With the creme de la creme of Europe's leaders gathered in the French Riviera for the summit marking the end of France's presidency of the European Union, Thursday's papers seem to have fallen foul of a nasty bout of Nice fever and talk of little else. A fiasco in Nice would delay the process of enlargement by several years, cause a loss of international confidence, and have inevitable effects on the euro.
Most French headlines strike a sceptical note.
Some Europeans blame what they perceive as France's indecisive presidency as a result of the forced 'cohabitation' between a right-wing president and a socialist prime minister. This assumption is also taken up by the left-wing Liberation , which points out that President Chirac and Prime Minister Jospin are both cautious on European issues while professing strong European views. The Italian Il Sole 24 Ore ponders the warning from American Defence Secretary William Cohen that Nato risks becoming a relic of history if the planned European rapid reaction force means that the Union is going its own military way. The Slovak Pravda thinks it likely that the summit may bring to a head differences within Nato over the European Defence and Security Policy, the Esdp. More importantly, America's decision to voice them just hours before the summit was due to open can only be perceived as an attempt to exert pressure on the European Union.