Chirac arrives in Germany for three-day visit

The French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, arrived in Germany last night for a three-day visit aimed at demonstrating the renewed…

The French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, arrived in Germany last night for a three-day visit aimed at demonstrating the renewed strength of the Franco-German relationship as the driving force behind European integration. But Berlin's ambition to push ahead towards a fully federal Europe has put fresh strains on its relationship with Paris, which takes over the EU presidency for six months next Saturday.

In a speech to the German parliament at the Reichstag tomorrow, Mr Chirac will outline France's priorities for its presidency, a step that the president's spokeswoman, Ms Catherine Colonna, described as significant.

"Spelling out France's vision for Europe in Berlin is a powerful gesture, a deliberate act that shows the confidence we have in this new Europe and in Franco-German relations," she said. "We cannot let the European project unravel. We must find answers for the future." France's primary aim in its presidency is to conclude the current Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) in December with approval for reforms of EU institutions that will facilitate the accession of up to 12 new member-states in this decade. Three of the key reforms, known as the "Amsterdam leftovers" after the 1997 treaty agreed there, concern the size of the Commission, the weighting of votes in the European Council to reflect the population of member-states and extending the use of qualified majority voting on EU affairs.

Germany is determined to add a further reform to this list - a mechanism for "reinforced co-operation" that would allow some member-states to proceed with economic and political integration faster than others.

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Paris supports this proposal, which Irish officials view with caution, but French policy-makers are concerned by leaks from Berlin in recent days that point towards a much more ambitious German agenda.

German officials said last week that, as soon as the reforms currently being debated are ratified by national parliaments throughout the EU, work should begin on a new Inter-Governmental Conference that would ensure the division of powers at various levels of the EU.

The proposal is aimed partly at appeasing Germany's powerful federal states, which fear that extending qualified majority voting could reduce their influence. But it would also represent an important step towards realising the vision of a federal Europe with a written constitution and a two-chamber parliament outlined earlier this year by the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer.

Paris has not been persuaded to adopt the full German agenda but both sides agree that the process of European integration should proceed even if a minority of member-states wish to move more slowly.

The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, is understood to have told Britain's Mr Tony Blair at the recent EU summit in Feira that, if Britain attempts to block reinforced co-operation within the EU, interested states could proceed outside the framework of the Union. A precedent for such a step already exists in the shape of the Schengen Agreement that abolished border controls between some EU states.

Mr Blair will visit Berlin on Thursday for a private dinner with the chancellor, which officials say will be dominated by EU business.

Mr Chirac dined with Mr Schroder and his wife Doris last night in Hanover, where he will today visit Expo 2000, the troubled world exposition.

The President, Mrs McAleese, will visit Expo 2000 on Wednesday, which has been designated Ireland Day at the event.

Denis Staunton

Denis Staunton

Denis Staunton is China Correspondent of The Irish Times