Europe's press sees Brexit as May's 'spectacular failure'

The European press is closely following Mrs May's long departure

The press and news sites across Europe agree that Theresa May's premiership will be defined by her failure to get the Brexit bill through parliament, and see Boris Johnson as her most likely successor.

'Failed spectacularly'

The prime minister's "main task was to lead the United Kingdom out of the EU. Well, that did not really work out," says Germany's centre-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, in a view echoed across the continent.

German business daily Handelsblatt agrees that "posterity will only remember how spectacularly she failed in this task", although it does offer her the cold comfort of having outlasted the "similarly hapless Gordon Brown" in office.

Many papers attribute Mrs May's failure to personal shortcomings.

Austria's liberal Der Standard says her "inability to reach compromise" made her resignation inevitable.

Spanish analysis site El Confidencial compares her unfavourably with Margaret Thatcher, as Mrs Thatcher was a "radical reformer" while Mrs May is a "competent manager, but without any vision".

It also sees her "lack of ease in communication" as a barrier to winning allies in parliament.

France's RFI public radio agrees on the inevitability of her departure, but attributes it to the intractability of a Brexit process that also cost her predecessor David Cameron his job.

"Brexit is decidedly bad luck", it concludes.

Italy's conservative Il Giornale agrees Mrs May was brought down by the "earthquake unleashed on the Tory party by her failure to achieve Brexit", recalling that the party "did not hesitate to take down a living monument like Margaret Thatcher as soon as the Iron Lady's unpopularity threatened its position in government".

'Without glitz... but with dignity'

But some newspapers are more sympathetic.

France's Le Figaro cannot help feeling for Mrs May after "two years of accumulated defeats, humiliations and fouls", crowned by President Donald Trump saying Boris Johnson would make an "excellent" prime minister on his state visit to Britain this week.

Bulgaria's popular Dnevnik site praises her for "bravely facing up to a difficult task... She leaves 10 Downing Street just as she arrived, without glitz, without success, but with dignity".

For Bulgaria's Duma, Brexit is a political Titanic

Her deep, Christian faith is also picked up by Le Figaro and Belgium's Le Soir, which both refer to Brexit as her "long Way of the Cross".

Dutch centrist daily NRC Handelsblad wonders whether her failure was more due to "male obstruction of the second woman to hold her office", and concludes that she had some grounds for "anger at being treated unfairly".

Sweden's Boras Tidning also saw Mrs May as "a vicar's daughter... dutiful beyond all reasonable limits", being "held hostage by a small group of scheming men in her government".

It says the tears she shed when she announced her resignation last month show that "her failure is something more, deeper and very personal".

Belgium's RTBF public broadcaster thinks her main problem was having to "fight to deliver Brexit she did not really believe in" - what it calls a "ball and chain that would eventually drag her down".

Hungary's conservative Magyar Nemzet says that, contrary to received wisdom, Theresa May was "perfectly aware that compromise was needed to implement Brexit", but failed to find a readiness to compromise elsewhere on the British political scene.

It also warns that anyone who expects her successor to "resolve the political stalemate in one go is very much mistaken".

'Disastrous legacy'

Others are less forgiving.

Belgium's liberal La Libre Belgique says Mrs May's "disastrous legacy... is a country and party on the verge of crisis".

"British society's wounds, far from being dressed, have been opened up a little more," it says, highlighting not only Brexit but also the "tragic consequences" of her cuts to public services.

Hungary's centre-left Heti Vilaggazdasag is harsher.

"She wanted to become a second Margaret Thatcher, but ended up a second Anthony Eden", a reference to the Conservative prime minister who resigned after the Suez Canal crisis of 1956.

Heti Vilaggazdasag says Brexit will trap whoever succeeds Mrs May

"A new crushing election defeat humiliates Theresa May again," says Denmark's Berlingske daily, noting that the Peterborough by-election saw the Conservatives come third.

"Theresa May ends her leadership as she began - on a downturn," it concludes.

Czech centre-right daily Mlada Fronta Dnes criticises her negotiating skills, saying she "behaved like a beggar" in Brussels, which "wanted to make an example of the British outcast".

"Why did May make it so easy for them?" it asks.

'Eurosceptic opportunist'

Looking ahead, Germany's centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has no doubt that Theresa May's "greatest rival" Boris Johnson has the best chance of succeeding her from among the "large and dazzling" array of contenders.

And Germany's left-liberal Stern magazine agrees "Boris Johnson is her most likely successor", not that this means he is well-regarded in Europe.

Boris Johnson is seen as the clear favourite to succeed

Indeed, France's L'Obs weekly portrays him as a "Eurosceptic opportunist" who has been "waiting so long for this day".

Italy's Corriere della Sera sees an "unprecedented political crisis" ahead, as the new prime minister will be chosen "in a bizarre procedure by 124,000 mostly white, middle-class, older" Conservative Party members.

As for the "clear favourite Boris Johnson, he has already launched a campaign to win back voters who migrated to Nigel Farage's Brexit Party by promising an uncompromising Brexit," it says.

Austria's Heute says this approach from "one of the toughest fighters for Brexit has persuaded many that he is capable of recapturing disappointed Brexit voters".

Spain's La Razon concludes that whoever succeeds Theresa May will come from the "tough wing of Eurosceptics", and will insist on the United Kingdom leaving before 31 October with or without a deal.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.