German Elections: Chancellor says victory will benefit the EU

CHANCELLOR Helmut Kohl said yesterday he would use his victory in Germany's parliamentary elections to push ahead with the project of closer political integration of the European Union. 'German unity as an historical event will be wasted if we don't press ahead in parallel with European unity,' he said.

But some commentators said that the narrowness of Mr Kohl's victory and Germany's economic problems might force him to spend more time on domestic issues. 'Government debts, unemployment, the fall-out from unification and the whole business of governing with a small majority mean Kohl will have a very crowded domestic agenda,' a European diplomat said. 'Still, he has made it crystal-clear that he wants significant progress on European unity before he leaves office.'

The main challenge for Mr Kohl is to prepare for a conference of EU governments in 1996 at which member-states will review the Maastricht Treaty. The Chancellor is keen to develop the EU's common foreign policy, increase the powers of the European Parliament, streamline the workings of the executive Commission and ensure that the EU's institutions do not grind to a halt as the Union expands to include new members.

Mr Kohl's Christian Democratic party recently floated the idea of creating a 'hard core' of EU states - Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - that would press ahead with closer integration if other members were unable or unwilling to follow suit. The proposal caused alarm and resentment in some EU countries deemed unsuitable for the 'hard core', but Joachim Bitterlich, a senior foreign-policy adviser to Mr Kohl, said it gave a clear message about Germany's intentions.

'You must bear in mind two signals about this document,' he said yesterday.

'First, it is an appeal to all Europeans to continue European integration.

Second, it is a warning that Germany, situated in the heart of Europe, cannot accept zero progress at the 1996 review conference.'

Mr Kohl believes that monetary union should not take place unless it goes hand-in-hand with political union. But millions of German voters, brought up to regard the stable mark as one of their country's greatest post-war achievements, are wary of jettisoning it for a single European currency.

Former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe took heart from Mr Kohl's victory, since they regard him as a supporter of their attempts to join the EU. Andrzej Szczypiorski, a Polish specialist on Germany, said: 'From the point of view of Polish interests, the election result in Germany is useful. For us it is important, since we get the strongest support for our aims of joining the EU and Nato from the government in Bonn.'

The real debate about EU expansion and reform is unlikely to take off until France has held its presidential elections next spring. Corruption scandals, the argument among France's conservative politicians over who should be their presidential candidate, and the sense of drift accompanying Francois Mitterrand's last few months in office have combined to postpone a clear French response to Germany's proposals for developing the EU.