GERMANY: Germany's Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Angela Merkel has described the Franco-German axis as the "fundamental motor" of the EU, but only if it operates for the benefit of smaller EU member states.
Dr Merkel, the CDU's election challenger to Chancellor Schröder, was given the red carpet treatment by French president Jacques Chirac at the Elysée Palace in Paris yesterday. Later she had private meetings with the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy, both likely presidential contenders if Mr Chirac stands down in 2007.
"All initiatives taken should be open to all the countries of Europe, but France and Germany must be the motor of these initiatives," said Dr Merkel, after talks she described as "long, friendly and important for me".
She said relations between Germany and France would remain "fundamental", regardless of who wins the autumn general election in Germany. Later, she said the Franco-German relationship should be "brought into action" for the good of Europe and other countries "must not have the feeling that we are deciding above their heads".
"We have to pay attention that all are brought along and no one falls by the wayside, particularly the smaller countries. We want a political Europe, above all one that solves the problems of men and women - unemployment, the economy, growth, innovation - which makes of Europe a winner in globalisation," said Dr Merkel.
Her tone was considerably more diplomatic than that of her foreign spokesman, Friedbert Pflüger, who said on Monday that a CDU election victory in the autumn would mean the end of the Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis.
"The EU has to be a self-assured and strong partner of the US, not a counter balance," wrote Mr Pflüger in the conservative French daily, Le Figaro.
After leaving the Elysée Palace, Dr Merkel met with Mr Chirac's rival and would-be successor as president, Mr Sarkozy, and leader of the ruling UMP party.
Dr Merkel "has for a long time had a long, close relationship" with the interior minister, said Mr Pflüger yesterday. Mr Sarkozy said he had reaffirmed with Dr Merkel their "identical" views on the EU, including structural reform to boost domestic unemployment and opposition to full Turkish EU membership.
"We need to talk about the limits of enlargement. We need borders. People need to know where these borders are," Dr Merkel said of future EU enlargement. "We need to find solutions, within a privileged partnership, which make it possible to bring Turkey and Europe together without going as far as accession."
Mr Sarkozy suggested that the friendship element of the Franco-German axis should be extended to improve the more workmanlike relations with the UK, Spain and Italy.
He hinted again about his ambitions to succeed Mr Chirac, saying in a newspaper interview yesterday that the 2007 election race will be marked by "a break". Mr Chirac has so far refused to rule out running for a third term.