SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A European economic crisis summit without German Chancellor Angela Merkel? British Prime Minister Brown, French President Sarkozy and European Commission President Barroso say there's nothing odd about Merkel not getting invited to the meeting. German politicians and media disagree.
The German government's spokesman has an answer for everything. The fact that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were meeting for pre-talks about the growing economic crisis in London ahead of a European Union summit was completely normal. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman has been singing the same tune for days.
Nor should it amaze anyone that European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was in London on Monday. After all, Barroso had been invited by Brown to a separate economic conference. It would be completely "absurd" to interpret the meeting as a deliberate exclusion of Merkel, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.
And yet, the fact that Merkel was exluded from the meeting is difficult to ignore. For days, observers have been wondering whether a rift has opened up within the EU.
Merkel herself hasn't been able to completely ignore the affront. Over the weekend, she had telephone conversations with Brown, Sarkozy and Barroso -- her spokesman said they agreed to work closely together. But the face-saving effort came too late. By then, the London summit was being interpreted in the same way in the media across Europe: EU leaders were meeting without "Madame Non", as Merkel has come to be known in the EU, in order to heave the continent out of a recession. She is widely seen as lacking the courage to take decisive action. >>> Carsten Volkery | December 12, 2008
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