The German chancellor's Washington trip is not likely to resolve discord over policy, writes DEREK SCALLYin Berlin
WHEN CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel arrives in Washington later today, she will receive an award for services to the transatlantic relationship.
Tomorrow morning in the White House Rose Garden, the press will listen to just how the German leader proposes to earn her next award.
Five months after Barack Obama’s inauguration, the lingering feeling in Berlin is that relations with the new US administration have yet to hit their stride. The television images from Washington will give Merkel a chance to demonstrate a rapport with Obama, even if her first visit to his White House is unlikely to resolve a substantial collection of polite policy disagreements scattered in her path.
The economy will dominate: Merkel wants a signal from Obama that his short-term stimulus plans include one to rein in borrowing once recovery sets in. “Thinking further about an exit strategy is not at odds with current talk of stimulus plans, but rather the other side of the same coin,” said a Berlin government source.
The German leader will praise the US climate change Bill as it passes through Congress, even though she would prefer more concrete goals.
Washington has its own wish list: Berlin is holding out on whether it will take Guantánamo Bay inmates, and there is the unspoken expectation in Washington that Germany could shoulder more of the military burden in Afghanistan.
“We haven’t had a signal from the American side that either point is a priority,” a Berlin source said yesterday.
The lack of expected progress has encouraged renewed speculation in Germany about whether the two very different leaders get on, or whether Obama still holds a grudge against Merkel for vetoing his campaign speech at the Brandenburg Gate. Senior chancellery officials are dismissive of this, saying Merkel “in no way wants to participate in some kind of personality contest as to who gets on better with the president”.
At the same time, they have tried to put their own spin on things, with the long-shot suggestion that Merkel and Obama – raised in East Germany and Hawaii respectively – are both political “outsiders”. There is one promise Dr Merkel hopes to extract from Obama: that he will come to Berlin on November 9th, 20 years after the Berlin Wall fell.
That would definitely be something to chalk up to services to the transatlantic relationship.