Merkel Will Force Constitution on Europe
Never underestimate a woman. Angela Merkel will be the politician to watch next year. Her two predecessors as German chancellor, Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, derisively called her “das Mädchen” (the girl). Through sheer ambition, however, this workaholic has made her way to the top in Germany. She is now on her way to the top in Europe. At last week’s European Union summit in Brussels, Ms Merkel brokered the budget deal between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jack Chirac. The deal gave nothing to Blair and everything to Chirac. Merkel, however, succeeded in giving Blair the impression that he had saved his face, while at the same time she gave Chirac the impression that he – and not “the girl” – had persuaded Blair to the budget deal. “Il faut le faire,” as they say in Jack’s language. On top of it all, Merkel managed to salvage 400 million euros from the EU budget for Germany. She at once gave 100 million euros to Poland, thereby accomplishing a second remarkable feat. During the past six months Blair had antagonised Poland. He drove Britain’s geopolitical ally into the arms of France by giving the impression that London cared only about its own money and did not give a damn about Eastern Europe. Merkel gave Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz a present of 100 million euros, as if she wanted to indicate that Warsaw’s true friend is not London or Paris, but Berlin.
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