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Wild boys

December 29, 2009

Germany’s new coalition government promised to make improved bilateral relations with the US a top priority. But some young ministers are rubbing their transatlantic partner the wrong way.

https://p.dw.com/p/LGQz
Merkel and Obama debating in Dresden
All seems fine on the surface between Obama and MerkelImage: AP

Seasoned German foreign policy experts, such as the head of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee, Ruprecht Polenz, are beginning to worry about Chancellor Angela Merkel's ”wild boys”.

"If there are differences in opinion, successful diplomacy consists of not making them worse by using a rough tone”, Polenz told the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger daily.

He was first and foremost referring to the German foreign, defense and environment ministers, all relatively young and seemingly unruly cabinet members who've chosen to fire some broadsides at the US administration in recent days and weeks.

Global climate spoils bilateral climate?

It was German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen who first chose to take aim at the United States in a rather blunt manner.

Environment minister Roettgen giving an interview
Environment Minister Roettgen targeted the US over climate talks failureImage: picture-alliance/ dpa

He was so disappointed with the meager results of the global climate summit in Copenhagen that he openly criticized the US president for not being able to rally enough support for climate protection at home.

"While China was unwilling to take the lead during the talks, the United States wasn't able to provide genuine leadership any more", Roettgen said in an interview with the weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel.

Afghanistan an eternal bone of contention?

And there's also been increased friction between Berlin and Washington over NATO's ongoing military effort in Afghanistan.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who's keen to sharpen his liberal Free Democrat profile, wants German troops to leave as soon as possible.

Westerwelle scratching his head
To go or not to go to London?Image: AP

And he definitely doesn't want to send in thousands of additional troops, although he knows that the US president is hoping for exactly that.

Westerwelle went as far as to say that he wouldn't attend a global conference on Afghanistan in London, scheduled for late January, should the gathering be mainly focused on providing more troops.

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg isn't too keen on sending more troops either. Instead, he wants to see negotiations with moderate - meaning non-violent -Taliban as a way of preparing the country for a time after NATO's complete troop withdrawal. That, too, may have raised eyebrows in Washington.

Is the chancellor still in control?

Political observers here are asking why the German chancellor hasn't stepped in to prevent bilateral relations from worsening again. In fact, she's been keeping a low profile of late. Considering that her personal relationship with the US president is believed to be far from perfect, one could be forgiven for thinking that Angela Merkel has no desire to rein in her unruly ministers just yet.

hg/dpa/AFPD

Editor: Susan Houlton

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