European press review

The cancellation of an opera in Germany for fear of offending Muslims has outraged several European papers.

Two Scandinavian dailies meanwhile analyse the prospects for an enlarged 27-member EU.

'Operetta values'?

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung says a Berlin opera company's decision to cancel a Mozart production which was to feature the severed head of the Prophet Mohammad was driven by "fear of Islam".

The Deutsche Oper said staging Idomeneo would pose "incalculable" security risks.

"Artistic freedom is not being curbed out of consideration but out of fear," the paper says.

It warns that "fanaticism and terrorism win" if there is no room left for "nuanced arguments".

"This is not a deed done by terrorists, it is something enlightened but fearful people are doing to themselves," it says.

Just like the Mohammad crisis and the Pope crisis, the opera crisis is a litmus test of what democracy can do Berlingske Tidende

A headline in Austria's Die Presse denounces a "high point of self-censorship".

The paper observes that Kirsten Harms, the director of the Deutsche Oper, has been much criticised in recent days for her "crazy" decision to cancel the opera.

"What Ms Harms did is so absurd," it adds, that "even left-wing politicians, church officials who enthuse about dialogue and well-meaning multiculturalists" may have discovered the truth about "the so-called 'dialogue' between Islam and the West".

They may have come to realise, the paper continues, that this dialogue is "an intellectual game of blackmail" in which representatives of Islam tell the West "what may and what must not be written, performed or drawn".

Denmark's Berlingske Tidende considers the issue in an editorial headlined "German surrender at the opera".

"Europe should and must stand together against Islamist intimidation", it says.

If the integration of people from a different religious and cultural world such as Islam is to be more than a meaningless phrase, then we need dialogue Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"When a celebrated, state-financed European opera no longer dares to present a production because a specific scene contains references to Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammad, democratic values are reduced to operetta values, i.e. something which is only displayed on festive and jolly occasions," it goes on.

"But it would be much worse if the opera's decision creates a precedent in European countries. That simply cannot happen, because then Europe will no longer be Europe", the daily asserts.

"Just like the Mohammad crisis and the Pope crisis, the opera crisis is a litmus test of what democracy can do," it says.

Meanwhile, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praises a conference hosted by Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble aimed at helping integrate the country's Islamic community into German society.

"If the integration of people from a different religious and cultural world such as Islam is to be more than a meaningless phrase, then we need the dialogue which has now been started", the paper says.

It adds that it is unclear whether the end result will be a "German Islam" or a "Euro-Islam".

EU plus two

Two Scandinavian dailies consider the wider consequences of Romania and Bulgaria being given the green light to join the European Union.

Denmark's Kristeligt Dagblad says a 27-state EU is "a remarkable size", pointing out that there were only 15 members just three years ago.

The paper says Jose Manuel Barroso's statements about the Union's "limited absorption capacity" and a pause in enlargement "sound sinister to those candidate countries who now have to wait outside the door for an indefinite number of years, no matter how ready they may be for accession".

It is time for a new policy on Europe Expressen

"The enlargement pause will initially affect Croatia, which is the next country in the queue. But it will also be significant for the other candidate countries: Serbia, Turkey, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and - perhaps in the longer term - Ukraine, which is not yet formally a candidate country", it points out.

It warns of a great danger of alienating potential candidates if the "enlargement pause" becomes "indefinitely long".

Sweden's Expressen laments the lack of European debate in the country and says it is "time for a new policy on Europe".

"The Treaty of Nice is tailored to 27 members and the fate of the European Constitution is unknown, although there are intense efforts to produce a 'light' version in European capitals. But not in Stockholm", it says.

It points out that prime minister-elect Fredrik Reinfeldt does not think Sweden's parliament should ratify the EU Constitution.

"But what is wrong with the non-socialist majority in the Riksdag approving the EU Constitution this autumn? It would certainly be a symbolic gesture, but it would tell Europe that Sweden will be a driving force for the constitutional process moving forward", the daily states.

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