By Ban Wei

    BERLIN, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The catchword of the two-day German visit by U.S. President George W. Bush is "farewell" and people consequently don't expect much from it. What his German hosts care about at the moment is how Bush's successor is going to interact with Europe.

    Instead of hosting Bush in the German capital, German Chancellor Angela Merkel chose the secluded venue of Schloss Meseberg, the German government guest house some 70 km north of Berlin, for security reasons, German media said.

    At the joint press conference at the end of the visit, both leaders talked about a laundry list of issues at their discussions Wednesday morning, including Iran, Iraq, Middle East peace, Afghanistan, climate change, the Doha round trade talks and the upcoming G-8 summit in Japan.

    As expected, they announced nothing new and substantial.

    Bush said he appreciated the "strong relations" with Germany and thanked Merkel for her friendship.

    Merkel said she and Bush enjoyed "a relationship characterized by friendship." "It's a direct and candid relationship," she added.

    Despite frequent spats, for example on climate change, "there was always a constructive way forward," Merkel said.

    ALLIANCE BASED ON NECESSITY

    Merkel has been given much credit for patching up the frosty relations between Berlin and Washington which reached a low point after the Iraq War.

    For the German chancellor, a better relationship with Bush is not only because of their common conservative political background, but also a necessity to better serve Germany's interests.

    Many German political analysts believe that Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schroeder went too far in irritating Washington by his strong opposition to the Iraq War, which consequently saw Germany sidelined by its powerful transatlantic ally.

    And the improved relations with Washington did give Merkel more leeway to raise Germany's profile on the world stage.

    Merkel has won applause at home for bringing Bush on board to sign up to her climate change program at last year's Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, which was held under the German presidency.

    And the Transatlantic Economic Council initiated by Merkel also came into life last year with the aim of lowering non-tariff trade barriers by harmonizing varying norms and regulations on both sides of the Atlantic.

    However, the progress does not mean that the transatlantic ties exist without problems. On climate change, which is high on Merkel's foreign policy agenda, Berlin is disappointed to see the Bush administration rolling back on the Heiligendamm commitment.

    Transatlantic trade relations are also plagued by conflicts ranging from subsidies for Boeing and Airbus to U.S. plans to scan all incoming cargo containers for radiation, which Merkel said could bring "significant damage" to transatlantic trade ties.

    Washington meanwhile has also threatened to put the Transatlantic Economic Council on ice if the European Union does not lift its import ban on poultry treated with chlorinated water from the United States.

    On the political front, Bush also saw his plan to offer Georgia and Ukraine the Membership Action Plan that triggers negotiations to join NATO blocked by Merkel, who fears that the move might irritate Russia, the main energy supplier of Germany.

    Merkel also resisted pressure from Washington to send German troops to southern Afghanistan where the U.S-led forces are taking the brunt of the fighting.

    Nevertheless, both sides have managed to keep the diplomatic door open and continue reaching compromises.

    UNCERTAIN FUTURE

    Despite the good working relationship between Bush and Merkel, the U.S. leader remains unpopular among the German population and most of the politicians who are already looking at his successor for future transatlantic ties.

    "I will not miss George W. Bush," said Eckart von Klaeden, foreign policy spokesman of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union faction in the German Parliament, on Tuesday.

    Before greeting Bush at Meseberg, Merkel said she will not talk much with her guest about his farewell, but "there will be a new era," she added.

    The U.S. presidential campaigns have gained extensive media coverage in Germany with political analysts speculating what kind of Europe policy the candidates might pursue and how it would affect Germans.

    German opinion polls show that about 67 percent of Germans have said they would vote for the charismatic Illinois senator Barack Obama though they also admit that they know little about his foreign policy ideas.

    As for his Republican competitor John McCain, Germans see him as being both more confrontational with other major powers and more uncompromising in dealing with states like Iran, Syria and Cuba, the German news weekly Der Spiegel said.

    However, German analysts apparently agree at the moment that both McCain and Obama would make more demands on their European allies. And what Germans worry about most is that the next U.S. president would press Germany to share more of the burden in Afghanistan.