New German Chancellor to Visit London, Gateway to Washington

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor-designate, has signalled her intention to make a fresh start in the country's recent troubled relations with Britain by visiting Tony Blair. Ms Merkel, who is today due to be confirmed as chancellor in a vote in the Bundestag, or lower house, will fly to London on Thursday, her aides said yesterday. She is expected to have a private dinner with Mr Blair before returning to Berlin.

She will travel to Paris tomorrow to see France's president, Jacques Chirac, and to Brussels for meetings with European Union officials. "It is a tradition for Germany's chancellor to travel to France first," an official of her Christian Democratic party said.

But there is little doubt that her early trip to London signals a new, more positive era in British-German relations - after months of tension between Mr Blair and Germany's outgoing chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. Mr Schröder and Mr Blair have hardly been on speaking terms following disagreements over Iraq and EU reform.

"Germany has to be good friends with Paris. That's a must," Wolfgang Stock, Ms Merkel's biographer, told the Guardian. "But more important for Ms Merkel are Anglo-American relations. She will do her utmost to improve relations with the US and she recognises that Britain is the gateway to Washington."

Asked about the Downing Street talks, he added: "I'm not sure they will be talking about issues. It's the atmosphere that's important. My bet is they are going to get on much better than Blair and Schröder."

As well as restoring Germany's traditional partnership with the US, Ms Merkel wants to loosen ties with Russia and make Berlin's relationship with Paris less exclusive, her officials say. She also wants better links with the EU's smaller states.

But her room for manoeuvre in foreign policy is limited by the fact that she is the head of a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. Germany's new foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is a close ally of Mr Schröder and has vowed "continuity" in foreign policy.