Schroeder asks Chirac to represent Germany at EU summit: report

[Kellanved]

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has asked French President Jacques Chirac to represent German interests on the second day of an EU summit later this week, Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine reported Tuesday.

If true, it would be a highly unusual diplomatic move as well as a sign of the strength of Franco-German ties.
The chancellery declined to comment for the moment.

According to the magazine's online edition, Schroeder made the request to Chirac during talks Sunday in Paris.
He asked if Chirac could stand in for him during Friday's second and final day of the talks in Brussels, and the president agreed.

Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will be in Brussels for the summit's opening day Thursday, but return later that evening for a crunch vote Friday in parliament on their centre-left government's reform package.
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