The European Union is once again the issue du jour for German newspapers. And rightly so. In the face of a possible rejection of his proposed team by the European Parliament, incoming European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso decided on Wednesday to pull the emergency brake. Some of the Commissioners chosen are controversial -- especially Italy's Rocco Buttiglione -- and the parliament had threatened to block the appointment of the entire group. Barroso decided to go back to the drawing board. Most major German papers lead with the story on Thursday.

EU politicians and heads of government all tried to present Barroso's decision as a sign of strength for the European Parliament and thus a boon for democracy in the EU. The Parliament on Wednesday also showed great support for Barroso's move. But Germany's papers aren't entirely convinced of that interpretation.

The left-of-center Sueddeutsche Zeitung calls Barroso's delay of the confirmation vote "extremely foolish." The paper goes on to say the conflict between the Commission and the Parliament -- depicted by many as a power struggle between the two EU institutions -- shows Parliament is desperate to get the upper hand. "The parliament-wannabe," it writes, alluding to the Strasbourg body's limited powers, "with its conflicting interests, pleasurably rides the little bit of authority it has into the ground."

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, likewise, interprets the clash as a defeat for Barroso. The paper writes that Barroso's last-second pullback (one hour before the vote was to be held) was too late, and that Barroso ignored parliament's doubts about his commission for too long. Those doubts were specifically concentrated on potential Justice and Human Rights Commissioner Buttiglione due to his Catholic-rooted anti-homosexual comments and position that single mothers are unfit to raise children. Neither does it spare any criticism for parliament. "That a candidate was rejected because of his religious beliefs is in no way a glorious statement in support of diversity and tolerance in Europe," it writes.

Barroso on Wednesday said he would likely be ready to introduce a new Commission line-up within a month, but the left-leaning Tageszeitung looks ahead and warns that parliament will likely not be happy with half-measures and minor changes. Yet, as the financial daily Handelsblatt points out, Barroso's hands are somewhat tied. After all, the Commission representatives are appointed not by him, but by EU member states.

All Barroso can do is try to convince governments to change their appointees. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has already said that the Italian government will stand behind Buttiglione. "The 'no' of the (European) Parliament is also a message for the heads of member state governments," Handelsblatt writes. "They are the ones who offered the future Commission candidates who aren't acceptable in European politics. The habitual high-handedness of government leaders has no chance of success in the European Parliament."

The conservative daily Die Welt describes Wednesday's happenings as a wake-up call for the EU that will hopefully shine a critical light on the "dramatic structural and democratic problems" of the union. Likely, though, it writes, the EU will "continue, in an even worse atmosphere than before, on its ever-more precarious course of creating a bureaucratic power center."

An editorial in SPIEGEL ONLINE notes that the fight in parliament drew far more attention than a similar battle five years ago that led to fall of Jacques Santer's corrupt European Commission. "Television stations report live. Europe has become more important," the site writes. The reason is that the current imbroglio sparked a "cultural war" that pits Europe's diverse religions and cultures against each other. "That has a far bigger effect on the masses than fights about butter mountains or ship-building subsidies. Buttiglione's words about homosexuality had a divisive effect. They're increasingly odd in a world where even the most deeply Catholic countries, like Spain or Italy, are undergoing rapid transformations in values," it writes. Europe is still an entity with regions with diverse values -- in the East, you've got Catholic Poland, but then you have Western metropolises like Berlin and Paris with openly gay mayors. But those differences, SPIEGEL ONLINE writes, "don't excuse parliament from taking a position."

The other issue singled out for comment by a number of papers on Thursday is the late-Tuesday decision by Israel to close down settlements in the Gaza Strip. Generally tending to be more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, German papers welcome Sharon's decision and the acquiescence of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. But at the same time, many doubt the Israeli prime minister's motives.

Sueddeutsche writes -- under the headline "Sharon's Historic Deed" -- that his withdrawal from the Gaza Strip could merely be a way to cement Israel's hold on the West Bank. The paper also directs attention to his military past and his association with the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. "Now he would like to crown his life with conciliatory headlines -- and they were printed yesterday."