Merkel in the White House

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the first major European leader to pay a visit to President Barack Obama in the White House. That was back in March of this year, shortly after Obama had been sworn in.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was next in April, followed by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in June. Even Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, embroiled in a major scandal back home in Italy, was finally granted a meeting with Obama in the White House in June.

Only the leader of Europe's biggest economy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has not yet visited the White House, sparking media speculations that relations between Merkel and Obama were cooler than with Obama's predecessor George W. Bush.

Jürgen Chrobog, a former German Ambassador to the United States, thinks those rumors are without merit. He points to the fact that Merkel and Obama have already met twice in Germany.

"There was never much time to talk about things in detail, but at least they have met, they know each other and I think it's now time to make a full official visit to the United States", says Chrobog and adds: "She couldn't have waited longer."

The timing isn't really of much significance, agrees Wess Mitchell, co-founder of the Center for European Policy Analysis. He also doesn't believe that that the personal chemistry between the two leaders is markedly worse than the chemistry between Merkel and Bush was.

And, says Chrobog, to develop personal relations takes time, especially between the German chancellor and the new American president. "Merkel is not a person who is easygoing and relaxed. She is very Northern German actually. Obama is a completely different type of person."

Delicate balance on Iran

More importantly than the personal relationship between the leader, say the experts, are the issues facing the US and Germany. The most pressing topic to be discussed in the White House could be Iran, where Chancellor Merkel took a tougher line against the Iranian regime than Obama, stating her support for the protestors and urging a full recount of the ballots.

Still, Gale Mattox, a Germany expert and currently the Fulbright-Dow Distinguished Research Chair of the Roosevelt Study Center in the Netherlands, says that after some hesitation Obama this week came out quite strongly on Iran as well. "It seems to me that we are pretty much on the same sheet of music now."

Former ambassador Chrobog says the US administration must tread a fine line on Iran. "It would be tremendously difficult if he would put pressure on Iran and give the Mullah government there an argument to say everything that is happening in Iran is just because of the United States. He should never interfere now in the domestic issues of Iran. It would backfire, it would be terrible."

Economic malaise

The economic crisis will of course be another dominant issue for Merkel and Obama at the White House. On this topic, argues Mitchell, there could be some friction between both leaders.

"Merkel and the German government clearly don't look favorably on what the US Federal Reserve describes as loose monetary policy." Merkel could use the problems the German government has with the American response to the economic crisis to point the finger at the United States as the main culprit for the global crisis, says Mitchell.

But it's not just the Germans who may want to ruffle some feathers. "I think when they meet, Obama will press Merkel to make a more positive contribution to solving the global crisis. There has been a lot of criticism in Washington of the German government's reluctance to step forward and play a stronger role."

Mitchell feels that the meeting in the White House won't be able to solve those differences, an argument Gale Mattox agrees with: "I think it will remain a point of contention, because we have taken very different approaches and I don't see that we are either going to one side or to the other side."

Climate change will be another topic that will be discussed, but will likely remain unresolved. Analysts note that Obama has reversed the Bush policy on global warming and seems personally committed to adressing the issue.

But they point out that in the end any binding international agreement that Obama signs will have to be ratified by Congress. In addition, it could be difficult for Obama to press forward domestically on climate issues amid the worst economic crisis in recent memory.

Still, says Chrobog, even if Obama cannot go as far as the Europeans want him to go on climate change, at least the US president and Germany are now reading from the same page.

Author: Michael Knigge

Editor: Rob Mudge