New German Chancellor Sends Conciliatory Signals to America

WASHINGTON - The new German chancellor, Angela Merkel, sent conciliatory signals to America during her first week on the job and said in a magazine article published today that she hopes to have "a more intensive" relationship with President Bush than her openly anti-American predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Yet the president's response to Mrs. Merkel's goodwill has so far not been as effusive.

A 51-year-old conservative who grew up in communist East Germany, Mrs. Merkel met with President Chirac of France, and Prime Minister Blair, within a day of taking office. She also scheduled a January meeting with President Putin of Russia.

But with Germany's new foreign minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier, scheduled to begin a two-day American tour in New York today, no meeting between Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Bush, or between Mr. Bush and Mr. Steinmeier, has been planned. Mr. Bush will not be in Washington on Tuesday, the day Mr. Steinmeier is set to meet with the Secretary of State Rice.

A White House spokesman, Blair Jones, declined to say whether Mrs. Merkel has sought a meeting with President Bush. "If we have something to announce, we will let you know," Mr. Jones said.

Mrs. Merkel's victory over Mr. Schroeder was cause for optimism among those who are hoping for stronger relations between America and Germany. Mrs. Merkel rebuked Mr. Schroeder for anti-American statements on the campaign trail. And while Mr. Steinmeier belongs to the same political party, the Social Democratic Party, as Mr. Schroeder, analysts said they expect him to closely follow Mrs. Merkel's lead.

"Don't think about this as only a change at the top, but a change in the foreign minister too," a Stanford University professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Russell

Berman, said. "I'm sure the various ministers in the German Cabinet are going to be very much team players. The SPD has married to the right rather than married to the left and is going to act accordingly."

Mr. Steinmeier will meet today with Secretary-General Annan and several leading Jewish organizations. He is expected to focus on Germany's efforts at forcing Iran to drop its nuclear program and on reports that America has used German airbases to shuttle terror suspects to and from secret prisons in Eastern Europe.

The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, expressed confidence in Mrs. Merkel's ability to restore relations between America and Germany - an effort that he said is central to securing the nation's support for Jewish causes.

"I've met her several times both in Germany and here, and I'm quite confident that she has an understanding and a sensitivity to our issues," Mr. Foxman said. "Also, what we hope to see is a stronger relationship with the U.S., and that, in fact, would express itself in terms of Israel and Iran."

Germany's previous foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, did not respond to an October statement by President Ahmadinejad of Iran, that Israel should be "wiped off the map." And Mr. Berman said Iran and the American use of German military bases could crowd out any speculation about Mr. Steinmeier not meeting with Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush did not congratulate Mr. Schroeder on his 2002 election and publicly snubbed Mr. Fischer during a post-election American tour. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld then snubbed Germany's defense minister, Peter Struck, cooling relations even more.

"If Merkel wasn't able to get a meeting with President Bush, I don't think it's a snub in the way the German defense minister was snubbed during the good old days of U.S.-German relations," Mr. Berman said. "My sense is that the U.S. government is positively disposed to the new coalition government."