They agree on peat bogs
Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev try to smooth over their differences
GOOD rule for prize-givers is that the recipient’s reputation should add lustre to the prize, rather than the other way round. The bestowers of the Quadriga prize, which honours “role models for Germany”, ignored this rule when picking Vladimir Putin, Russia’s authoritarian prime minister, for one of this year’s accolades, creating a furore. Vaclav Havel, a 2009 winner, threatened to return his gong. Bowing to “unbearable pressure”, the Quadriga committee cancelled the prize. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, called its behaviour “cowardly”.
Embarrassingly, the fuss occurred just before a July 18th and 19th meeting between Mr Medvedev and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in Hanover. They focused on cheery things they plan to do together (promote energy efficiency, protect peat bogs). But the Quadriga row revealed the strains between Europe’s biggest country and its biggest economy, and their leaders’ eagerness to contain them.
That has become easier. It has been a while since Russia invaded Georgia and shut off Ukraine’s gas supply. Barack Obama’s “reset” with Russia smooths things for Germany, and resets in Polish-German and Polish-Russian relations make “a huge difference,” says Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. Russian-German trade may reach a record €70 billion ($99 billion) this year. Mr Medvedev is a more congenial partner than Mr Putin.
Russia and Germany have a “window of opportunity” to get things done, argues Alexander Rahr of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Next year’s presidential elections could put Mr Putin in the Kremlin and a hawkish Republican in the White House. Yet there was little urgency in Hanover. Mrs Merkel made no promises on Russia’s most pressing demand, visa-free travel to the European Union. (She plans to “suggest something in the coming year.”) Mr Medvedev fended off pressure from Germany, currently chairing the UN Security Council, to back a resolution condemning crackdowns in Syria.
Not so long ago Germany seemed the supplicant because of its reliance on Russian oil and gas. The government’s recent decision to give up nuclear power and the news that Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant, would invest in German electricity have sharpened fears that Germany might become even more beholden to Russia. Mrs Merkel took pains to dispel this idea, turning down a Russian proposal to add a third pipe to the Baltic gas pipeline.
But this summit was more about the political and economic gulf between the countries than the pipelines linking them. The two leaders added content to a “modernisation partnership”, including new efforts to reform Russia’s judicial system. German and Russian state banks agreed to consider setting up a fund to support small business in Russia. But the gap remains big. Russia made limited progress on its bid to join the World Trade Organisation. Its leaders are split on whether freer trade would help its industry, says Mr Rahr. At the “Petersburg dialogue” among NGOs, which ran alongside the summit, Russia’s aversion to independent activism was on full view. Most of the Russian participants are “very close” to the ruling elite, says Ralf Fücks of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, who took part in the talks. The botched prize-giving emphasised that point.
Źródło: Econimist.com/ Jul 21st 2011 | BERLIN | from the print edition | Europe