European press review
The ruling by the European Court of Justice that
EU finance ministers were wrong to let France and Germany off the hook for
violating budget rules takes centre-stage in several European papers.
The French daily Le Monde believes the European
Commission has emerged stronger as a result and is now the acknowledged guardian
of treaties such as the stability pact.
"The ball is now in the court of the Commission,"
it says.
"The decision means that the stability pact is
not a political instrument to be moulded by finance ministers, as the French
have asserted for years."
If the EU is not to burst at the seams, it needs a strong centre in Brussels
Berliner Zeitung
If the EU is not to burst at the seams, it needs a strong centre in Brussels
Berliner Zeitung
"On the contrary it fixes a binding legal
framework from which member states cannot free themselves... they can no longer
do as they please".
Le Figaro agrees that the decision will bring new
life into the stability pact, which "had been lying in intensive care for
months".
But in Germany, Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel has
some words of warning for the Commission.
"If it is wise, it will not use the verdict to
force a conflict with the deficit offenders."
A new Commission comes into being in the autumn
which will have to "find a new way of dealing with the member-states' finance
ministers with the aim of serving the stability pact," the paper says.
All are now equal
The Berliner Zeitung stresses the importance of a
strengthened Commission in the light of the recent EU expansion.
"If the EU is not to burst at the seams, it needs
a strong centre in Brussels," the paper says.
The Czech Republic's Hospodarske Noviny agrees.
"At a time when 15 changed into 25, the Orwellian
impression that all are equal but some are more equal than others would be the
worst possible starting point.
"And not only for the country's whose peoples
left behind the world of Big Brother only recently."
Madrid inquiry
As Spain's parliamentary commission into the
Madrid train attacks enters its second week, the country's El Pais welcomes the
fact that the first "ray of light" has emerged from inquiry.
"The theory that the government of former Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar had a number of warnings about the danger... " has
emerged more strongly from the hearings, it says.
But it feels Spanish people are confused about
the purpose of the inquiry.
"What's it about? Saving the image of the
previous government, smearing the victory of the Socialist Workers' Party or
rather that massacres such as the one in Madrid should not be repeated?", it
asks.
"Above all, it's about reaching solid conclusions
which will allow the country to be defended against international terrorism", it
responds.
Long haul
The mounting crisis over Georgia's breakaway
region of South Ossetia continues to concern the Russian press.
The standoff here can end in a war
Novyye Izvestiya
The standoff here can end in a war
Novyye Izvestiya
Business daily Vedomosti holds out little hope
that the conflict can be resolved any time soon.
"Russia has no motives to change its current
status quo, while Georgia is practically powerless to change anything there."
"Georgia must stop sabre-rattling and begin
building its relations with Russia in such a way that it will stop wanting a
weak Georgia" if any progress is to be made, the paper says.
The daily Novyye Izvestiya is equally
pessimistic. "I cannot see any good scenarios for South Ossetia," writes a
political analyst.
"The standoff here can end in a war. Or in a
situation when there is neither peace nor war. And this can last a long time."
The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions
of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3892151.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3892151.stm
Published: 2004/07/14 03:51:57 GMT
© BBC MMIV
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/2/hi/europe/3892151.stm
Several papers ponder the future of the European Commission after the European Court quashes a decision to suspend sanctions against Germany and France.
