Germany hopes for new beginning if Bush re-elected

A senior German official today said he hoped that if US President George Bush was re-elected, he would seize the chance for a “new beginning” in relations with Europe, and stressed that Berlin would send no troops to Iraq, whoever won the US presidential election.

German-US ties were strained by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s vehement opposition to last year’s US-led war in Iraq, although the two governments have since moved to repair relations.