European press review (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4698695.stm)




Talks in Paris between German opposition leader Angela Merkel and French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - both seen as potential leaders of their countries - feature prominently in today's European papers.




And the debate over a British study which suggested that the UK's involvement in the Iraq war and the US-led war on terror have boosted support for al-Qaeda and rendered Britain a target continues.




Merkel meets Sarkozy




German opposition leader Angela Merkel was in Paris on Tuesday for talks with President Jacques Chirac on, among other issues, the future of the French-German role in European integration.




Germany's Die Welt notes that the leader of the Christian Democratic Union had talks not just with the French president but also - and "perhaps even more importantly" - with French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whom it describes as Mr Chirac's most likely successor.




 The much-talked-of Franco-German European engine has not achieved a lot recently




Die Welt
Mr Sarkozy and she both believe that the relationship between France and Germany needs to be "adjusted considerably", it says.




According to the paper, Mrs Merkel made it clear that she does not intend to focus on the "Paris-Berlin and the Berlin-Moscow axis powers" at the expense of Europe as a whole.




"This is an intelligent approach," it argues, "since the much-talked-of Franco-German European engine has not achieved a lot recently, apart from a pointed show of friendship between Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder."




Die Tageszeitung says Angela Merkel's European policies have become more palatable to pro-Europeans after French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitutional treaty.




"Convinced Europeans have long been haunted by the spectre of the continent being dominated by the anti-European trio of Tony Blair, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy," it says.




But, the paper adds, the mood changed after Chirac's and Schroeder's European policies "failed" over the European constitution.




The British prime minister's proposal for cuts in agricultural subsidies has been met with general approval and the Christian Democratic Union's pledge to be more mindful of the sensitivities of new EU member states "can only do Europe good", it says.




 Merkel smiled only once or twice - and then only reluctantly




Sueddeutsche Zeitung
"The one country to suffer is Turkey," it adds, because the accession process will "no doubt make no progress" under the "new conservatives".




Sueddeutsche Zeitung wonders why Mrs Merkel smiled so rarely during her visit to Paris.




"It was impossible to tell whether or not Angela Merkel was at ease in Paris."




The paper notes that, "as usual", she was "sparing" with her smiles.




"It seems as if she had a hard time of it" during her talks with Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Nicolas Sarkozy, it adds.




"In between, while talking to journalists, she smiled only once or twice - and then only reluctantly."




"If and when she becomes chancellor, it will probably be some time before Jacques Chirac finds she is willing to listen to his silly remarks, least of all when they are at the expense of third parties."




'Odd couple'




France's Le Figaro dubs the association between Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy, the leader of France's governing UMP party, the "axis of the pretenders".




A front-page article in the paper highlights the rapport between the two leaders who both aspire to the top job in their respective countries.




Mrs Merkel, the right-leaning daily says, "defended positions on Europe much closer to those of Nicolas Sarkozy than those of Jacques Chirac."




It goes on to note that, in front of the French president, she reaffirmed the importance of Franco-German friendship, but "a little later, at the side of the UMP chairman - with whom she seems very much in sync - she defended the idea of a 'reshaping' of the Franco-German axis".




 The German-French engine has new fuel




Dagens Nyheter




She is, it says, "the proponent of a more Atlanticist foreign policy than Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's".




She also "feebly defended the Common Agricultural Policy, and... in a duo with Sarkozy... defended the idea of a 'privileged partnership' with Ankara" regarding EU accession.




"Failing a well-oiled Franco-German axis, a Merkel-Sarkozy alliance was born yesterday," the paper concludes.




According to Sweden's Dagens Nyheter, Mrs Merkel visited Paris because of Europe's inability to reform its social model.




Like Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy "has a more positive attitude to the market economy" than Jacques Chirac or Dominique de Villepin, it says.




"An effective new German-French partnership with a Chancellor Merkel and a President Sarkozy" may be reality in a few years' time, it believes, "but the path to it is both long and uncertain", and "the odd couple" may have "compatibility problems".




But, describing them as "stars in the ascendant", the paper declares that "the German-French engine has new fuel".




Iraq and the London bombings




A joint study by two leading British research institutions which concluded that the Iraq war gave a boost to al-Qaeda - and that UK involvement in operations against Osama Bin Laden's network have raised the risk of attacks on the UK - continues to stir debate.




The British government rejected the report's conclusions.




As European governments strive to strengthen their counter-terrorism capabilities in the aftermath of the London attacks, Denmark's Politiken believes it is "difficult to deny" the study's finding that British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan was one of the reasons why London was a target for suicide bombers.




The anger of British ministers at the report's conclusion is also understandable, it concedes, as "the reason cannot justify terrorism in any way".




 Western leaders... must themselves refrain from misusing terrorism for other political purposes




Politiken
But Mr Blair and his ministers "get into difficulties" when they argue that those who link terrorism with Iraq want passivity in the war on terrorism, it says.




"That view is based on the dubious assumption that the effort in Iraq was and is a necessary part of the fight against international terrorism."




"The sensitivity of the British government is understandable," it continues. "Terrorism is terrorism and only those who commit terrorist acts, and the people behind them, should be held responsible for it.




"But if Western leaders want that view to be respected then they must themselves refrain from misusing terrorism for other political purposes. Unfortunately, this is a temptation which neither Blair nor Bush has been able to resist."




The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.