European press review
Tuesday's German papers view opposition to
Chancellor Schroeder's attempt to reform the country's welfare
system.
The main topic in the Czech republic is the start
of a four-year jail sentence by a former communist official for his role in the
1968 Soviet occupation.
In France, holidaying cabinet ministers have
heeded President Chirac's instructions not to go too far for too long, but
apparently to no avail, and the EU's military arm shows its mettle in
Afghanistan.
German welfare reforms
German papers note Monday's demonstrations
against Chancellor Schroeder's welfare reforms, echoing the "Monday
demonstrations" of 15 years ago in the former German Democratic Republic in the
run-up to the collapse of the communist regime.
The Berliner Zeitung believes that officials who
reject comparisons between 1989 and the present fail to take into account what
the paper calls "the aggressive social mood engendered by
disappointment".
"Politicians," the paper says, "have not told
their fellow-citizens the truth in a comprehensible, timely and honest fashion."
According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the
"resentment-laden" demonstrations "have little to do with the realities of the
country and its problems".
"There is astonishingly little talk", the paper
argues, "of the 900,000 social welfare recipients... who live in meagre
circumstances and whose situation will improve with the new law."
"But we hear a lot about the fear of decline of
the middle class, which now sees just how threatened its prosperity is," it
adds.
Former communist behind Czech bars
All the major Czech dailies comment on the case
of 80-year-old Karel Hoffmann, the former senior communist official and director
of state telecommunications, who has started a four-year jail sentence for his
role in the Soviet Union's occupation of what was then Czechoslovakia in August
1968.
A commentary in Pravo expresses mixed feelings.
The paper points out that Hoffmann's behaviour in preventing the country's
leaders from broadcasting a statement denouncing the occupation, was "a targeted
act of sabotage".
It takes moral unscrupulousness to describe Hoffmann's behaviour on 21 August 1968 as 'a breach of the telecommunications law'
It takes moral unscrupulousness to describe Hoffmann's behaviour on 21 August 1968 as 'a breach of the telecommunications law'
Hospodarske Noviny
On the other hand, it says, a sick octogenarian
does not belong in jail.
So the mooted pardon from President Vaclav Klaus,
the paper stresses, "should be on the grounds of advanced age and poor health",
and not because "all he did, after all, was break the telecommunications
law".
Hospodarske Noviny finds Mr Klaus's reported
intentions "beyond comprehension".
"It takes moral unscrupulousness," the paper
says, "to describe Hoffmann's behaviour on the night of 21 August 1968 to those
who well remember what happened afterwards, as 'a breach of the
telecommunications law'."
Mlada Fronta Dnes says Hoffmann's case "provokes
compassion rather than hatred" and finds it understandable that President Vaclav
Klaus should be considering a pardon.
What is worse, in the paper's opinion, is that
the communists who support Hoffmann have not abandoned the stance which "brought
humiliation to the country", and that opinion polls show some 20% of the
population in agreement with them.
French leave
Following the public and media outcry during
France's 2003 heatwave, when elderly people were dying in Paris in their
thousands with hardly a member of the government to be found, the French Le
Figaro notes that President Chirac's instructions to his ministers to have
"short and studious" summer breaks, and never be more than two hours away from
Paris, have been "obeyed".
This year, the paper says, "as soon as a local
disaster has occurred, or concerns have been expressed, the minister in charge
has never failed to turn up".
Poor ministers - mid-August is almost upon us and they haven't the slightest heatwave to get their teeth into
Poor ministers - mid-August is almost upon us and they haven't the slightest heatwave to get their teeth into
Liberation
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin set the
example, it points out, by interrupting his summer break in Haute-Savoie to
visit a horse-riding school after a fire in which eight people
died.
Paris's Liberation says that having been
instructed by President Chirac to "look concerned every time a tourist is stung
by a mosquito", all cabinet ministers had "learned their roles and prepared
their responses", but the summer "is proving deadly" for their ambitions because
nothing much is happening.
The paper takes some heavily ironic pity on the dutiful government.
The paper takes some heavily ironic pity on the dutiful government.
"Poor ministers," it says. "Mid-August is almost
upon us and they haven't the slightest heatwave to get their teeth
into."
Eurocorps' Afghan mission
A French-led Eurocorps military force made up of
troops from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain assumed command of
the Nato-led international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, Isaf, on Monday.
The German Der Tagesspiegel observes that the
differences between Iraq and Afghanistan are not, as the paper puts it, "quite
as big as they are being portrayed, rather hopefully, in
Europe".
Three years after the toppling of the Taleban, the rule of the gun continues to prevail
Three years after the toppling of the Taleban, the rule of the gun continues to prevail
El Pais
With a force of "only 7,000 troops covering an
area twice as large as Germany", the paper wonders whether Isaf can fulfil its
two main objectives of providing security for the October presidential election
and secure long-term stability without, it warns, "getting into a fight with the
troublemakers".
"Three years after the toppling of the Taleban,"
says Spain's El Pais, "the rule of the gun continues to prevail" in the
"hornets-nest" of Afghanistan.
However the paper is impressed by what it calls
"the unexpected image of political mobilisation" being projected by the country
in the run-up to the October presidential election, with 20 candidates entering
the race and some 90% of eligible voters already registered.
"The long-suffering Afghans," the paper says,
"have every right to expect their international mentors not to let them down."
But it reminds its readers that this will be the
first ever presidential election in a country where, with the exception of Kabul
and its outskirts, "the rule of law is nowhere to be seen".
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/3550544.stm
Tuesday's press views German welfare reforms, a jailed Czech communist, and Europe on military duty in Afghanistan
