The following articles were taken from notes that I made during a recent trip to Germany as part of the U.S. Congressional Delegation to the 26th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar. Any error in what is reported is totally my fault. Sometimes the inability to read my notes coupled with the translations can cause problems. The meetings took place in Berlin and Cologne. The 27th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar will take place in St. Louis.

The U.S. delegation had nine members, including eight sitting members chaired by Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) and co-chaired by Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO). The German delegation had nine sitting members plus three former members, and their delegation was chaired by MdB Hans-Ulrich Klose (SPD). These parliamentary exchanges are extremely important, especially as individual friendships are developed and difficult issues can be discussed and resolved, as we saw several years ago when Chancellor Schroeder and the Bush Administration took turns in issuing harsh statements about the other’s activities.

I feel very strongly that Germany is our strongest ally in Europe. In many places in Germany there is a remembrance of what America did after the War. Over and over again I was told that their rebirth wouldn’t have happened without our help.

The problems in Germany are a great deal like the problems we have. Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.” The discussion in Germany over the GM crisis revolved around jobs; which party would get more credit for saving more jobs. Everything going on in Germany now is colored by the general election coming up on September 25th. Neither party wants to do anything that could open it up to criticism and defeat. The major problems on the German list, such as the financial system, the economy, unemployment, the environment, Guantanamo Bay, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are the same that we face. Our new administration goes in with a great deal of goodwill from the German people, and the German government.

It is an interesting time to be in Germany. They are, in the near future, going to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the “new birth” of their country. They will, later in the year, celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Elections for the European Union Parliament will take place in the summer and the German general election taking place in September has no clear leader at this time. During the week we were there the number one question was: “What was going to happen to GM?” In Germany there are approximately 25,000 jobs in the auto industry related to GM and its subsidiaries. Because these jobs at stake are in four German states, it is the first time that the members of the German Grand Coalition have not been able to agree on a major issue. It is clear that neither major party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or the Social Democratic Party (SPD) want to be the one responsible for the loss of jobs. Which party does the best job in handling this problem will probably be the party that wins in September.

The U.S. does not have an ambassador, as the previous ambassador resigned a few months ago and no new ambassador has been appointed. The Chargé d'Affaires, John Koenig, is the acting U.S. Ambassador and is doing an outstanding job. It is hard for the Germans to understand why the United States has not appointed a new ambassador. The acting U.S. Ambassador was in the position of being a very interested spectator to the negotiations that were going on regarding GM, Opal, Magna, etc, but not a player.

Several other issues were discussed. Climate change is still a very big issue, as the goal is a 20% reduction in emissions from the 1990 standards, which the U.S. can’t meet. The Germans have announced that they want to do away with nuclear energy by 2020, which is incredibly ambitious and probably unrealistic. The U.S. is trying to get more German troops in Afghanistan, but it is clear no decision will be made until after the September elections. There are approximately four million Turks in Germany and a big issue is what position Germany should take on Turkey’s admission to the European Union (EU). There was a great deal of excitement about President Obama’s trip to Germany, which included a speech at a concentration camp historic site. During the time we were there the White House, despite German pressure, was avoiding going to Berlin or speaking in front of what is left of the Berlin Wall.

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Lou Frey represented Central Florida in the U. S. Congress from 1969 to 1979. In his last election, he received nearly 80% of the vote. He was elected one of five Republican leaders in the House of Representatives during the 93rd and 94th Congress. He served on...