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Merkel stresses France ties, reaches out to US on maiden voyage
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-24 11:36
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made her debut as a leader on the
international stage, underscoring the strength of the Franco-German alliance
with President Jacques Chirac and calling for better relations with the United
States.
In talks with European leaders, Germany's youngest and first woman head of
government committed to integration -- striving to breathe life into the EU's
moribund constitution -- but she refused to speculate about whether the budget
crisis can be resolved next month.
Merkel, who took office Tuesday, made France her first foreign destination as
leader of Europe's biggest economy in a gesture seen as affirmation of the
strength of their partnership.
"This is not about ritual, it is about a deep conviction that a strong
relationship between Germany and France is both necessary and beneficial for
Europe," she told reporters following lunch with Chirac at the Elysee.
France's President Jacques Chirac (R) poses
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before talks at the Elysee Palace in
Paris November 23, 2005.[Reuters] | Later in Brussels, she said she wanted closer ties with the United States,
badly soured by the fierce opposition of her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder,
against the US-led war on Iraq.
"I believe the ties between the US and Germany can be developed further," she
said after talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Merkel had been widely expected to reaffirm Berlin's commitment to its ties
with Paris, a relationship developed over decades that has become a motor for
greater European integration but at times has irked other EU countries.
Chirac said the two nations were united in their wish for "a political and
social Europe" and that "a truly strong Franco-German axis" was necessary for
the 25-member European Union.
Calling their countries' reconciliation following World War II a "miracle" of
history, Merkel said the "relationship must be nurtured, must continue to
develop, must remain full of life."
"I believe the challenges of globalization force us to act together in
Europe: Germany and France, with their notions about the social market economy,
about globalization, should be driving forces," she said.
She stressed that France and Germany had a "shared duty" to help development
of the new EU states of central and eastern Europe.
In Brussels, however, Merkel struck a more transatlantic tone, stressing the
importance of NATO as a pillar of stability -- a theme shared by Washington.
"NATO should be, I believe, the place where people turn first, where member
states turn first, to discuss political issues of common concern," she said.
"First and foremost we should try to pursue the approach that NATO is the
place for such discussions," she said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (C) stand with NATO
Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (R) during their meeting in
Brussels November 23, 2005.[Reuters] | "I believe that is very necessary... only that way can we see to it that NATO
continues to be a political alliance."
Merkel has made repairing ties with Washington a key aim, and in London she
is expected to hold out the prospect of better relations with Blair when she
visits him on Thursday than those he had with Schroeder.
Schroeder and Blair had seemed political bedfellows in the late 1990s, but
their relationship soured over the Iraq war, which Blair supported.
As well as her first official meetings with Chirac and Blair, Merkel, who was
accompanied by her new foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was to use the
trip to begin preparing for her first EU summit as chancellor.
Efforts to reach a long-awaited breakthrough on the bloc's 2007-13 budget
will dominate a potentially fraught Brussels summit in mid-December.
"My visit to London tomorrow will no doubt be an important building block
leading up to the council meeting," she said.
"Germany will try to play a constructive part in these discussions," she
added, but refused to say whether she thought an agreement was possible.
On another key EU issue, Merkel threw out a lifeline to the EU's
constitution, which was meant to improve decision making but has been put on
hold while the bloc undertakes a "period of reflection" since French and Dutch
voters rejected the constitution in referendums in May and June.
"We should not give up on the constitutional treaty," she said. "We are
willing to do what is necessary to see the constitution enter into
force."
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