Analytical articles in two major international newspapers see Germany assuming a new, more important role in the EU thanks to the chancellor's shift of Germany's traditionally warm stance towards Russia.
According to Markus Walker of the Wall Street Journal, Merkel's sceptical view of Russia's foreign policy is gaining ascendancy over other German policymakers' longstanding hopes for a special relationship with Moscow.
On a similar note, Judy Dempsey writes in the International Herald Tribune that "Merkel has stood her ground over foreign policy issues," meaning that "Russia can no longer expect automatic sympathy from the German chancellor". In this context, Dempsey argues further, "Germany is now in a stronger position to play a bigger role in the European Union in shaping the bloc's long-term relationship with Russia and […] the Caucasus".
"Germany is the one country that can warn Russia," said James Sherr, director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, as quoted by the IHT article. "Russia does listen to what Germany says. If Germany can make clear statements about the consequences facing Russia over Georgia and whatever else it might decide to do, it will have an impact on Russia," says Sherr.
Merkel visited Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi on 17 August, where she commented that "if it wants to, Georgia will become a member of NATO". The statement heraled a major U-turn in German foreign policy, despite widely differing from the views of her Social Democratic Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who she is likely to run against in next year's general elections.
However, it does not mean that there will be any immediate change in Germany's opposition to Georgia and Ukraine's NATO membership (EurActiv 2/04/08).
"There will be no change in the German position on NATO membership," said Eckart von Klaeden, a Merkel confidant and Christian Democratic foreign policy expert in parliament, quoted in the Financial Times. "It would be wrong to depart from the Bucharest position at this stage," he argues, referring to the NATO summit that took place in the Romanian capital in April.
