Analysis: Germany's 'new course'

By Ray Furlong
BBC correspondent in Berlin

It lasted just 40 minutes.

But the 'breakfast summit' at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel was of crucial importance to Gerhard Schroeder - overshadowing the first speech by a German Chancellor at the UN General Assembly since Willy Brandt's 30 years ago.

Germany and France are changing their stance on Iraq

Mr Schroeder's brief meeting with George Bush was supposed to mark the end of the "ice age" in relations with the United States, after the furious row over Iraq.

"Bush and Schroeder end Iraq rift", thundered the best-selling tabloid Bild on Thursday.

Other headlines echo the theme.

"The rift threatened the fabric of the UN. Both sides have now recognised this is in nobody's interest," said conservative broadsheet Die Welt.

Other papers have doubts.

With Mr Bush suffering internal political problems, "he needs help from friends overseas", says Sueddeutscher Zeitung, adding that "his friends procrastinate" because they hope Mr Bush will soon lose power.

Common agenda

But while this may be true, it is clear that Germany has shifted its foreign policy away from its opposition to war in Iraq towards working with the United States on a common agenda.

France is slowly moving too, and the chancellor has a role to play in that German Council on Foreign Relations

At the top of that comes the war against terrorism, in which German security services closely collaborate with their American counterparts.

Then there is Iraq, where Germany realises that defeat or withdrawal of US forces would be a disaster for everyone.

Political analyst Bernhard May, from the German Council on Foreign Relations, said the Bush-Schroeder meeting capped a long-term process.

"The day the war started, the government decided to stop fighting over the rights and wrongs of it," he said. "Then, about six weeks ago, they asked how to deal with Iraq now - and who should do what."

Germany has said it is willing to provide help: rebuilding Iraq's economy, providing aid, training security forces.

It has also promised not to block a new UN resolution on Iraq tabled by the United States.

Convincing France

This is not a complete turnaround.

After his meeting with George Bush, the German chancellor also met French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This is the threesome christened The Axis of Weasels by White House hawks for their opposition to the war.

But they stressed that their meeting was not aimed against America.

Instead, Mr Schroeder's new course is really a return to Germany's post-World War II foreign policy tradition: a balancing act, stressing good relations with both France and the US.

France has kept to a much harder line on Iraq.

When Jacques Chirac met President Bush on Tuesday, there was no joint meeting with journalists afterwards - in contrast to the Schroeder meeting.

"But France is slowly moving too, and the chancellor has a role to play in that," said Bernard May.

"He can tell the French, 'we supported you, we see your point, but from time to time you have to change your mind - to take a reality check'."

Russian oil

Germany has less sway with the third "weasel" in the pack.

When the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, addresses the UN General Assembly on Thursday, we will get more of an indication of where his policy is shifting.

"The situation in Iraq is the best confirmation that Russia was right," he told reporters in Moscow last week.

Many analysts believe Russia will do a different kind of deal with the United States, in which the interests of its oil companies play a key role.

He will no doubt discuss that during two days of talks with George Bush at Camp David starting on Friday - the kind of audience Gerhard Schroeder can still only dream of.