Polls, Popes, and Peers
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9.
Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said
Thursday that the Bosnia and Kosovo crises have proved that U.S. leadership of
NATO is vital. In a front-page editorial headlined "Without America Nothing
Works," it recalled past European efforts to make NATO less dependent on the
United States so as to encourage France to rejoin the alliance's military
structure. Not only did France not do so, but the failure of West European will
over Bosnia and the sheer complication of the Kosovo problem made U.S.
leadership essential in both cases.
Le Monde of Paris marked Friday's
20 th anniversary of John Paul II's election to the papacy by
commissioning an opinion poll that shows 53 percent of French people think he
should resign. Nineteen percent disapprove strongly of the way he has done his
job, and 34 percent say they have major reservations. Even among practicing
French Roman Catholics, only 14 percent totally approve of him.
In extensive coverage of the anniversary, Italian
newspapers made much of the first ever papal participation in a TV chat show.
The pope telephoned a popular show called Door to Door at 10:30 p.m. to
thank participants in a special program about his pontificate for their
comments. The show's host, Bruno Vespa, is reported to have been reduced to
stutters when the call came through.
La Repubblica of Rome reported
that messages to be read out Friday at the ceremony in St. Peter's Square will
include ones from Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat inviting the pope to
visit Jerusalem in the year 2000. The paper said he has agreed to go. La Stampa of Turin ran an
article praising the pope's efforts to reconcile the Catholic Church and Jews,
despite the recent controversy over the canonization of the Jewish-born
Catholic nun Edith Stein, who died at Auschwitz.
Israel's
Ha'aretz expressed
optimism in an editorial Thursday about upcoming Middle East talks in the United
States. "Ariel Sharon's appointment as foreign minister does not necessarily
bode any intention of sabotaging the withdrawal agreement," it said. "In
addition to the problems that his appointment might arouse, it can also be seen
as a signal to the right-wing section of the government that its position will
be given full expression in the summit talks." The editorial added that "if the
Israeli delegation returns from America empty-handed, a lot of explaining will
have to be done."
The British press was dominated Thursday by a
debate in the House of Lords on the Labor government's planned abolition of the
parliamentary rights of hereditary peers. The government is committed to
excluding them from the upper house of Parliament but has yet to reveal its
proposals for further constitutional reform. The hereditary peers, nearly all
of them conservatives, did not argue with the case for their own abolition, but
repeatedly pointed out that a nonelected chamber consisting exclusively of
government nominees would be even less democratic than one dominated by people
who had arrived there by accident of birth. Even the liberal Guardian, which strongly
supports reform, insisted in an editorial that the government be held to its promise that "the
Transition Chamber will not last forever."
The conservative Daily Telegraph revealed that
the queen has decided, by her own choice, to do away with some of the
ceremonial that has traditionally surrounded the annual State Opening of
Parliament. When this takes place next month, such officers as the Silver Stick
in Waiting will not take part. "The sight of the Great Officers of State
walking backwards ahead of the Sovereign will remain unchanged, however. It is
understood that they were offered the option of walking forwards, but
declined." All except the lord chancellor, although, the Telegraph
reassures its readers, "his request to walk forwards stems from a desire to
avoid an accident rather than from any modernising zeal."
