PARIS -- The most striking fact to emerge from the recent Germany elections is that for the first time a majority of voters in a EU member-state has been motivated by foreign-policy concerns. In the past, the country's worsening economic situation and high unemployment rate would have cost Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder his job. But his refusal to allow Germany to participate in a war against Iraqi Saddam Hussein -- even if approved by the U.N. -- helped him win the support of millions of likeminded voters.
Schroeder's campaign weakened the close links that have existed between the U.S. and Germany since the Cold War era. His justice minister went as so far as to compare U.S. President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler. Forced first to apologize and later to resign, she won't participate in the next Cabinet.
The United States felt insulted by these words from a country that it helped, in the wake of World War II, to restore its image, to join the community of the free nations, to resist the Soviet threat and, finally, to peacefully achieve reunification.