By Helen Maguire Oct 29, 2009, 18:20 GMT
Brussels - German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced expectant journalists with a tight-lipped smile, resolutely refusing to answer the question on everybody's minds at the EU summit - who will be the first ever EU president?
'First of all, I'd like all countries to complete the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty,' Merkel said, adding that progress was slow. The treaty creates the post of EU president and 'high representative,' a foreign minister in all but name.
EU leaders are keen to fill the bloc's new top jobs and name its next executive group, the 27-member European Commission, but they cannot do so until the Czech Republic ratifies the treaty.
'I am fairly optimistic that we will eventually manage this, and then I'll be prepared to talk about staffing,' the chancellor added.
Her words were almost drowned out by a helicopter hovering overhead - but on this key issue Merkel knows that everyone in Europe is straining to hear Germany's opinion.
Merkel's trip to Brussels, accompanied by freshly inaugurated Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, comes a day after Germany's widely respected chancellor was sworn in to her second term in office.
As Europe's largest economy and main contributor to EU finances, Germany's gravitas can swing decisions - a power which Merkel uses with caution. This explains her absolute refusal to make any utterances regarding candidates for the EU presidency.
Merkel's resolute approach was also likely to impact on the other key topic at the Brussels summit - climate change commitments.
The club of 27 was eager to formulate a joint bargaining position to take into a UN climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, but was struggling to agree on who should pay how much to help poor countries fight climate change.
Merkel was being accused by diplomats of maintaining an unhelpful position by arguing that the EU should not put numbers on the table before the United States and China pledged their commitments.
'Germany doesn't want any numbers in the conclusions at all. They were the main problem in (EU finance ministers' meeting) Ecofin, and that was a real surprise,' an official close to the negotiations told the German Press Agency dpa ahead of the summit.
Speaking upon her arrival in Brussels, Merkel said, 'the European Union will make clear that we want an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen. However this also requires the US and large developing countries to make commitments.'
As a result, Merkel was expected to oppose attempts by the EU's rotating Swedish presidency to formulate concrete financial commitments for the EU to take to Copenhagen.
Behind the scenes, German officials were describing the country's position as 'tactical.' After all, they noted, Merkel had played a key role in driving forward the EU's ambitious position on climate change during Germany's rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc, in 2007.
Meanwhile, fellow EU leaders were also keen to sound out whether a new chapter in Franco-German relations might emerge after her Christian Democrats (CDU) forged a new governing alliance with the free-market Free Democrats (FDP). The CDU had previously ruled together with the Social Democrats.
As is tradition, the reappointed chancellor's first foreign visit was to see French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a fellow conservative, who stressed that the two leaders would speak with one voice on most issues during the EU summit.
Merkel also accepted an invitation to mark Armistice Day in Paris on November 11, making her the first ever German leader to commemorate the end of World War I, and Germany's defeat, in France.
However, Westerwelle also indicated a new overture to the eastern members of the European Union in his inaugural speech just hours before jetting to Brussels.
The FDP had already left its foreign policy mark on the new government charter, insisting that the new coalition deal included explicit German support for 'open-ended' EU membership negotiations with Turkey.
Speaking to hundreds of Foreign Ministry officials, Westerwelle turned his focus to Eastern Europe and said, 'The relationship with our eastern neighbours still needs some deepening.'
'The project especially requires the societies to grow together. This has already happened to a large degree between Germany and France,' the foreign minister said.
'Our task is to see that a similar quality is achieved in the relationship between eastern and western EU members,' Westerwelle added.
Germany's response to Eastern European concerns over climate change and the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty could be the first occasion to test this new resolve.
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