On Wednesday, Ukraine's parliament passed sweeping reforms and a constitutional amendment aimed at setting the stage for clean elections in the future, while at the same time clearing the way for a new presidential poll on Dec. 26. The new legislation, drafted with the support of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who gets his free-falling political currency from Moscow, shifts considerable powers from the president to the parliament -- theoretically to prevent the country from an authoritarian path in the future. On the other hand, many in the Ukraine parliament don't really believe in democracy, anyway. So what's worse? An authoritarian president or a parliament in control that wouldn't mind having one? German papers have trouble deciding.

The left-of-center Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper asks if this was merely a "tactical maneuver by President Leonid Kuchma?" Was he trying to divide Yushchenko's powers or was this a true compromise as it has been billed? "Much suggests that Yushchenko should have reason for optimism because he wrested an important concession out of Kuchma: the constitutional changes and the decisive power competencies the president will be turning over to parliament will not take effect until autumn 2005 at the soonest." If elected in the revote, the paper argues, Yushchenko would still have plenty of wiggle room to set his political course. More than anything, it says, Kuchma was forced to make the concessions because the only support he has is a thin 50-percent majority in parliament. Everyone else has abandoned him -- including Viktor Yanukovych, the prime minister and candidate supported by Kuchma whose was sent packing his bags earlier this week over his election failure.

The conservative daily Die Welt is skeptical of the changes. "Getting a repeat election is a success for the opposition," it writes. "But the constitutional reform weakening the president will make transformation of this huge country even more difficult. In standing up for European values, the people of Ukraine are confronting the EU with new challenges." Nevertheless, the paper offers a brighter forecast for the future. Ukraine could soon become what it had been during the Middle Ages: "a shop window from the West to advertise its values and ideas to Ukraine's northern neighbor, Russia."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung is more pessimistic, warning that the devil's in the details of this reform package. "The masses are withdrawing from the streets after an orderly rebellion and leaving it to the institutions responsible to reap the rewards of their protest," it writes, eulogizing the apparent end of the peaceful "Orange Revolution." Revolutions seldom follow this model, it notes. "And it is not only sensible but also logical to limit the president's authority in favor of extending that of the parliament." After all, presidents in many post-Soviet republics have a tendency to trend towards autocratic tyranny. But this situation is far more complicated. Instead, you've got an "old," pro-Russian and not very democratic parliament that's just secured considerable powers from the president. The paper argues that will make reforms harder. "This is a success for Moscow, which is pushing its will in through the back door after a catastrophic defeat."

Over at the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, the good in the decision outweighs the bad. The compromise has its problems, "but these blemishes shouldn't be overrated," it writes. Until now the outbreak of violence was possible and the division of Ukraine plausible. "But now, after a painstaking, step-by-step victory and dogged, unwavering street protests, Ukraine is on path toward democracy. For that reason, the compromise was a success." Not only that, but the opposition has succeeded in stopping a fraudulent election from being counted and it has swapped out an election commission that had become "intolerable."

In other world news, German papers on Thursday comment on peace talks in Northern Ireland, where negotiations have collapsed over the refusal of the Irish Republican Army to allow an official photographer to create lasting records of the IRA's decommissioning of arms. Gerry Adams, who heads IRA's political arm, Sinn Fein, says snapping the handovers would "humiliate" the group. But Ian Paisley, who heads the Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, insists the Kodak moments are an essential part of any settlement. If the parties reach an agreement, it would restore a delicate power-sharing agreement in Northern Ireland.