Germany: Not pressured on Obama appearance

BERLIN, July 12 (UPI) -- The German government says it is not being pressured by the White House to keep U.S. Sen. Barack Obama from speaking at Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made clear her opposition to using the symbolic gate as a backdrop for partisan political events. That includes an upcoming visit this month by Obama, the likely Democratic U.S. presidential nominee, to Europe and the Middle East. But a Merkel aide says she isn't being asked by the Bush administration to do so, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm Friday called "inaccurate in every way" German media reports that U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt asked Merkel's foreign policy adviser, Christoph Heusgen, to declare the Brandenburg Gate off limits to Obama.

The gate symbolizes the unification of Germany, and is seen by some as sacred. But the final say on the matter belongs to Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, a political rival of Merkel's, who has said Obama can speak wherever he pleases, including the gate, the Post reported.