Merkel Spreads a Message of Cooperation

Angela Merkel's electronic photo album for Washington is complete. It chronicles the whirlwind tour that the leader of Germany's biggest opposition party took through the stations of power in Washington this week. It includes photos of Merkel conversing with Vice President Dick Cheney, Merkel dining with Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. And Merkel chatting with Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser for President George W. Bush.

The list goes on, even if the pictures posted on the Web site of her Christian Democratic Union do not: Alan Greenspan, Sen. John McCain, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, former President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser.

All wanted to have a word or two with Merkel as official Washington opened its arms to her in a way that it has yet to do for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in the five months since his reelection.

Schröder's decisions stir criticism

Over the course of this time, the Social Democratic chancellor has made several decisions that have alienated him from his country's biggest ally. In late January, he categorically ruled out a vote of support for any U.N. resolution that authorized a war against the regime of Saddam Hussein. And he followed that declaration with a veto that Germany, France and Belgium filed in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the alliance from making plans to defend Turkey, the only alliance member that borders Iraq, in case of a war.

These disputes were very much on the minds of Merkel's partners in the U.S. capital. Throughout the visit, Merkel said she encountered two messages about the crisis in the German-American relationship triggered by Schröder and his absolute rejection of a war against Saddam. "I ran into expressions of irritation about the reliability of Germany," Merkel said on Tuesday evening before leaving for New York on Wednesday. "But I also encountered expressions of acceptance for differences of opinion."

Merkel takes opposite position

During her visit, she also sketched out a position that contrasted completely with the chancellor's. During a speech she delivered on Monday to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Washington, which promotes transatlantic unity, she made these points:

• "We have to share risks" with the United States in countering terror and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
• "Nothing would be worse than for Saddam Hussein to have success in splitting the democratic nations."
• And "Europe must do more to pressure Saddam Hussein."

The visit to Washington did not sit well with Schröder's Social Democrats. "Merkel is making foreign policy against the will of a majority of Germans without any mandate from the voters ... and would be better advised to keep quiet," said the party's general secretary, Olaf Scholz (photo).

Party leader defends visit

The Christian Democratic leader faced a similar critical statement in a national television interview she gave while standing outside the White House on Monday.

Deflecting the criticism, she said she was continuing a long tradition of her party's leadership. "Perhaps my visit will make a contribution to promoting closer ties between the two countries," Merkel said on public television. "Germany's task is to strike a balance between friendship to its European neighbors and friendship to America. And that is the only goal to which I am committed."

She seemed to have made an impression on at least one of the American politicians she met, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican who has criticized the Bush administration for being too inclined to go it alone in world affairs.

"Obviously, she's the leader of the opposition party, but I do think the real objective here is to put back together and repair the damage that's been done between these two countries," Hagel told The New York Times. "Don't allow America to define Germany by what the chancellor said, or don't allow Germany to define America by using anti-American sentiments for political purposes."

At home, Merkel seems to making a good impression on voters as well. In a survey conducted for the news magazine Stern, 41 percent of respondents said they would vote for Merkel in an election for chancellor. Schröder, on the other hand, had the backing of 36 percent.