The Bush administration seems convinced that a German government headed by the CDU would be more favorable to the Bush policies than the current red-green coalition.
As I mentioned in my last post, it seems to me that such an outcome is unlikely. Simon Tisdale in the Guardian explains some of the reasons why: Bush should not count on a pushover 09/14/05.
Clear policy differences [with the Bush administration] are likely to persist [in a government headed by the CDU's Angela Merkel]. German backing for the UN's international criminal court, for lifting the EU's arms embargo on China, and Ms Merkel's opposition to full EU membership talks with Turkey all potentially put her at odds with Washington.
Her anti-Turkish stance has gone down well in France where the reform-minded Mr Sarkozy hopes to win Ms Merkel's backing for his idea of an expanded core group of leading EU nations. In contrast, President Jacques Chirac will want to replicate the Franco-German axis that he forged with Mr Schröder on EU budget, agricultural, and multilateral policy issues.
He also talks briefly about German-Russian relations, which could wind up in some cases putting Germany at odds with the US.
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