Berlin - Two leading German politicians welcomed Tuesday the new security team nominated by the US president-elect, Barack Obama, but both said they expected Berlin to keep standing up for its own interests. Karsten Voigt, an official attached to the Foreign Ministry to promote non-diplomatic relations with the United States, said Obama's choices showed the United States wanted to restore its global leadership.
Speaking on RBB radio, he said Berlin would need to demonstrate self-assurance if Obama pressed Germany to send troops into battle against the Taliban.
Voigt said Germany had nothing to apologize for: it was the third biggest source of peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan.
"We don't have to jump through every hoop that is held up for us in public debate in the United States, or here," said Voigt, who since 1999 has coordinated contacts between the two nations' elites.
Rolf Muetzenich, a senior Social Democrat, said, "It's good news that Hillary Clinton stated, when she was nominated for secretary of state, that she would use all the diplomatic and civilian means to settle conflicts.
"After the enormous blunders by the Bush Administration and by Congress, it's urgent that the new decision-makers give diplomacy a chance again," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
He said the European Union could be the United States' partner in this, but the Europeans had to clearly state their conditions for helping. He said he expected future US foreign policy to have Obama's signature on it.
Muetzenich's party is in coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The previous day, Obama nominated Clinton, Jim Jones as national security adviser and the incumbent Robert Gates to continue as secretary of defence.
