The newly elected German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, delivered a snub to the French President Jacques Chirac last night as he flew to London for a private dinner and talks with Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister.
French diplomats played down the significance of the visit, pointing to
a scheduled meeting next month between Mr Chirac and the German Chancellor, and denied that it was a snub. But coming so soon after Mr Schroeder's narrow re-election on Sunday, it inevitably sent many signals.
Newly-elected French and German leaders have traditionally made such post-election flying visits to each other's country first to underline the importance of the Franco-German axis in Europe.
However President Chirac had courted Mr Schroeder's electoral rival, Edmund Stoiber, in anticipation of a centre-right government being elected in Berlin. Mr Chirac evern conferred the legion d'honneur, one of the highest distinctions the French state can offer, on Mr Stoiber.
Even before the election campaign, relations between Mr Chirac and Mr Schroder were poor. The German Chancellor's last attempts to reform the costly Common Agricultural Policy were drastically neutered by a Chirac-led rebellion at a European Union summit in Berlin in 1999.
The London meeting, arranged when Mr Blair rang Mr Schroder to congratulate him on his election victory, was greeted as a coup by British diplomats, with one official describing it as "a reflection of the importance of the UK in Europe".
In Berlin the dinner was given less dramatic billing, being presented as an opportunity for a private discussion among like-minded centre-left leaders - whose numbers were declining before the victories of Mr Persson in Sweden and Mr Schroeder in Germany .
By contrast Mr Blair and Mr Schroder have a solid and businesslike relationship
"They have supported each other in their mutual election campaigns," said one EU diplomat, "which shows that they are close".
- INDEPENDENT
