PARIS, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- France has invited the German chancellor to ceremonies for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings -- the first time a German leader has been invited.
The move marks growing ties between French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the BBC reported Thursday.
Allied forces disembarked on the Normandy coast in the first step toward liberating France from German occupation during World War II.
Chancellor Schroeder has said he will participate in the ceremonies.
The gesture shows how close a relationship has developed between the two countries since they put aside their wartime enmity.
Just 10 years ago it was deemed too soon to invite a German chancellor to the 50th anniversary, with the late French President Francois Mitterrand taking his German counterpart, Helmut Kohl, to a Franco-German youth festival instead.
