Chancellor Merkel as the New Blair

By Ulf Gartzke
Published May 3, 2007 4:58pm ET
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German chancellor Angela Merkel–who currently holds both the rotating EU and G-8 presidencies–arrived in Washington last Sunday for the bi-annual EU-US Summit, which focused primarily on deepening transatlantic economic cooperation and fostering joint action on climate change. During their final press conference with Bush, Merkel and accompanying EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso hailed the summit as a success and stressed the U.S. Administration’s new commitments regarding energy security, efficiency, and climate change. Back in Germany, Merkel is getting rave reviews for the EU-US Summit and her foreign policy record. An online commentary from Germany’s influential center-left weekly Der Spiegel–titled “Merkel’s Pact with America“– highlighted the Chancellor’s strong commitment to close U.S.-German ties.

“It is virtually unprecedented in German history for a chancellor to be so unreservedly aligned with the US. Adenauer, the first [CDU] chancellor of West Germany, saw America as a guarantor of freedom, but also perceived it as an occupation force. Helmut Schmidt and Willy Brandt, both Social Democratic (SPD) chancellors, were pro-American but innately skeptical.
Merkel, on the contrary, wants to expand Germany’s close ties with the United States and is on the verge of making a pact with America the cornerstone of her foreign policy. Indeed, the resoluteness with which she has pursued this goal stands in conspicuous contrast with her government’s lack of political progress back home in Germany.”

With Tony Blair weakened and about to leave No. 10 Downing Street, “Angie” has become America’s most important ally in Europe and is given red-carpet treatment in Washington:

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