Merkel Backs Off Plans to Stump for Sarkozy

By WILLIAM BOSTON in Berlin and GABRIELE PARUSSINI in Paris

Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have quietly laid to rest plans for the German leader to actively campaign for Mr. Sarkozy's re-election after news of her participation prompted criticism by the French president's opponents that he had become dependent on Berlin.

Fearing a swing to the left in France that could derail an austerity cure for the euro zone, Ms. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party announced in January that the chancellor would make several campaign appearances with Mr. Sarkozy.

But it now looks like Ms. Merkel's support for the French leader may be backfiring, and some analysts warn she also risks damaging her relationship with the Socialist challenger and front-runner François Hollande. Mr. Sarkozy has gained some ground in public opinion polls since declaring his candidacy Feb. 15, but Mr. Hollande holds a commanding lead in the presidential race.

Franco-German ties comprise the most important bilateral relationship in the European Union, often seen as the motor driving the 27-nation bloc. As the euro-zone debt crisis deepened, Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy overcame initial differences and over the past two years have worked together so closely that the tandem is popularly known as "Merkozy." However, with a victory by Mr. Hollande looking possible in the presidential elections that begin April 22, a question is whether Merkozy will be able to morph into "Merlande."

Mr. Hollande has criticized Ms. Merkel's demands that euro-zone countries with unsustainable debt burdens must drastically tighten their belts and slash wages. Instead, Mr. Hollande calls for growth-boosting policies at the EU level. He has also vowed to rebalance France's relationship with Germany. Mr. Sarkozy, meanwhile, presents his relationship with Ms. Merkel as crucial in fighting the euro-zone crisis.

But Ms. Merkel may have unintentionally weakened Mr. Sarkozy's re-election bid. As the French president was suffering in the polls last fall, at least one senior official from his Union for a Popular Movement party met with senior officials in Ms. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party to discuss the chancellor's support for Mr. Sarkozy's re-election, according to people familiar with the matter.

They discussed joint campaign appearances with Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy in the spring, the people said. Ms. Merkel agreed and in January, CDU Secretary-General Hermann Gröhe announced the plan in a speech in Paris in which he attacked Mr. Hollande and praised the Merkel-Sarkozy team.

"We can be proud of their joint demonstration of leadership," Mr. Gröhe said. "With courage and conviction they have laid the groundwork so that Europe can emerge stronger from the crisis."

The fallout came quickly. The French press branded Mr. Sarkozy as Ms. Merkel's lapdog. Since then, the chancellor showed her support for Mr. Sarkozy in a joint interview in Paris on French television Feb. 6, but any plans for her playing a broader role in his campaign appear to have faded.

In Berlin, a CDU official said no dates have been agreed for the chancellor to appear in a French campaign event, and UMP officials in Paris said none were planned.

"Mrs. Merkel's participation in one of Mr. Sarkozy's campaign events is not currently being discussed," said a spokesman for the UMP party. "It's not on the agenda." He said Ms. Merkel's TV interview with Mr. Sarkozy had already highlighted her "unconditional support" for him.

Ms. Merkel declined to say in the interview whether she would meet Mr. Hollande before the elections. She has criticized his proposal to review details of the European fiscal pact that forms the core of her crisis-busting strategy. "Europe couldn't work if everything that has been agreed upon were to be renegotiated when the government changes," she said last month.

Judging by the history of Europe's most indispensable partnership, there are reasons to expect Ms. Merkel and Mr. Hollande would find a way to work together if he were elected.

Reuters

Mr. Sarkozy welcomed Ms. 

Merkel to the Élysée Palace 

in Paris this month prior to 

a Franco-German meeting.

Close Franco-German relations have a long history, perhaps most famously in the relationship of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President François Mitterrand despite their contrasting ideologies.

"Merkel doesn't want Hollande because his recipes for the European crisis contradict Merkel's policy course," said Gerd Langguth, a political scientist from Bonn University. "But as soon as someone becomes president, we have a new situation. At that point, realpolitik overtakes political theory."

One major unknown is whether Mr. Hollande would attempt to break free of Ms. Merkel's dominance and steer a more independent course, even at the risk of creating fresh turbulence in the euro zone.

Erik Nielsen, an analyst at Unicredit in London, said there is room for better European coordination if a Hollande presidency were to invite Italy into the Franco-German "steering committee."

"If a President Hollande were to continue the so-far well-guarded exclusive bilateral German-French coordination, chances are that he'll find himself in the same position of being the de facto junior partner relative to the German chancellor," Mr. Nielsen said.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@dowjones.com and Gabriele Parussini at gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com
Fuente: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE