Grote controverse over behartiging Duitse belangen door Chirac (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's decision to ask French President Jacques Chirac to stand in for him on the second day of the European summit which starts today (16 October) caused much discussion in Brussels yesterday.

Commission President Romano Prodi hailed the move.

"It is another step towards overcoming narrow nationalism. I am totally in favour of it", Mr Prodi told reporters yesterday. "This is a positive thing".

He added that it may not be the last time one leader represents more than one country.

"It may well be a system that we will see repeated ... OK, it's France and Germany this time. But I don't view this as a little group being distinct from everyone else".

"An absolute novelty"

The German government press office, quoted by AP, said that the unprecedented move was "an absolute novelty in the history of the EU that reflects the close, friendly relations between France and Germany".

A French spokesman said it was a sign of an "ever-closer relationship".

Germany: "a lame duck"

But others strongly disagreed. German MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering - leader of the centre-right European People's Party, the largest political group in the European Parliament, said that Mr Schröder was showing contempt for his European commitments.

The gesture was a "risky manoeuvre" which could turn Germany into a "lame duck on the European political stage".

Mr Pöttering said that the move "recalled the politics of the empty chair". This was a strategy employed by former French President Charles de Gaulle, who in 1965 withdrew France's representatives from meetings in protest at a plan to increase the EU's budget.

The German MEP added that the move will send a bad signal to smaller states. "In the current discussion about the future distribution of voting rights in the Council, this eloquent display of how the big Member States build blocs could lead to a devastating reflex on the part of smaller Member States".

Other German MEPs took a more tongue-in-cheek approach to the controversy. Elmar Brok, who is from the German opposition party, the CDU, told Die Welt, "Anyway, German interests will be better served by the French President than the Chancellor".

What's so important?

Many may ask what is so important that Mr Schröder - and his foreign minister Joschka Fischer - can afford to miss an EU summit.

Mr Schröder will be present today (16 October), when leaders will discuss the main issues - the Constitution and how to boost economic growth. This is when the most significant negotiations will take place, with more minor issues left to the Friday (17 October).

Therefore, the two men are rushing back to Germany on Thursday evening to attend a crucial parliamentary vote on Mr Schröder's structural reform programme.

The reform programme, which aims to boost Germany's sluggish growth by reforming the labour market and cutting welfare payments, has caused a deep split in Mr Schröder's centre-left SDP party.

And the vote could potentially bring the government down - Mr Schröder has threatened eight times to resign if the reforms are not voted through.