THE INDEPENDENT: To cancel one high-level Franco-German meeting is unfortunate. To cancel two in less than a week implies a bank of freezing fog is descending over the Rhine.
French and German officials sought yesterday to play down the significance of the abrupt postponement – both by Paris – of two meetings between the countries' most senior politicians.
Privately, and not so privately, the talk in both capitals is of a serious rift in the single most important national partnership in Europe. Officials blame an increasingly difficult relationship between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
With France scheduled to take the presidency of the European Union in July, the Franco-German tiff could not be timed worse.
Berlin has been especially annoyed by M. Sarkozy's determination to push ahead with a so-called "Club Med" or formal union of countries on the shores of the Mediterranean. Chancellor Merkel believes that such an organisation would be either a pointless distraction or a threat to the unity of the EU.
There have also been tensions over the management of the euro and on foreign and defence policy. France has repeatedly criticised the monetary policy of the European Central Bank while ignoring its European commitments to restrain its budget deficit. Germany has refused to join a French-sponsored EU military mission to Darfur.
At the heart of the quarrel – not yet an overt crisis – is the strained relationship between the two leaders.
German officials say that the hyperactive and boastful behaviour of the French President – and his over-familiar personal style – has irritated Ms Merkel. French officials suggest M. Sarkozy finds Ms Merkel too cautious and too ponderous. French diplomats also complain that M. Sarkozy – in his determination to shake up all aspects of French government – wants to play down the Paris-Berlin relationship that has been the bedrock of France's domestic and European policy for half a century. "For Sarkozy, the West very much means UK and the US," one French source said. Europe’s closest friendship falls apart >>> By John Lichfield in Paris and Tony Paterson in Berlin Thursday | 28 February 2008
THE INDEPENDENT:
Leading article: A problem and an opportunity Thursday 28 February 2008
THE INDEPENDENT:
Sarkozy sorry for trading insults. Or is he? By John Lichfield in Paris | Wednesday, 27 February 2008
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