German Papers Angela Merkel's European Tour
On Wednesday she got a French bise on the hand. On Thursday, it was a hearty English handshake. That's the difference between a visit to Paris and London if you're a German chancellor these days. One could be forgiven for seeing in French President Jacques Chirac a Latin lothario trying to convince a skeptical paramour to stand by him. And one could perhaps interpret wariness in Tony Blair's gesture of a handshake -- after all, the prime minister has little idea what Germany's new grand coalition holds in store for London-Berlin relations. Will ties be as icy as they were in the twilight of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's term?
There was ample reason for caution on both sides. The 800-pound-gorilla -- in this case the seriously divisive issue of stalled European Union budget talks -- topped the agenda of Merkel's tête-à-tête with Blair.
In May, negotiations over the EU budget for 2007-2013 collapsed after the member states failed to come to an agreement with London over the multi-billion euro budget rebate it has received since 1984. Negotiated by then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the rebate gave Britain a substantial discount in its EU contributions because, owing to its small agricultural industry, it would receive very little back by way of subsidies. France remains the biggest beneficiary of the EU's bloated agricultural budget, but Paris is as stubborn as London over matters of cash. Still, across much of Europe, member states think it's time for London to pony up. But any concessions would not go over well with British voters and Tony Blair hasn't budged.
Merkel is keen on bridge-building with Blair and that will was in evidence Thursday at 10 Downing Street. She said the Franco-German relationship has a "long tradition" but that it would not be used against Britain. To ensure that Berlin-Paris EU engine doesn't steer even further away from London, Merkel said she would reinstitute regular consultations between Britain and Germany which ended in 1998.
For his part, Blair said Britain is "doing its best" to prepare an agreement on the EU budget in time for the next European summit in three week's time. Merkel said success could only come if the "situation of every party involved is taken into consideration" and added that no country should be "overtaxed."
On Friday, German papers see a positive development in the visit -- Merkel is trying to create a fresh start between London and Berlin.
"The high expectations of Merkel in the EU budget dispute are exaggerated," writes the left-leaning Süddeutsche Zeitung. "A deus ex machina only exists in classical drama, and seen realistically, the chances of an agreement under the British EU presidency are as poor as they could be." It's true that the freshness of the new chancellor could be a reviving element. And its true that Merkel's influence on Blair could be greater than that of Schröder -- "not just because Merkel speaks better English, but also because Schröder and Blair, in the end, didn't have much to say to each other in any language." Still, none of that changes the fact that, at its core, this is a fight between Blair and France's Chirac. Paris wants to keep its agricultural subsidies and Britain wants to preserve its rebate. "Both have to give up their unbudging all-or-nothing positions here and make clear to their voters that such excessive privileges are barriers" to a future-oriented EU budget.
The Financial Times Deutschland contrasts Merkel with predecessor Schröder, noting that the new chancellor has recognized the importance of European policy much earlier. Schröder came to power with provincial ideas and had to quickly learn. "Her view of German and European reality is already more cosmopolitan than the narrow, provincial political horizon Schröder showed in 1999," the paper writes. Merkel is not a politician who needs a learning curve to understand that political decision-making is no longer just a national affair. "That's good," it continues, "but it's also equally regrettable that she, unlike her predecessor seven years ago, is currently lacking the right partners to put this knowledge into action." Blair and Chirac are both lame ducks and leaders across Europe are walking on shaky ground -- from Rome to The Hague. The editorial suggests that Merkel should focus on Europe's smaller countries, including the new eastern European members, in order to rebuild momentum in the EU even as it waits for new leaders in its biggest countries. With her visits to Paris, Brussels and London, the paper concludes, Merkel has shown that "the will is there; now she just has to follow up with actions."
Meanwhile, the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung argues that with the itinerary of her first trip -- Paris, Brussels, the EU, NATO, London -- Merkel has shown that it is equally important for Germany to have solid ties with Britain and France. "Merkel's itinerary describes the main coordinates of her foreign and European policy and there's also a hidden message in it -- that of balance and reliability." The editorial adds that some in Britain's political class might have preferred if Merkel had come to London before Paris in a sign that an "Atlantic-minded chancellor" might be ready to loosen ties with Paris a bit. "But to hope for this would be foolish axis-thinking which would express disregard for one of the main axioms of European policy, which is that Europe only makes good progress when Germany, France and Britain work together sensibly and with a goal in mind," it adds. The FAZ argues that it would be foolish to demand that the EU's agricultural policy be abolished overnight as some in London are demanding, but also equally impractical to force Britain to give up its rebate as Germany and France have called for. Indeed, "it wouldn't lead anywhere." The paper sees solving this impasse as a major task for Merkel.
