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Chirac seeks to ease tension with Schroeder

BERLIN, Germany -- French President Jacques Chirac is meeting with his German counterpart in an attempt to find some middle ground in their disagreement over the future shape of the European Union.

Chirac is holding talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the German leader's home town of Hanover on Saturday prior to next week's key summit of EU leaders in Nice. At the top of the menu will be Germany's demand for a greater say in Brussels.

The issue has been brought to a head by France's objection to Germany winning a greater voice when the EU's decision-making structures are revamped to allow 10 former communist countries, as well as Malta and Cyprus, the chance to enter the bloc from 2003.

 REFERENCE
EU Summit - Nice, France
  •  Summit preview
  •  Main sticking point
  •  Chirac's salvation?
  •  On the agenda
  •  What do they want?
  •  Votes vs. population
  •  Jargon glossary
  •  EU enlargement map
  •  History of EU growth
  •  What kind of Europe?
  •  France's EU presidency
  •  In-depth: Changing face of Europe
  •  Message board
 

Chirac has spent the past week criss-crossing Europe in an effort to lobby leaders over France's fears of a decline in its influence if Germany, now with a much larger population since reunification in 1990, is granted more power in the EU's policy-determining Council of Ministers .

France, the holder of the rotating EU presidency, is also annoyed at a German push for a new conference in 2004 to look at even deeper reforms.

French officials fear this may detract from the business at hand in Nice.

Complete overhaul

Chirac insisted this week he would oppose any "decoupling" of the voting parity between Germany and France, each of which currently have 10 votes in the Council.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sought on Friday to play down the conflict, insisting in a newspaper interview that while a reform of voting structures was needed, the issue was not just a Franco-German problem.

"It's not that unified Germany wants the prestige of having its larger population than France documented in the number of its votes," he told the Frankfurter Rundschau, adding that a complete overhaul of vote weighting was needed.

German officials have given hints they could compromise on the issue in return for other concessions.

"We will look at the overall deal," Schroeder spokesman Uwe Karsten-Heye said on Friday.

Above all, German officials are concerned Schroeder does not walk away from Nice empty-handed as he did last March in Berlin, when German demands for a cut in contributions into Brussels coffers were rejected.

Analysts say whichever way the dispute between France and Germany is settled, it could prompt fresh demands from other countries who believe their national interest is affected.

Reuters contributed to this report.



RELATED STORIES:
Germany warns of further euro slump
December 1, 2000
Prodi fears failure at EU summit
November 30, 2000
Chirac against more EU votes for Germany
November 30, 2000
Ciampi backs EU Charter of Rights
November 28, 2000
Schroeder denies rift with France over Europe
November 28, 2000

RELATED SITES:
Federal Government of Germany
German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in German)
French Presidency of the EU
European Union

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