Schröder snubs his old enemy Chirac

The newly re-elected German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, delivered a snub to the French President, Jacques Chirac, last night when he flew to London for a private dinner and talks with Tony Blair.

The visit to Mr Blair created a stir because new French and German leaders have traditionally made their first post-election visits to each other's country to underline the Franco-German axis.

Mr Chirac had courted Mr Schröder's electoral rival, Edmund Stoiber, in anticipation of a centre-right government being elected. Mr Chirac even conferred the légion d'honneur, one of the highest distinctions the French state can offer, on Mr Stoiber.

French diplomats played down the importance of the London visit, pointing to a scheduled meeting next month between Mr Chirac and the Chancellor, and denied that it was a snub. But coming so soon after Mr Schröder's narrow re-election on Sunday, it inevitably sent many signals.

Even before the election campaign, relations between Mr Chirac and Mr Schröder were poor. The Chancellor's latest attempts to reform the costly Common Agricultural Policy were neutered by a Chirac-led rebellion at a European Union summit in Berlin in 1999.

The London meeting, arranged when Mr Blair rang Mr Schröder to congratulate him on his victory, was greeted as a coup by British diplomats, with one official describing it as "a reflection of the importance of the UK in Europe".

In Berlin the dinner was given less dramatic billing, being presented as an opportunity for a private discussion among like-minded centre-left leaders whose numbers were declining before the victories of Goran Persson in Sweden and Mr Schröder in Germany. By contrast Mr Blair and Mr Schröder have a solid and businesslike relationship. An EU diplomat said: "They have supported each other in their mutual election campaigns, which shows they are close."

In the past, co-operation between London and Berlin has been patchy even though both leaders profess to share the same "third way" philosophy. An attempt to forge common ideological ground through a joint pamphlet exploded in Mr Schröder's face when it provoked opposition from the left of his party.

The topics for discussion last night were expected to include the contents of the British Government's dossier on Iraq as well as negotiations on EU enlargement and reform. The German government sees Mr Blair as a key ally in its efforts to patch up its ties with Washington and Mr Blair may be hoping to act as an informal intermediary to bring a graceful end to the stand-off.

With talks on the composition of the Social Democrat-Green coalition about to begin, the German opposition elected Angela Merkel, chairman of the Christian Democrat Union and Germany's most influential female politician, to lead their alliance in the Bundestag. Ms Merkel was elected unopposed after the CDU's alliance partner, the Christian Socialist Union, prevailed on its nominee, Friedrich Merz, not to stand.

Ms Merkel had made clear her intention to contest the leadership of the opposition immediately after Mr Stoiber accepted the centre-right alliance had lost the election.

Mr Stoiber settled some incipient alliance in-fighting by asking Mr Merz to step aside. This was an extraordinary intervention for the Bavarian premier and CSU leader, who had just led his party to its largest majority in Bavaria and nearly won the chancellorship. But it was an acknowledgement of Ms Merkel's contribution to his campaign.