The talks in Hanover between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Prime Minister Tony Blair, their third this year, will be a meeting of men who are very close in straight political terms but who have been distanced by the war on Iraq.

Blair joined the United States in declaring war on Iraq but Schroeder strongly opposed it, winning votes in last year's election but damaging a close friendship with Washington and losing valuable diplomatic credibility.

Since then Blair has been stretched taut between both sides of the Atlantic in a struggle to anchor the United States to the international community by urging President George W. Bush to make post-war Iraq a UN concern.

"Schroeder is hoping that Tony Blair will fulfil his promise to build bridges between Old Europe and the Brave New World," said Juergen Schlaeger, director for the Centre of British Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin.

One big bridge has appeared in the form of returning legitimacy to the United Nations after it was ignored by the US-led force that launched the war.

So far, Bush has spoken of a "vital role" UN role -- giving food, medicine and aid -- while Europe demands a "central role" involving political and economic reconstruction, not just humanitarian work and peacekeeping.

"The important thing is not to get into some battle about words of the precise role here or there, (but to make) ... sure that the will of the Iraqi people is properly expressed in institutions that in the end they own, not any outside power or authority," Blair said last week in Belfast.

Schlaeger said the chancellor is looking for an opportunity to improve ties and Germany's image abroad. If the United Nations does play a key role in Iraq, then Berlin has said it will seize the chance to help rebuild.

"If Schroeder sees himself in the position to make a decision, he would jump at it. He does not have this 'you are either with us or against us' mentality," he said.

But it means the chancellor must choose between standing on principles of peace -- which are strong in Germany -- even though Saddam Hussein's regime has fallen or helping Blair keep the United States in the international fold.

Signs that he has made up his mind surfaced at last week's Saint Petersburg summit between Germany, France and Russia, where Schroeder was the only leader to avoid criticising the United States.

Indications that he would take a pragmatic path came in parliament in early April when he said it was vital to have a viable common EU foreign and defence policy and "especially important" that Britain is closely involved.

Germany and France are the motor of European integration, Schroeder said, but "without comprehensive cooperation with Britain and other members of a common Europe, we will not be able to bear the international responsibility that is rightly expected of us."

As the two men hold talks late Tuesday, their first meeting since the war started on March 20, the chancellor will be walking a political tight rope between those opposed to war and the US-British coalition.

SPACE.WIRE