It came as no surprise that the Iraq Study Group's recommendations went down well in Europe when they were published last week. Bring Iran and Syria to the negotiating table? Just the kind of thing that appeals to peaceable Europeans, who prefer to talk first and shoot later, if they have to shoot at all.

But if German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was hoping for clear assurances on a change of course on Iraq when he met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington Friday, he was disappointed. In remarks to reporters after the meeting, he said that there was reluctance on the US side to develop closer contacts with Syria and Iran.

However, while Germany is clear it wants the Bush Administration to take the advice of Baker et al on board, there appears to be dissent within the country's coalition government about just what Germany's role should be. Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to be on different pages this weekend as to what the plan is (unless, as one observer suggested, they had previously agreed on an interventionist cop/non-interventionist cop set-up).

Left of center daily Berliner Zeitung writes:

"For the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a stronger German engagement in Iraq is completely out of the question. The security situation there, so he explains, rules out a greater participation in the rebuilding efforts. Chancellor Angela Merkel sees the situation slightly differently. She supports increased German help in training Iraqi soldiers outside Iraq. (…) We are looking forward to seeing what really comes out in the end -- if there is an end.

"But we also wonder if Steinmeier is lying, if Merkel is lying to the US, if the two of them have decided on their roles by previous arrangement, or if the government really has no position on this central question ... or if each of its members simply says what is going through his or her head at any particular moment. This makes Germans uneasy."

Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The German government wants Washington to adopt the central recommendations of the Baker commission in regard to its future policy on Iraq, in particular the recommendation that the US hold direct talks with Iraq's influential neighbors Syria and Iran. Mere days after its publication, the Baker report -- the subject of so much hope for months -- appears to be destined for the wastepaper basket. That is not only because of the obstinacy of the US government. After all, the position represented by Rice -- that direct talks with Iran are only possible if the country suspends its controversial uranium enrichment -- is also what the Europeans are demanding. To criticize the Americans for their obstinacy would be hypocritical. Furthermore, the recommendations of the Baker report have little chance of being implemented at the moment, because they present Iran with demands it cannot satisfy. (…)

"In spite of everything, however, Berlin should not give up the attempt to work together with the US on solutions for Iraq. That belongs to its responsibilities once it takes over the G8 and EU presidencies in January. And because the situation in Iraq is hardly going to get better by itself, it's worth it for Steinmeier to keep campaigning in Washington for changes in the US's Iraq policy."

Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"The Iranians are not falling over themselves (to take part in negotiations on Iraq). From the point of view of the Iranians, it is completely unrealistic that the US and its allies are on the one hand calling for sanctions against Iran in the nuclear dispute, while on the other hand they are expecting constructive behavior in Iraq. (…)

"If concentrated negotiation with Iraq's neighbors is to bring peace to Iraq, then Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must take part: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to support Iraq's Sunnis and to compensate them for the strategic disadvantage of their having no oil reserves in their territory. Turkey, to limit the danger of a break-up of the country due to Kurdish separatists. (…) A kind of temporary power-sharing agreement among the neighbors could help the Baghdad regime ... to build the structures that the US Army cannot deliver."

Center-right daily Die Welt writes:

"History does repeat itself after all, and Germany, with an eye to Iraq, has a reason to remember this. Ten years ago, the Europeans told America to its face that they could solve the problem in Bosnia through European-style diplomacy. Europe failed on a grand scale. Without the help of the USA, asked for with much hand-wringing, the EU would have to deal today with a pus-filled boil in the Balkans.