Palaver

Eva Dadrian and Habibou Hamadou Maiga scan the Francophone papers

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Protesters display anti-WTO placards during a demonstration in Jakarta

The compromise arrived at in Brussels over the new European Union budget this week drew mixed reactions in the French press. Titling his column "Europe changes the cap", Jean-Claude Kieffer in the French daily Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace said that the European Council finding an agreement on the financial prospects between 2007-2013 seems miraculous.

He explained: "the satisfaction prevails because the Summit of Brussels marks a turning point in the form of a psychological shock which got the European Union out of the torpor after the French and Dutch non to the Constitution, followed by the crisis of June."

The writer added: "Two taboos were shaken: the British 'reduction' and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for France."

In a front-page article titled "Chirac in search of German support", Alain Barluet of Le Figaro wrote: "the Chirac-Blair confrontation which, as in June, dominated the summit, is also a confrontation between two visions of European construction. Chirac defends the European social model and a powerful Europe, and Blair defends a vast free trade area à la Anglo-Saxon." He explained that "in this context, Jacques Chirac has great need for the support of Angela Merkel, who seems to have a greater proximity with Tony Blair."

Barluet added: "This summit tested the solidity of the Franco-German couple." The summit showed that Chirac "did not lose the hand on the European scene, which remains his reserved domain".

Under the headline "Europe rebounds" a Le Monde editorial evaluated Blair's presidency: "For Tony Blair, it was a question of saving a presidency which had started in brass band with great projects of economic and social modernisation of the European Union and which threatened to finish on an assessment almost null.

"The only significant decision of the British presidency was the opening of the negotiations over Turkey's membership in the EU. The new members, entered on 1 May, 2004, wanted to save the assistances intended to allow them to make up for their lost time on the 'old Europe'."

Sud-Ouest highlighted the role of Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, in finding the compromise, saluting "the success of [her] arrival on the European scene" and adding that "she saved Europe from a black year."

On a different note, Morocco's Equity and Reconciliation Committee (IER) published a summary of its report. Le Matin, in its 17 December 2005 issue writes that the IER gave particular attention to the sufferings of "women victims of gross human rights abuses", and to "particular communities and regions, which are believed to have suffered from the after effects of crises of political violence and the resulting violations".

Le Matin (17 December 2005) reported the results of the IER commission on the deaths and disappearances between 1956 and 1999: "The 322 people who were assumed to have disappeared have in fact died during the urban disturbances of 1965, 1981, 1984 and 1990, as a result of disproportionate use of public force."

The Moroccan Association of Human Rights disputes these figures and says that 1,500 people were killed during the protests of 21 March 1965, and 500 to 1,000 people died in the protests of 1981. The group said the report failed to mention that the graves of 85 people, who had been detained in secret prisons, were also identified.

Although North African states were concerned with the WTO Hong Kong negotiations, only the Moroccan media covered the conference. A Le Matin article published on 13 December remarked on the 2013 deadline agreed upon in the conference for richer countries to end their subsidies to farmers.

"In return the Europeans have obtained restrictions on the other forms of assistance to the export of agriculture products. This concerns mainly the credits granted to exportation and food aid in the US," the article noted.