Germany has been seeking an increasingly bigger role on the
international arena through the integration process for the
27-member European Union (EU).
Concurrently holding the rotating presidencies of the EU and the
Group of Eight industrialized countries gives Germany a rare
opportunity to achieve its goal.
A new loud voice
As Europe's biggest economy and the world's third biggest after
the United States and Japan, Germany has never been more eager to
show that it can do a lot more than others might think.
The latest convincing move came earlier this month at a Brussels
summit where Chancellor Angela Merkel secured a somewhat surprising
deal among EU leaders of setting a legally-binding goal for raising
the share of renewable energy consumption as part of the EU's
ambitious plan to fight climate change.
Merkel called the deal a "breakthrough," vowing to bring up the
issue at the G8 summit, scheduled for June in Germany.
For a long time after World War II, Germany's voice remained
largely unheeded until it vigorously stood up with France against
the US-led war in Iraq in 2003.
As a result, German-US relations were severely strained under
former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. But Germany's unyielding stand
has certainly won cheers both at home and abroad.
Since then, Germany started to raise its voice over the world's
most burning issues. Berlin, once a symbolic city of the Cold War,
became a high-profile meeting venue for the world's top
diplomats.
Berlin has played host to a series of international gatherings
on the world's hot issues since a year ago, including a meeting of
foreign ministers on Iran's nuclear issue in March last year, a
meeting of the so-called "Quartet" group on the Middle East in
February, as well as the first bilateral meeting earlier this year
between the US and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
outside the six-party talks over the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula.
Meanwhile, German leaders have never been so outspoken.
Taking the helm of the EU in January, Merkel vowed to help
revive the stalled peace process in the Middle East during
Germany's six-month EU presidency.
Merkel also called for a combination of civil building and
conflict prevention in Afghanistan, and described Africa's
development as "of strategic importance" to the EU.
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Germany's EU presidency has recently been preoccupied by concerns
over Washington's unilateral plan to build an anti-missile defense
system in Eastern Europe, as Berlin fears that the move could risk
a split among its allies.
Germany is worried that the US missile plan, in the name of
protecting the United States and its allies, may trigger a new arms
race on European soil.
Germany is also concerned that the United States, by building a
missile shield in the so-called "New Europe," may even try to wrest
Germany's neighbors, namely Poland and the Czech Republic, away
from the European family, analysts say.
Merkel even suggested that the anti-missile system be built
within the framework of NATO.
On shoulder of EU
For all its ambitions, it remains virtually undisputed that
Germany cannot remain powerful without a strong Europe.
Analysts say Germany, even though having gradually dragged
itself out of the shadow of war, cannot risk going strong and
powerful all alone.
Any unilateral move by a powerful Germany may still be
considered dangerous. Therefore, a strong Europe seems to become
the only alternative that Germany could take in expanding its
clout, analysts say.
Meanwhile, the German economy, driven largely by exportation,
has to rely on the integration of Europe to consolidate its biggest
foreign market.
Statistics show that two thirds of Germany's total exports worth
about 500 million euros including cars and electronic devices, go
to other European countries.
Meanwhile, a crisis of confidence is still dogging the European
Union almost two years after two of its founding fathers, France
and the Netherlands, rejected in 2005 the draft treaty of the EU
Constitution designed to streamline the EU and raise its
efficiency.
Merkel, expected to present a roadmap for the revival of the
Constitution by the end of Germany's EU presidency in June, hopes
for a strong push for the treaty during the informal EU summit in
Berlin over the weekend.
According to the German plan, a new treaty should be ratified by
all 27 EU members before the elections for the European Parliament
in 2009, but the feasibility of the plan remains in doubt.
But there is no doubt that Germany will continue to push for a
EU constitution and further EU integration despite all the
differences among the EU members.
Brand-new transatlantic ties
It remains just as undisputed that a strong Germany cannot
afford to lose the United States as its most important ally.
After patching up the strained ties with the United States due
to the Iraq war, Merkel is now calling for a new transatlantic
market between the EU and the US.
Merkel has repeatedly urged the two sides to coordinate regulatory
frameworks to lower bureaucratic hurdles and cut transaction costs,
from which Germany, the world's biggest exporter, can certainly
benefit.
At the same time, a rising Germany also faces challenges from
the US in its bid to seek a "leading role" in the EU, as Washington
is bent on building a "unipolar world."
While Germany's diplomacy charts a course which is becoming more
independent than ever, it still has to figure out how to deal with
the United States, now the only superpower in the world, analysts
say.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2007)
