KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's debut on the international political scene has taken many by surprise.
Since she took office, Merkel, 51, has made trips to Paris, Brussels, London, Warsaw, Washington and Moscow, and the German media eagerly awaited her to stumble or fall, at least rhetorically. The shoes of her media-savvy predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, seemed too big to fill. Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany and tended to appear dull when facing a camera, was long believed to be incapable of standing up to the likes of Tony Blair, George Bush and Vladimir Putin.
However, since her election in November, she has voiced her concern over the situation in Chechnya with Putin, critiqued Guantanamo prison base in the White House, successfully dealt with two hostage crises and -- after just a few weeks in office -- helped broker an agreement between France and Britain on the European Union's controversial budget.
The media called her the "Queen of Europe," and rightly so, Ruediger Schmitt-Beck, political expert at Duisburg University, on Thursday told United Press International via telephone.
"She had only just been elected and still she right away became the center of that summit," he said. "Compared to her appearance on Election Day, she has made an enormous step forward when it comes to representing Germany."
Merkel's first trip to the White House as German chancellor was awaited eagerly on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Washington, Merkel, who had been considered pro-American, wasn't afraid to mention her disapproval for the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Despite her criticism, most of the meeting was smiles, partly because she addresses differences in opinion differently than her predecessor Schroeder, Merkel biographer Gerd Langguth on Thursday told UPI.
"She critiques Guantanamo, but she mentions it ahead of her trip in the press to prepare the playing field," he said. "Schroeder slapped Bush in the face with his criticism, such as categorically refusing a war before there even had been a request to join."
Bush was impressed, observers say, also by Merkel's life story that includes a silent opposition to the former communist regime and a love for "freedom," a word the U.S. president uses quite frequently himself.
That silent opposition has resulted in a slight mistrust of Russian politics, Langguth said.
"She speaks Russian fluently and she loves the language, but she tends to be reserved when dealing with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin."
Schroeder had forged close ties with Putin and called him a "flawless democrat," a sentence "you won't hear from Merkel," Langguth said.
Merkel had already been to the United States, shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall, when then-chancellor Helmut Kohl took her to see President George H. W. Bush.
"At the time, Merkel was the embodiment of the fearful, lost daughter, freed from the claws of communism by these powerful men," German news magazine Stern writes in its Thursday issue.
Merkel now uses the red carpet of foreign policy to further her own agenda. She wants to bring Germany back into the role of an "honest broker," observers say, away from the confrontational course practiced by Schroeder that ultimately damaged Germany's interests around the world.
Merkel however is less diplomatic and more straight forward than most of her colleagues. When she said she would have to check whether a controversial bill regulating NGOs in Russia was not too restrictive, Putin had to quickly jump in:
"Well I also want to say something to that topic," Putin said. "I am astonished that our internal law-making is of such great interest to foreign governments."
Langguth said her new office alone has lent Merkel credibility and self-confidence.
"And she has always been underestimated," he added.
Merkel, just like Kohl, the man who in 1990 discovered and pushed her by making her a young minister, is considered to be pro-European. The lobby of smaller countries, including Germany's eastern neighbor Poland, have received a boost in Berlin after years of unilateral decision-making of Schroeder's favored axis Berlin-Paris-Moscow.
"It's interesting how Merkel has distanced herself from all alliances, but keeps her options open to everything," Schmitt-Beck said.
But Merkel's foreign affairs tour now is over, and much of what concerns Germany domestically still has to be tackled.
Key reforms, such as the federalism reform and a modernization of Germany's health system so far have been put on hold due to their controversial nature.
"The question now is: is she going to spend extra money on reforms or trying to get rid of Germany's federal deficit? That's an issue I think is still undecided," Schmitt-Beck told UPI.
