European press review
Many hail the successful outcome of a World Trade
Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva, but not all are convinced it will lead to
fairer trade.
The German chancellor's speech at the
commemoration of the Warsaw uprising receives lukewarm responses and Czech
papers worry about the effect of an explosion in Prague on tourism.
WTO accord
The new global trade framework agreed on at the
Geneva WTO meeting provides "eloquent proof" that globalization is not just
another means of domination by larger countries, says Spain's El
Pais.
The paper also believes the deal struck in Geneva
has averted a disaster.
The agreement will mean higher added value for all concerned.
The agreement will mean higher added value for all concerned.
Die Presse
Any failure in negotiations would have seriously
threatened the growth of "an already unbalanced world economy", it says.
Austria's Die Presse also welcomes the agreement,
which it believes will mean "higher added value for all concerned".
In fact, it goes on to argue that the trade deal
could be regarded as the "crowning glory" of the EU's outgoing agriculture
commissioner, Austria's very own Franz Fischler.
And Switzerland's Le Temps believes that the
meeting has set a new direction for world trade, namely one in which developed
nations will have to open their markets to farm produce, the main asset of
developing countries.
"Non-binding promises"
But not all commentators are as optimistic about
the agreed trade framework.
In Germany, Die Tageszeitung complains that the
agreement is "vague" and biased in favour of industrialised
nations.
The poorest countries are quite simply vulnerable to blackmail.
The poorest countries are quite simply vulnerable to blackmail.
Die Tageszeitung
The paper argues that the poorest countries will
still find it hard to negotiate a final deal in line with their interests, as
they are "quite simply vulnerable to blackmail, for example when threatened with
the withdrawal of food aid".
It also believes that while developing countries
have made concessions over opening their markets, they obtained no more than
"non-binding promises without concrete deadlines" in return.
These countries would only have enough power to
assert their interests if they stopped allowing themselves to be divided, Die
Tageszeitung says, adding, however, that they would also first have to be able
to afford such firm principles.
Political implications
Switzerland's Tribune De Geneve would seem to
agree, noting that "nothing was agreed in Geneva that cannot be reversed".
But the paper is more interested in the meeting's
political implications, and highlights the fact that developing and
industrialised countries managed to overcome what it calls their "visceral
antagonisms" to engage in "proper discussion".
"For the first time, two southern giants, Brazil
and India, were so closely involved in the negotiations that they aroused the
jealousy of some of the northern countries," it says.
Warsaw uprising
In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's visit
to Poland to attend the country's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the
Warsaw uprising against Nazi occupation was noted with lukewarm
approval.
"Expectations of a visitor have rarely been as
high," says the Frankfurter Rundschau, which believes the chancellor fulfilled
his task "in an appropriate manner".
Die Welt agrees that the chancellor "found the
right words", but argues that his speech lacked "warmth".
But then, it adds, it would have been unrealistic
to expect this from Chancellor Schroeder, because "symbolic politics is not his
thing".
The paper is more concerned about Berlin's
seeming lack of ideas for closer cooperation with Poland, and says "a
future-oriented impetus" in the chancellor's speech would have been good for the
damaged German-Polish relations.
Prague blast
Finally, in the Czech Republic, Hospodarske
Noviny worries that the explosion of a grenade in a busy Prague street will
affect the country's image around the world.
Although the authorities believe the blast to
have been a gangland-related incident, "whenever there is an explosion we
automatically react by thinking about terrorism", the paper
says.
A reputation for violence can mean economic death for tourist destinations
A reputation for violence can mean economic death for tourist destinations
Pravo
"So the world will now for some time look at the
Czech Republic as a place where a bomb has gone off," it laments.
Pravo also worries about the far-reaching effects
of the explosion.
Prime Minister Stanislav Gross's implication that
the blast was "merely" a criminal act may have been an attempt not to scare off
foreign tourists, "whose money the country needs", but it was not really
reassuring, the paper says.
"A reputation for violence can mean economic
death for tourist destinations, and those in fear for their lives do not much
care whose hand detonates a charge or throws a grenade."
The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.
The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/2/hi/europe/3526830.stm
Many hail the outcome of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva, but not all are convinced it will lead to fairer trade
