Berlin - Amid friction in the Franco-German relationship, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to dine Monday with President Nicolas Sarkozy during a brief encounter at the CeBIT computing trade fair. Sarkozy will be in Hanover, Germany to highlight the software prowess of France, which has been appointed this year's "partner nation" of CeBIT, an annual, 75-nation expo that begins Tuesday.
The president has regularly flown the flag for French exports, so there was no question of missing the Monday evening ceremonies to launch the fair, which focusses on the computing needs of government and big corporations.
The joint appearance at the launch gala has turned into a diplomatic stop-gap after a regular meeting between the two, held every couple of months, was postponed to June.
Sarkozy's office said he would not have time for that meeting, set to begin Monday in Straubing, Germany.
Observers have detected a string of signs that the two leaders' relationship has turned frosty.
Some observers have suggested the meal, with just a few aides present in a government mansion, is mainly intended to gainsay speculation that the two leaders have nothing to say to one another.
Aides have been seeking common ground on the key disagreement between Paris and Berlin before the two leaders sit down for dinner after the CeBIT gala.
Sarkozy's plan to set up a Mediterranean Union, an organization for southern European Union states to consult with non-EU neighbours, has annoyed Berlin, which objects to a forum where it will be on the outer.
Merkel says she supports closer relations in the region but opposes setting up a new organization to manage them.
The push assumes greater significance with France taking over this July 1 the EU rotating presidency. Sarkozy is expected to announce the Mediterranean Union on July 13 as the key project of his EU presidency.
Some media have suggested the Franco-German axis has again become bogged down, as often happened in the past.
Berlin's warnings against "parallel structures" have been rejected by Sarkozy aides, who say there has been a Council of the Baltic Sea States since 1992 on the EU's northern flank.
But the Germans say this is not a valid argument, since most of the nations on that sea are now EU members.
