GERMANY: The new chancellor must grapple with the reality of running a coalition, writes Derek Scally in Berlin
Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, began her maiden voyage around Europe yesterday, but a new face does not necessarily mean new policies.
New form more than new content can be expected, not least because of the political reality of the grand coalition between Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD).
Her foreign minister is the SPD's Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who shaped the foreign policy under Gerhard Schröder so vocally opposed by Dr Merkel. But Mr Steinmeier is a realist and, as the former top adviser to the chancellor, is used to operating with the discretion Dr Merkel favours.
"The foreign minister has the defining role in foreign policy but the chancellor cannot be expected to keep out," said Mr Steinmeier. "We have talked about it and agreed to no vanity and no showmanship."
Dr Merkel's first foreign policy test will be on the European stage. She has a highly experienced adviser in Dr Christoph Heusgen, a CDU member who served in the Kinkel foreign ministry and as adviser to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels for six years.
It is not a large jump from aiding a Spanish socialist to a German Christian Democrat, said Dr Heusgen last week.
"In foreign policy, the differences between Socialists and Christian Democrats are not important," he said in a newspaper interview.
"In addition, most foreign political problems can no longer be solved nationally. We need a European approach. Germany can accomplish a lot when it includes others."
On the EU constitution, Dr Heusgen has suggested implementing all elements that do not require ratification, bypassing the French and Dutch No votes. In the search for future partners, he says a German-Spanish axis offers potential, as do closer contacts with Baltic countries and a revival of the Weimar Triangle axis with Paris and Warsaw.
Dr Heusgen's appointment means that rivalry is inevitable between the chancellery and the foreign ministry - the new home of refugee Schröder advisers.
Dr Heusgen has already raised SPD hackles by suggesting that an EU seat on the UN Security Council is more of a priority than a German seat, the position in the coalition agreement. Gernot Erler, SPD foreign policy state secretary, described the remark as "hard to comprehend".
Dr Merkel's visit to Downing Street this morning is unlikely to satisfy speculation about her strategy on the EU budget standoff. But next month's EU summit showdown over French agricultural subsidies and the British rebate will demonstrate just how much - or how little - Margaret Thatcher there is in the chancellor.
Mr Steinmeier has suggested that CDU politicians who expressed concern in opposition at Berlin's close ties to Moscow now see the strategic benefits for Germany.
"This relationship has to be continued and we don't plan to introduce a change of course," said Mr Steinmeier.
"We cannot cut back relations to simply economic ties. Not only does the CDU not have anything against further development of this relationship, but is much in favour."
A continuation of close ties with Moscow may result in a cool reception for Dr Merkel in Warsaw next week.
A second danger lies in CDU backing for a Berlin museum about Germans expelled after the second World War from what became the territory of Poland. The commemoration of this episode is completely unacceptable to Poles and continued CDU support risks poisoning relations.
The coalition partners have agreed to disagree on Turkey's EU accession now that talks have begun with Ankara.
Meanwhile, Dr Merkel told the Chinese president in Berlin last week that, unlike Mr Schröder, she opposed lifting the EU arms embargo to China.
That will comfort officials in Washington who will have to live with the fact that Germany's new chancellor will stand by the refusal of her predecessor to get involved in Iraq.