IIn the fall of 2002, Angela Merkel lost an election and won a friend. The defeat in the Bundestag election in September came before his party forcibly abandoned its own candidacy for chancellor at the start of the year. In November, however, CDU President Merkel flew to Paris. There she wanted to help French President Jacques Chirac, who won his re-election from his supporters in an effort to form a new party. Three years later, in the autumn of 2005, Angela Merkel also won the election. And soon a friend, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The newly elected Chancellor immediately offered the service of friendship to both of them. At the next EU summit, his first as German head of government, he untied the knot that Blair, Chirac and others had previously tied in a serious dispute over the EU’s next seven-year budget. This success, achieved less than three months into her tenure as chancellor, cemented Angela Merkel’s foreign policy reputation – a reputation to which she has contributed thorough preparation and personal qualities.