Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world:

Diena, Riga, Latvia, on the EU's decision to boost green power:

The Germany presidency is beginning to justify the hopes laid upon it. Last fall, when the European Union was suffering doubts about its decision-making ability, international influence and even its future, the Germans emphatically strove to minimise talk that, under their tutelage, the EU would get a new burst in the first six months of 2007 — a chance to set the EU's daily regimen and mark solutions to Europe's painful institutional and psychological problems.

Yet at a session of the European Council at the end of last week, another Europe suddenly emerged — forward-looking, capable of making decisions, internationally significant. EU government leaders agreed on targets to reduce greenhouse emissions to at least 20 percent of 1990 levels by the year 2020. ...

In one stroke, the EU has proven it has the ability to overcome serious internal disagreements (in this case over renewable energy), put forward ambitious goals for the future and continue challenging the rest of the world.

La Stampa, Turin, Italy, on Vladimir Putin>

It is clear that the main European governments, from Paris to Rome and Berlin, regard Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of the most ambiguous, important characters on the world scene.

During the past seven years of his term ... there were negative assessments and positive prejudices on the unknown (former) KGB officer, who suddenly came out from the underground of the Bolshevik history to sit on the Kremlin throne.

By getting "American", Moscow became, ostensibly at least, the most opulent and surprising city of the former Communist block.

On the other hand, especially during Putin's second term, we began to feel more the degeneration into a condensed mix of personal authoritarianism and formal democracy.

Someone should still tell Putin that despite the need for foreign oil, he cannot force European democracies to clash with their American ally, to diminish NATO importance or forget about the protection of human rights in Russia and particularly in the Caucasus area.

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, on the dismissal of eight US attorneyB>

The growing scandal involving the Bush administration's politically motivated dismissals of eight United States attorneys should shock any American who cares about the integrity and independence of the federal justice system. But it should surprise no one.

This administration and its congressional enablers have made clear all along that laws and the workings of the courts are, at the least, a nuisance to be ignored if they get in the way. ...

Both houses of Congress, now under Democratic control, are launching hearings that have already elicited eye-opening testimony from six of the former US attorneys. The inquiries must dig deep.

Meanwhile, President Bush should take two steps.

First, he should fire Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This debacle is further evidence of his unsuitability for his critically sensitive post.

Then, the president can answer this question: If the eight prosecutors were dismissed for failing to respond to Republican political concerns, can Americans assume that his other US attorneys do fulfil a partisan agenda?