With his visit to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prodi -- a former European Commission president -- hopes to move Italy from the sidelines of European politics into the limelight.

The road to European leadership goes only via Berlin, according to current wisdom in Rome. Instead of pushing his ties to the US government, like his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi did, Prodi plans to strengthen his links to key EU partners. Germany is next in line to take over the EU presidency from January 2007.

"Our job is to see our national interests and European interests as one and the same," Prodi said ahead of his visit. "We are going to work hard to bring Italy back into the group of leading European countries."

Merkel by default?

Prodi aims to bring the EU Constitution back to life, together with Germany's Merkel. As for Paris, the new Italian prime minister said the country would not be a valid negotiating partner on European topics until after next year's elections there. And Rome sees London as applying the brakes to the European Union, rather than helping it. So, if only by default, Merkel has become the most feasible partner for foreign-policy oriented Prodi.

Merkel is expected to try to revive the European Constitution when Germany takes over the EU presidency. And both Prodi and Merkel want to see the current draft of the constitution (which was essentially voted down in a series of national referendums) reworked rather than simply tossed aside.