Kohl takes foreign policy helm<\/p>\n
By Leon Mangasarian<\/p>\n
BONN (DPA): German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who began a trip to
\nIndonesia, the Philippines and Japan last Saturday, is being
\naccompanied by three of his ministers but markedly not by Foreign
\nMinister Klaus Kinkel.<\/p>\n
The reason for Kinkel's absence is not just the fact that
\nKohl's Asia trip -- his 11th visit to the region since becoming
\nchancellor -- is mainly aimed at boosting trade.<\/p>\n
Under Kinkel's tenure the foreign ministry is increasingly
\nbeing ignored in Bonn while Chancellor Kohl and a coterie of
\nother top ministers expand their control over most of the
\nministry's key policy areas.<\/p>\n
\"German foreign policy is increasingly being made in Kohl's
\nchancellery while the foreign ministry is standing outside the
\ndoor,\" commented the Bild daily, which has close links to Kohl.<\/p>\n
It has been a downhill slide for Kinkel ever since he replaced
\nthe wily Hans-Dietrich Genscher as German foreign minister in
\n1992.<\/p>\n
In an unprecedented humiliation the hapless Kinkel was last
\nyear forced by the government dominated parliament to cancel an
\ninvitation to his Iranian counterpart for a Bonn conference on
\nIslam.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year he suffered the indignity of having his
\nplanned visit to China canceled by Beijing due to a row over
\nTibet. Amid accusations in the German media of a kowtow, Kinkel
\nfinally made his trip to China last week.<\/p>\n
The weakness of his Free Democratic Party (FDP), which serves
\nas junior coalition partner in Kohl's center-right government,
\nhas also undermined Kinkel's authority.<\/p>\n
After a series of regional FDP election disasters Kinkel
\nresigned as party leader in 1995.<\/p>\n
Kinkel's low reputation is increasingly being noticed abroad.<\/p>\n
As The Times in London recently commented: \"At best he is a
\nkind of Tonto to Herr Kohl's Lone Ranger; at worst he is an
\nirrelevance.\"<\/p>\n
With the eclipse of Kinkel, Chancellor Kohl - who has been in
\noffice for 14 years - and key members of his inner circle are now
\nresponsible for the major aspects of German foreign policy.<\/p>\n
The Chancellor has made all elements of the European Union -
\nthe single currency, expansion and institutional reform - into
\nhis personal domain.<\/p>\n
Kohl is aided by his influential foreign affairs advisor,
\nJoachim Bitterlich, who has been dubbed \"Germany's secret foreign
\nminister\".<\/p>\n
Kohl further dominates foreign policy by maintaining close
\npersonal ties with most major world leaders via regular telephone
\ncalls.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kohl's globe-trotting intelligence services
\ncoordinator, Bernd Schmidbauer, has been able to maintain far
\nbetter ties with countries like Iran than has Kinkel.<\/p>\n
It was Schmidbauer - not the German Foreign Ministry - who
\nearlier this year went to Teheran and arranged an exchange of
\nHezbollah prisoners held in Israel for the bodies of missing
\nIsraeli soldiers.<\/p>\n
Outside the chancellery Defense Minister Volker Ruehe, a
\nmember of Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU), has expanded his
\ninfluence over defense and security policy and is the key backer
\nin Bonn of expanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.<\/p>\n
Ruehe does not hesitate to contradict Kinkel. Last year he
\npublicly upbraided the foreign minister for making remarks about
\na German contribution to peacekeeping forces to former
\nYugoslavia.<\/p>\n
When it comes to long-range thinking about where German
\nforeign policy is headed the foreign ministry also appears absent
\nfrom high-level debate.<\/p>\n
Karl Lamers, a CDU foreign policy expert, produces regular
\nthink papers which play a far bigger role in directing the
\ndiscussion than anything emerging from Kinkel's office.<\/p>\n
The decline of Kinkel should in no way imply the German
\nForeign Ministry is poorly staffed.<\/p>\n
Although deeply frustrated, some of Bonn's best and brightest
\ncan be found in the foreign ministry complex perched above the
\nRhine River.<\/p>\n
The news weekly Der Spiegel explained the situation this way:
\n\"Kinkel has excellent advisors - he just doesn't listen to them.\"<\/p>",
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