Frosty times for Sarko and Merkel

Whatever became of the lovey-dovey relationship between the leaders of modern France and Germany? When Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder were president and chancellor respectively, you couldn't keep them apart. Since Nicolas Sarkozy entered the Elysee Palace, the relationship between him and Angela Merkel has gone from bad to worse.

In recent days, two important Franco-German meetings have been cancelled by Paris at the eleventh hour. In one case, the French Finance minister, Christine Lagarde, pulled out of talks with her German counterpart with the miserable excuse that she had to accompany her president on a visit to a luxury goods factory instead.

The second incident involved the French delaying by three months a summit due to take place in Bavaria next Monday because Sarkozy's diary was too busy. What is going on?

It seems the root of the problem is Sarko's desire to establish a new 'Club Med' union of countries on the shore of the Mediterranean. Chancellor Merkel believes such an organisation will be a pointless distraction or, worse, pose a threat to the unity of the EU.

But there's clearly a personal aspect, too: the Germans say Merkel can't stand Sarko's hyperactive and boastful behaviour, nor his over-familiar personal style. While the French say their boss finds Merkel too cautious and too ponderous.

It's a long way from the days when Chirac and Schroder would meet in Strasbourg at the backstreet winstub Chez Yvonne for escargots and a plate of choucroute washed down with Alsatian beer and plot how to get one over Tony Blair.