Last week Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, and Gerhard Schroeder met in Berlin.

Neither Bush nor Schroeder seem ready for this.

If Chirac goes down, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder loses face as well.

There are some indications that Merkel is more aware of this then Schroeder was.

MOSCOW Germany s ex Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a legend in Russia.

Merkel s predecessor, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Gerhard Schröder, knew this well.

Schroeder has been pushing the EU to lift the embargo, a move that now appears imminent.

In many countries, Schroeder would now be charged with the crime of conflict of interest.

Certain of Schroeder s predecessors as German chancellor sought to attain the same objective by rather different means.

But this future oriented approach had serious short term political consequences, with Schröder losing the next election and his party s popularity diminishing considerably. Neither Schröder nor Klinsmann attained superstar status, but they carried out the reforms that mattered.

Both Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder have repeatedly pronounced that what happens in Iraq is a strategic challenge to their countries.

Despite a clear win for the center right, the Christian Democrats (CDU) did not escape unscathed.

In Germany, the electorate seems poised to eject Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder out of discontent with his tepid allegiance to the neo liberal project.

To have removed the issue from domestic ideological controversy ranks as a major achievement of Schroeder s tenure.

Germans can also thank the mettle and competence of their political leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder.

In fairness, it should be acknowledged that it was under Schroeder that Germany shed hesitations to deploy soldiers abroad.

Schröder s SPD uses the word social a little more emphatically than it did in the last seven years.

As more and more intrigued contributors signed up to the IR List, a text document was uploaded in which active volunteers collaborated to gather ideas for a campaign.

The Russia that Putin is building has mutated from the post Soviet hopes of freedom into an oil and gas bulwark for his new model ex KGB elite.

If Schroeder gave way to the Christian Democrats, indeed even if President Bush lost to his Democrat challenger, this would not imply the dawn of a new age.

This has happened three times 1972 under Chancellor Willy Brandt, 1983 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl and 2005 under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

In Berlin before I left, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had just welcomed his French and British colleagues for an exchange of views on the state and future of the Union.

In international affairs, Merkel is more skeptical about European enlargement, notably to include Turkey, than Schröder.

But Chancellor Gerhard Schröder instantly shot down that trial balloon, declaring To be clear, we will send no troops to Iraq.

Dependence on Russia even if its face is now that of the allegedly charismatic Gerhard Schroeder will only lead to an abyss.

This raises the question, which students or graduates can actually afford such a placement? Franz Schröder came to the conclusion in his open letter

To be sure, their mood may soon turn brighter Chancellor Schröder is also preparing for re election.

But it is not immediately obvious whether it is Schroeder licking Putin s boots nowadays or vice versa.

Merkel will reintroduce the warmth that has been missing under Schroeder, but she will not become America s yes woman.

France professes to bearing a special responsibility for international order, but so does Germany only a few weeks ago, Chancellor Schroeder based his claim to a permanent German seat in the UN Security Council on Germany's readiness to shoulder such responsibilities.

There are indications that Germany is finally emerging from years of economic stagnation, not least thanks to the reforms started under Schroeder.

The last thing the ECB needs is a political crony of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder assuming Mr. Issing s key post.

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder even became chair of a Russian German consortium to build a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

Her savior came in the unlikely form of the then Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose wild performance on election night handed her the chancellorship.

Germany s then chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, pressed hard for a German appointee to lead the Fund, but Köhler was always an implausible second choice candidate.

Some of us always suspected that the Schroeder Blair idea of New Labour or, in German, the New Center, had no real basis.

An axis between Paris, Berlin, and Moscow never really made sense even when Schroeder was in power in Germany.

In a remarkable coincidence of timing, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called for early elections in the hope of energizing reform.

Bush and Schroeder will make up for the paucity of substance with a good deal of friendly banter and bonhomie before the press assembled in Mainz.

Many old Europeans, including Germany after Schröder s resignation and France under a weakened Jacques Chirac, share that stance.

Aware of the danger that Schroeder may pick a dubious candidate for Issing s post, senior ECB officials are already quietly discussing ways to outmaneuver him.

We do not know whether Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and or President Jacques Chirac called Berlusconi to suggest that he find a new Italian Commissioner.

Like Schroeder, all these people are not economically disinterested. Baker is a consultant for the two companies at the commanding heights of the Russian economy, Gazprom and Rosneft.

Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had another fifteen months to go before the end of the electoral term, and it seemed that he had no difficulty mobilizing his admittedly slender majority in parliament.

Ever since the change in government from Jacques Chirac to Nicolas Sarkozy in France and from Gerhard Schröder to Angela Merkel in Germany, Turkey has been strung along and put off by the European Union.