Not on the same page

If there is need for further evidence of how dear foreign policy is to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's heart, it could look this way: The Chancellor is meeting with French President Jacques Chirac on Friday for the third time this year. The German-French summit talks meanwhile have achieved a greater frequency than the meetings of Germany's Alliance for Jobs between wage negotiators and the government.

In principle, there is nothing to be said against frequent exchanges of opinion; the matter is placed in doubt only when nothing else is communicated but the impression of bustling.

Lest we forget: At the Summit in Blaesheim, France, the two sides agreed to co-ordinate things better once more. But, recent days have raised doubt as to whether this has succeeded. Schroeder's proposals to reorganize the European Union institutions came as if out of the blue and were commented on in France either with sullenness or not at all -- which is tantamount to the same thing. On the other hand, the French, for instance, are showing no sign of willingness to pay their share of EU enlargement.

Different strategies are behind this. For the French, the institutions of a far-distant European future are not in the foreground. For Chirac and his potential rival for the presidency, Lionel Jospin, money is the priority. The French farmers who have the greatest advantages from the EU's agriculture subsidies want to know before the elections what will be in store for them afterwards.

Schroeder is attempting, with the vision of Europe, to disperse the question of cost. Thus, Germany and France are not on the same page and are talking past each other. And, the danger is growing that the summit talks again will turn out to be what they are not supposed to be: discussions about times past, clarifications and clearing-up operations.

-- Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Germany