European Press: The big story of the week in EU affairs was undoubtedly the decision of the Commission, on Tuesday, to bring the European Council to court over its blocking, last November, of sanctions against France and Germany for breaching the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact.
"The spectacle of the Commission and EU member states fighting in court over a central plank of economic policy is a symptom of growing mistrust and ill-feeling at the heart of Europe," wrote the Financial Times.
A number of senior Commissioners, including those from Britain and France, the FT reported, warned that the court challenge would only heighten tensions following the collapse of last month's talks on a new EU constitution.
The president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, was also critical of the legal challenge, Vienna's Der Standard reported. Legal steps would not get the Union anywhere, he argued. The proper course rather was to reform the pact: "The stability pact must function better in good times so that there is more flexibility on a rainy day."
For others, however a point of principal was at stake, namely could certain states, and in particular the most powerful ones, simply ignore a decision arrived at collectively when it did not suit them? Only the European Court of Justice could clarify this.
"The majority of Commissioners think there is no other choice but to go before the court to preserve the credibility of their institution and avoid a dangerous precedent," La Libre Belgique reported, quoting German Commissioner Michaele Schreyer: "We live in a Union of law. The sooner there is legal clarity the better it will be."
Christian Wernicke, in a leading article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, tended to agree. What seemed on one level to be just a squabble over a few paragraphs actually touched on the foundations of the Union, he insisted. "The row over the blame being attached to the two most powerful member states can be summed up in a question similar to that directed by the German chancellor at the US during the Iraq war: do we want the strength of the law or the law of the strongest?"
The Spanish Prime Minister, José Maria Aznar, on a visit to Washington, was critical of anti-Americanism in Europe. Some of his remarks, in particular his attack on "the cultural exception" - the policy by which certain states seek to defend their language and culture against the effects of globalisation - seemed particularly aimed at France, Le Monde felt. "The cultural exception is the refuge of cultures in decline," said Mr Aznar. "Those who don't have this problem have nothing to fear."
Back in Madrid an undiplomatic incident created equal degrees of merriment and embarrassment when a leading socialist was heard on live television disparaging Tony Blair, the Daily Telegraph reported. José Bono, chatting to party colleague Joaquín Almunia before a press conference, and unaware that his microphone was live, said: "Hey, and our colleague Blair? He's a complete dickhead. He's an imbecile." Mr Blair's close friendship with Mr Aznar, it seems, has eroded all feelings of brotherly solidarity on the Spanish left.
The President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, on a visit to Ankara, urged Turkey on Thursday to understand the "anxieties" its attempt to join the EU had stirred, the Financial Times reported. European public opinion was not unanimous on its suitability as a candidate, Mr Prodi warned.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is on record as arguing that Turkey is not European at all. But Prof Jerome Sheridan of the American University in Brussels is not so sure about this: "Europe is a political concept. It is not a geographical concept," he told Voice of America radio station.
"The accession of Cyprus to the European Union proves this once and for all ... Europe is a mentality. It's a frame of mind. It's a way of conducting international affairs. And when you join the European Union, you become like the countries that are in the West. So in my opinion, Europe can continue to expand to the east, provided that the countries that are coming in look like the countries that are in the EU right now in terms of their political culture. This is an extremely long-term process."
Finally, El País reported that the defence of gender violence had been for the first time the object of a judicial sentence in Spain. The imam of Fuengirola, Mohamed Kamal, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended, and fined €3,500 for explaining in his book La Mujer en el Islam (Women in Islam) how to beat women without leaving marks. There is an increasing debate about violence against women in Spain. In 2003, 70 women were killed and nearly 50,000 complaints lodged with the police.