help determine whether politicians will abandon the controversial law, as Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy would reportedly like to do, or whether they will amend the law in line with President Jacques Chirac's call.

The demonstrators themselves, meanwhile, will not know whether to treat the rallies as "a march into battle or a victory parade," the paper's editorial says.

This bewildering political episode only highlights Jacques Chirac's weakness Le Monde

It argues that "the success of the anti-CPE movement should not be perceived as a revolt against the reform" itself, but against the method of reforming.

By not consulting more widely earlier, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has given "a textbook case of how not to conduct reforms in a country like France," the paper concludes.

'Confusion'

In another comment, Le Monde sees the development as a symptom of a deeper national malaise.

The paper describes the current political situation in France as "total confusion".

"We are witnessing a transfer of power - never before seen in the Fifth Republic - from the government to the ruling party, and from Mr de Villepin to Mr Sarkozy."

"One year away from the presidential election," the paper says, "this bewildering political episode only highlights Jacques Chirac's weakness".

While he is, according to his constitutional powers, "the more powerful politician", Mr Chirac has been "buffeted by the rivalries of his assumed successors," the paper argues.

"What a catastrophic end to his reign!" it concludes.

Turkish unrest

A week of clashes between police and Kurdish demonstrators in south-eastern Turkey and Istanbul prompts worries in Austria that the country's move towards Europeanization could be jeopardised.

"The easing of tensions achieved in the last few years between the Kurds and the Turkish state is evaporating with each day that incendiary devices are thrown," Vienna's Der Standard says.

Noting that bombings by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) over the weekend left four people dead in Istanbul, the paper warns that if the violence continues, the government will have to allow the security forces to take harsher measures.

"The PKK is in the process of dragging Turkey back into the 1990s," it says, "and this will undermine the delicate reforms which the Erdogan government introduced for the Kurds."

The paper argues that not enough is being done to tackle the "economic and social misery" in the south-east.

"The Kurds, who were still placing their hopes in the PKK three years ago, are disappointed and thus all the easier to radicalise," it warns.

The wretched social situation ... is certainly the main reason for the present unrest Die Tageszeitung

Germany's Die Tageszeitung acknowledges that successive Turkish governments have introduced a reform process which includes recognition of certain human rights, but "these small steps bear no relation to the expectations of the Kurds," it says.

As long as 4,000-5,000 exiled PKK militants sit around in the mountains of North Iraq, the paper adds, "they may not win a war against the Turkish army, but they can prevent a peaceful development".

The paper agrees that poverty and under-development in eastern Turkey remain the "most difficult problem to overcome".

"The wretched social situation, above all of young people, is certainly the main reason for the present unrest," the paper says. Speedy solutions cannot be expected, the paper argues, and "more clashes are on the cards".

EU aid to Palestinians

With the EU likely to decide soon whether to cut off aid to the new Hamas-led Palestinian government, Austria's Die Presse finds it unfortunate that the new Palestinian foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar, "simply says what he thinks" in very undiplomatic language.

"He says he dreams of a map of the world without Israel," the paper points out, "and one could hardly have made a clearer call for the destruction of Israel - while at the same time giving the EU a slap in the face".

It appears to be a "matter of supreme indifference" to Mr Zahar that the EU has made the continuation of its financial aid to the Palestinian authorities conditional on the Hamas government recognising Israel's right to exist, the paper comments.

The EU has no choice but to cut off aid if it does not want to make a fool of itself, it warns.

"How much more clearly does Hamas have to demonstrate that it will remain on a radical course?" the paper says. "The EU is once again fearful of its own courage and allows itself to be taken hostage by Hamas instead of exerting pressure on it."

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