German Chancellor Angela Merkel has set a date for her official visit to the US since Donald Trump's election as president. The relationship between the two leaders has so far been anything but amicable.
Image: Reuters/P.Wojazer
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According to a government source German Chancellor is due to meet with US President Donald Trump for the first time on March 14. Separately, government spokesman Steffen Seibert, who is currently traveling with Merkel during a diplomatic visit in Tunisia, said "we are not denying" reports of the planned meeting.
In their first phone conversation since Trump's shock election as US president on November 8, Merkel reminded the billionaire of democratic values.
Any "close cooperation" must be on the basis of the "values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief," she said in a public statement.
Merkel has also criticized Trump's decision seeking to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
'Catastrophic mistake'
In turn, Trump has been a harsh critic of Merkel's liberal refugee policy, which has seen the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers in Germany since 2015.
When the German leader was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year in December 2015, Trump tweeted that Merkel was "ruining Germany."
Meanwhile, in a joint interview published in German daily "Bild" and British newspaper "The Times" in January, Trump heavily criticized Merkel's open-door policy on refugees, saying she had "made one very catastrophic mistake."
"That was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come from," Trump added.
Contradictory compliments
In the same interview he said that the EU had become "a vehicle for Germany," warning that, in light of Brexit, other countries in the 28-member bloc would follow suit and leave the Union.
The US president then added the strange caveat that he had "great respect" for the chancellor, saying he would go into his presidency with an open mind about this "fantastic leader," only to then suggest that his trust might not last long.
"We Europeans have our fate in our own hands," she told reporters.
German jesters take on kings for 2017 Carnival
German Carnival is back with a vengeance, ridiculing the likes of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, and Angela Merkel. Following a turbulent year, Germans seem to be especially eager to slaughter some sacred cows.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
Donald Trump despoiling liberty
The image of President Trump abusing a symbol of America proved to be hit with this year's crowd. Risqué political messages are a point of pride for Düsseldorf, especially if it is something that their rivals in Cologne would not be able to top.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kusch
Schoolboy Donald
Cologne's response was Trump reaching under the skirt of Lady Liberty and dragging his opponent Hillary Clinton by the hair. Russia's Vladimir Putin looks on approvingly.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Bye, Britannia
Organizers in Mainz claim that their Monday parade was the longest ever made, featuring 154 floats and spanning for nine kilometers (5.6 miles). One of the floats featured British Prime Minister Theresa May piloting the UK lifeboat after leaving the EU.
Image: Getty Images/T. Lohnes
Blonds have more fun
'Blond is the new brown,' reads the banner carried through the streets of Düsseldorf by the figures of Donald Trump, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, Dutch firebrand nationalist Geert Wilders, and Adolf Hitler. Germans associate the color brown with fascism since the days of Hitler's brownshirts.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Fassbender
Laugh at your own risk
Another touchy subject – Turkey's Erdogan demanded an apology and sued German comedian Jan Böhmermann for a vulgar poem about him last year. The writing on the hat is also a play on words, loosely translated as "Erdogone.'
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
UK feeling lucky
Düsseldorfers also considered the outlook of Britain triggering its exit from the EU.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
AFD all the way
A float in Cologne took on the populist AFD party which successfully rode the wave of displeasure with Angela Merkel's refugee policy. "Too much anger in your gut and democracy will go to the butt," the writing says, using a German idiom for things going badly.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gambarini
Acting the fool
The AfD was also in the crosshairs elsewhere, with this float in Düsseldorf mocking the party for spurring on hatred against Muslims and labeling them 'useful idiots' of terror groups.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Fassbender
A mammoth task
With German elections coming up, the mammoth that is Angela Merkel just might be slain by the agile left-leaning rival Martin Schulz. The sign on the mammoth's flank is also play on Merkel's nickname "Mutti," meaning mommy in German.
