Germany and France proposed priorities for Europe yesterday reflecting the left's influence on the political mood: a governmental push to create jobs and better regulation of financial markets.
Leading his first summit since taking office, German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroder spoke of "a new dynamic" between Europe's two closest partners and biggest nations.
He and French President Jacques Chirac agreed to make a new push to give the EU military capability of its own parallel to NATO.
But jobs were the focus of the summit in Potsdam as the two nations renewed their role as the engine behind efforts to turn Europe into an economic superpower. Unemployment in the 11 countries introducing Europe's single currency on January 1st is a stubborn 10.9 per cent, and putting people back to work has been a dominant political theme among European leaders.
"We want to make a great common effort to move the theme of employment to the centre of European politics," Mr Schroder said after the summit. In a joint declaration, the leaders said a jobs creation pact was needed to offset government austerity pledges designed to bolster the euro. European governments should set binding targets for putting their citizens back to work, the declaration said.
The leaders also pledged to make workers' rights a greater focus in the EU. Taking their cue from a campaign by Germany's finance minister, Mr Oskar Lafontaine, they called for tighter financial regulation internationally to counter economically damaging swings in the markets. The proposals were a departure from the Kohl era, when Germany resisted calls for a common European fight against joblessness.