German-Italian Talks /d.welle
German-Italian Talks to Focus on Current International Crises
The German and Italian governments are to hold top-level talks on Tuesday, Nov. 20 under the shadow of international crises that both are closely involved in: Iran's nuclear program and the future status of Kosovo.
The interests may converge, but there is an imbalance in the influence the two European Union partners can exert that complicates their relations.
On Kosovo, the EU has chosen Germany's ambassador to London, Wolfgang Ischinger, to be its representative on the so-called Troika -- along with the United States and Russia -- that is to report back to the United Nations by Dec. 10.
But it is Italy that has the closer strategic interest in maintaining the fragile peace in Kosovo. The Balkans lie just a couple of hundred kilometers away across the Adriatic.
"Italy has a large interest in Kosovo," says Henning Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. "Italy also has a problem in that Germany often carries larger weight in international issues," he noted.
Imbalance of power a sticking point
This imbalance is also apparent in dealings with Tehran. Italy is second only to Germany within the EU in the volume of trade with Iran, and any EU sanctions would need the close cooperation of both countries.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany's leading role in negotiations with Iran irks Italy
But here too, Germany carries far greater international weight. Alongside the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, it is part of direct negotiations with Tehran over Iran's disputed uranium enrichment program. Italy is out in the cold.
When Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Romano Prodi sit down to the talks at Schloss Meseberg, the German government guest house some 70 kilometers (44 miles) from Berlin, they are to be joined by their respective foreign ministers.
Transport and economics ministers will hold their own bilateral meetings on a range of issues. "Logistics will be a central theme," a Transport Ministry spokeswoman said in Berlin. "Innovation, energy efficiency and environmental issues will be discussed alongside economic factors," she added.
Intimate talks may not yield much in way of progress
The baroque palace at Meseberg came into its present role only in January this year, but since then Merkel has made use of it as a secluded venue for meetings with foreign leaders.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Observers believe the meeting will produce little
Little tends to come out of the meetings for public consumption. Merkel and Prodi are likely to emerge to make brief statements to the press before taking a limited number of questions.
Riecke is nevertheless convinced of their usefulness. "Certainly they have a purpose," he said, pointing to the personal contact between officials at a high level.
That personal contact is, however, unlikely to have much impact on one point close to Merkel's heart.
She and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier believe Germany's economic weight and its peacekeeping role in hotspots, such as the Balkans, Afghanistan and Congo, entitle it to a Security Council seat. Italy firmly disagrees.
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