THEY HAVE disagreed on economic policy, and more recently about military intervention in Libya. But yesterday, President Barack Obama pulled out all the stops for the German chancellor Angela Merkel, on her official visit to Washington.
The United States and German leaders dined alone on Monday night, at the 1789 Restaurant in Georgetown. Yesterday morning, Mr Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greeted Dr Merkel on the White House lawn, with a 19-gun salute (only heads of state get 21 guns) and hordes of school children waving US and German flags. Following further talks in the Oval Office, they held a joint press conference. Dr Merkel was the guest of honour at the Obamas’s state dinner, their first for a European leader.
They joked repeatedly about the fact that, as Mr Obama put it, “neither of us looks exactly like the leaders who preceded us”.
He presented Dr Merkel with the Presidential Medal of Freedom last night because “not only has she been an excellent steward of the German economy and the European project, but she represents the unification of Europe through her own life story . . .”
Yet it was difficult to escape the impression that 2½ years after he took office, Mr Obama is struggling to make up lost time in his relationship with Europe, which he needs – to overthrow Gadafy, stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, end the war in Afghanistan and foster democracy in North Africa.
In the hierarchy of White House friendships, Dr Merkel ranks ahead of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, but probably behind British prime minister David Cameron. “There’s hardly any global issue where we don’t consult one another,” Mr Obama said. “I always value Angela’s pragmatic approach to complex issues, her intelligence, her frankness. I trust her.”
Dr Merkel and Mr Obama have different views of economics; she has an innate aversion to deficit spending, and Germany last year allied itself with China in resisting G20 efforts to limit their balance of payment surpluses.
Yesterday, they agreed, as Mr Obama said, that “the financial situation in Europe . . . cannot be allowed to put the global economic recovery at risk”.
Berlin shocked everyone by breaking ranks with its US and European allies for the first time since the second World War to side with China, Russia and Brazil in abstaining in the United Nations Security Council vote authorising the use of military force in Libya. Mr Obama and Dr Merkel were at pains to minimise that disagreement yesterday.
“With regard to Libya, I’d note that Germany’s deployment of additional resources and personnel to Afghanistan has allowed other Nato allies to increase their support for the mission to protect the Libyan people,” Mr Obama said. “The chancellor and I have been clear – Gadafy must step down and hand power to the Libyan people.” Regarding Germany’s role, “There is going to be a lot of work to do when Gadafy does step down, in terms of getting the Libyan people back on their feet,” Mr Obama added.
Dr Merkel emphasised Germany’s commitment to Afghanistan, where it is the third largest supplier of troops to the US-led mission. She noted that Germany has “opened up an office in Benghazi that will serve as a clearing house for training schemes, for example, for the security forces, the police there on the ground”.
Mr Obama faces a diplomatic crisis over the resolution on statehood that Palestinian leaders intend to present at the UN General Assembly in September. Israel and the US oppose the resolution. President Sarkozy supports it. Dr Merkel sided with the US. “We want a Jewish state of Israel alongside an independent Palestinian state,” she said. “Unilateral measures are not helping at all to bring about this cause.”