The talks were said to be "candid"

The fact that Mr Powell spent as much time with the leader of Germany's centre-right opposition Angela Merkel as he did with Chancellor Schroeder is widely interpreted as a slap in the face for the government.

Frankfurter Rundschau remarks on the coincidence of Mr Powell's visit and President Bush's meeting at the White House with opposition Christian Democrat Roland Koch, the state governor of Hesse.

While admitting that Mr Powell's presence in Berlin had restored the "diplomatic minimum" of relations between the two governments, the paper states that "anybody who does recognise this as a conscious affront to Gerhard Schroeder is naive".

"In the medium term, the Bush administration is clearly putting its money on the Christian Democrats," it says.

US stance questioned

According to Die Welt, the attention lavished by senior US politicians on the German opposition shows that Washington is in a position to dictate terms to the German government.

"Powell needs Schroeder less than the chancellor needs him," it says, adding: "The message is clear: Germany still has to earn American goodwill through good behaviour."

By contrast, the business daily Handelsblatt rejects what it calls dreams of "turning back the clock" to the pre-Iraq war status quo, arguing that European and American interests are now too far apart.

"In the present bilateral frenzy of reconciliation, one must not succumb to the danger of simply ignoring controversial issues with a smile," it says.

"Those who, out of a desire for harmony, demand that German foreign politics simply conform to US targets are wrong."

Gaullism vs Atlanticism

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung warns against a "Gaullist solution" of joining forces with other like-minded states to curb American strength.

"A far more promising option is the revitalisation of the Trans-Atlantic alliance," it argues. But it has little faith in Germany's chances.

"In the US view of things, Germany's value has fallen, because it remains ambivalent and is too regretful about the passing of the old world order."

In a similarly pessimistic tone, Berliner Zeitung argues that the Trans-Atlantic rift is much more than a personal spat between Bush and Schroeder.

"Anyone who believes that it will be possible to return to business as usual in US-German relations through diplomatic efforts is mistaken," it says.

In fact, the paper believes, Trans-Atlantic relations now involve "the structurally opposite interests of a superpower acting in an imperial way and a medium-sized power committed to European values".

The paper also takes a swipe at the US government's behaviour: "Rarely has a leading power lied to and deceived its allies the way the United States did in the months before the Iraq war."

Ties with France under fire

Finally, Die Tageszeitung sees Mr Powell's visit as part of a strategy to isolate France in the wake of disputes over Iraq.

"After Washington successfully tried to divide Europe into 'old' and 'new' parts in the pre-Iraq war period, it is now getting ready to torpedo French-German relations," it says.

The paper believes Washington's recent attacks on Paris are also attacks on Germany and Europe as a whole.

"The German government would do well to reject them in the strongest terms," the paper concludes.