Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Chirac becomes German for a day

Stephen Castle
Saturday 18 October 2003 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The EU's first summit leaders' job share won plaudits yesterday, as the French President, Jacques Chirac, stood in for Gerhard Schröder, at an EU heads-of-government meeting. M. Chirac, who answered through an German interpreter at a press conference, called himself the German Chancellor's "spokesman", rather than Germany's representative.

Mr Schröder took the unprecedented step of asking the M. Chirac to speak for him because he and his foreign minister were needed in Berlin for a crucial parliamentary vote.

But the move was also a strong symbol of the health of the reinvigorated Franco-German relationship. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who chaired the meeting, introduced M. Chirac by saying: "It's a great honour for Germany to have its positions represented by you."

The Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, ruled out ever letting Britain be his spokesman. "I think we will always be at the day where Ireland will speak for Ireland," he said.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in