European press review

The sad discovery of a letter written by a sailor on the ill-fated Russian nuclear submarine Kursk prompts attacks on the Russian Government. Germany ponders the "temporary" weakness of the euro, while the French look enviously at the power of the UK military.

The Kursk: Could anyone have been saved?

The Kursk affair and the revelation in a despairing letter by one of the doomed crew that 23 sailors survived the initial explosion is addressed by many of the continent's newspapers.

The front page of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune carries the emotive headline "On Kursk: 'None of us can get to the surface'". It quotes Russian officials as saying that hours after the Kursk sank in the Barents Sea in August, a naval officer penned the message that 23 crew members were still alive in one compartment, with no hope of escape.

There is little reason to hope that Russia's leadership will finally learn to put its citizens first

Frankfurter Rundschau

"The fury returns" is the title of a commentary in the Frankfurter Rundschau. The paper says the disaster and its aftermath show how little Russia's leadership has learnt. The paper recalls that the Russian Government refused to appeal for help, then claimed that the accident resulted from a collision with a Western submarine, and then that no-one had survived the initial explosion.

"Two-and-a-half months after the sinking of the Kursk and six months after the election of a new president, there is little reason to hope that Russia's leadership will finally learn to put its citizens first instead of its own desire to stay in power," the paper concludes.

Berlin's Die Welt agrees. In a commentary entitled "The dead souls of the Kursk," it says the last letter of a lieutenant has exposed the lies of the Russian Government.

"Could the survivors of the explosion have been saved if President Putin had immediately asked for outside help, instead of waiting for five days?" the paper asks.

The euro and the dollar

The continued weakness of the euro is considered by many of the continent's newspapers.

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau says in a commentary entitled "The changeling instead of the wunderkind" that the euro's travails have been caused by a vastly overvalued dollar and have been blown out of all proportion by griping and bellyaching.

It admits that the euro's weakness means there is a danger of importing inflation and that European tourists are having to dig deep in their pockets when travelling aboard. But the paper says the dollar's strength is temporary and misleading.

"The Greenback's power has much to do with high American growth rates, the buying-up of American businesses by the Europeans and the huge rises on Wall Street," the paper says. "If this flow of capital triumphs and the growth trend is reversed, then we will see the bellyachers complain about something different: a euro that is too strong," the paper believes.

Mad Cow Disease

"Beef strikes back" is the title of a commentary in Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung on the results of the inquiry into the mad cow affair in the UK and its possible effects on the Conservative Party's chances of returning to power.

"At least 77 are dead and the British beef industry has been destroyed. With as many skeletons in the closet as the Tories have, it will be difficult for them to present themselves to the electorate as a fresh and attractive alternative to Labour," the paper says.

Who will lead the European military - France or Britain?

"French soldiers are envious of the Brits", an editorial in the daily Le Monde reveals. Why? Because of today's - and above all, tomorrow's - supremacy of the UK forces over the French, the paper states. It explains that the French chiefs of staff have "set off the alarm bell" about the risks, "according to them, of letting the UK lead a military coalition on behalf of Europe".

On either side of the Channel, the rivalry between the two armies appears more and more obvious every day

Le Monde

These declarations about the British army's good state of health, the paper notes, "back up President Jacques Chirac's remark in February 1996 when, while announcing his plan for the professionalisation of the French army, he took the British military organisation as the example to follow". Less than five years later, the French chiefs of staff are saying that "this objective is far from being reached and that the gap can only widen" without the necessary funds being allocated.

"We are thus witnessing a silent but real competition between the European countries to equip their armies with the capacity to contribute to a common force," the paper says. In this respect, "on either side of the Channel, the rivalry between the two armies appears more and more obvious every day".

Kostunica's visit to Russia

The Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag looks ahead to the visit to Moscow by Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica. "Do you like the Russians?", it asks ironically.

The newspaper says Mr Kostunica is not really drawn there by true respect - especially if Russia's "pathetic" role in the recent Yugoslav changes is taken into account.

Moscow had profited from its role in persuading Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia to make compromises and then being rewarded by the West, and that is why it waited so long before recognising Mr Kostunica as Yugoslavia's president, Nepszabadsag recalls. "Yugoslavia's new leaders were not impressed by this final act of constraint," it adds.

There is one area in which Mr Kostunica requires Mr Putin's help and goodwill, however. Winter is approaching and there are constant energy shortages in Yugoslavia. "The new regime in Belgrade must make preparations not only for a democratic transformation but for winter," Nepszabadsag concludes.

Bill Clinton: The best man for the job?

The French weekly L'Express casts a cynical eye on the US presidential campaign. "If only Bill was a candidate," it says, this campaign would certainly be less "boring" and "awkward".

Though Bill Clinton cannot run for a third term, he is "present in every mind and strategy," the paper states. The current president will remain, for a very long time, "the master and the artist of US policy, its instigator and its reference," whoever his successor may be - "Al Gore, his clumsy alter ego, or George W Bush, his reversed picture".

Why such a contribution to posterity? the paper wonders. The answer lies in the US prosperity and its "incontestable status of superpower," the paper explains. But it is also because Mr Clinton "was a great politician, even if the flesh is weak, and a good president, although a bad husband". The man was also "very efficient, though a bit ridiculous". But "in the end, ridicule never killed anyone, and now we are aware of that, thanks to him," the paper concludes.

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