US: President Bush's lunch today with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder should hasten a thaw in the frosty relations between the two, writes Derek Scally.
A year ago this week, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Mr Jacques Chirac presented a last-ditch effort to prevent war in Iraq after dinner at Berlin's appropriately named "Final Appeal" restaurant.
Today the German leader will enjoy a meal with a different partner, President Bush in the White House. A year after transatlantic relations entered a diplomatic ice age over Iraq, Mr Schröder graciously accepted today's lunch invitation as a way of hastening the thaw.
The temperature has been rising in Washington for some time: White House officials have been full of praise for Germany lately, lauding Germany's engagement in Afghanistan and the call from Mr Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, for a new Middle East initiative.
The meat and potatoes of today's lunch will remain Iraq, but now the two leaders hope that the issue that put them at loggerheads a year ago could now draw them together.
Chancellor Schröder suggested yesterday that this is not because of any change in position but because of a new respect for each other's limits, such as Berlin's polite but firm refusal to send troops to Iraq.
"The American government knows precisely where we stand, and is also very well informed about the fact that such questions face extraordinary resistance in the German parliament," said Mr Schröder to the Financial Times yesterday. Or, as one of his officials put it: "Washington knows that we would say 'no', so they're not asking any more."
Mr Schröder is ready to back a "substantial" debt relief for Iraq, which owes Berlin around €5 billion in debts and interest. But he is also expected to ask Mr Bush to invite German companies to bid for the next round of contracts in Iraq. Firms from countries that opposed the war, such as France and Germany, have so far been excluded from bidding for reconstruction contracts.
Der Spiegel magazine suggested this week that Germany has gotten off lightly on Iraq, politically as well as financially. Not only has it stood its ground on the troops issue, Berlin has paid only €14 million of the promised €40 million humanitarian aid.
Next month, German officials will start training Iraqi police and security officials in Abu Dhabi. But Berlin is only covering the cost of its own personnel with the rest of the bill covered by the United Arab Emirates.
Berlin and Washington fell out when Mr Schröder used his government's opposition to an Iraq war to boost his ailing campaign at the last minute and ensure his re-election in September 2002.
Now, Berlin officials say, President Bush has to turn around Iraq for his own upcoming re-election. Mr Bush is anxious to use Mr Schröder's visit today to rubbish claims by Democrat challenger Senator John Kerry that the Republicans have ruined US relations with European leaders.
The working relationship during Mr Schröder's trip will focus heavily on economic issues, such as trade and German concerns over the record value of the euro against the dollar that is pushing up the price of German exports in the US.
"The great imbalances in the world economy and foreign exchange rate fluctuations are causing us serious concern," said Mr Schröder in a speech to US business leaders in Chicago last night. He said that any "further shifts . . . to the detriment of the eurozone" would be "harmful".
There was speculation in Berlin last night that the Chancellor will ask Mr Bush to take steps to strengthen the dollar.
Mr Daniel Coats, the US Ambassador to Germany, has suggested that both sides are anxious to present a united front today after a difficult diplomatic year.
But while German officials welcome Washington's wish to rebuild bridges, they warn that Mr Bush should not expect an invitation to visit Berlin during his upcoming European tour. As one government adviser in Berlin put it: "This isn't the beginning of a love affair, but the expression of a good working relationship."