Leading Article: Don't Count on Splitting the Paris-Bonn Axis

Beginning of article

WITH THE election of Gerhard Schroder as Chancellor of Germany, Europe's three biggest countries are now led by Social Democrat parties - a fact which Labour ministers have not been slow to point out. A new triangle of power, with Lionel Jospin in Paris, Schroder in Berlin and Blair in London, is ready to develop. Furthermore, as in the words of the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, there is a chance of detaching Germany from such a close alliance with France and bringing it into a closer relationship with Britain.

Well, hold on a minute. The rejection of Chancellor Kohl after 16 years in power undoubtedly makes a difference. So does his replacement by a Social …