Germany's new president, Christian Wulff, on Thursday presented a strong pro-European image as he made the first foreign visit of his tenure to Brussels, dpa reported.
Wulff was elected in three nail-biting rounds of voting on June 30 after his supporter, Chancellor Angela Merkel, struggled to bring her fractious coalition government into line. Thursday's visit gave him the chance to put that behind him and strike a positive note.
"Europe is of fundamental importance for Germany ... If Europe can speak with one voice on the great international questions, then we will have more influence," Wulff said after talks with the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.
Wulff said that he would push for the work of the commission, which is the EU's executive, and the European Parliament to be better recognised in EU member states. At present, the two bodies are more often blamed in EU capitals for unpopular legislation than they are praised for popular measures.
Changing that image "is my contribution to Europe," Wulff said.
From the EU's headquarters, Wulff headed some five kilometres up the road to visit NATO's political headquarters.
His predecessor, Horst Koehler, resigned unexpectedly on May 31 after he was criticized for saying that Germany had partly joined NATO's mission in Afghanistan to defend its economic interests.
Wulff said that his visit would be "primarily an information visit", and that he would ask NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for his assessment of the Afghan situation, including the timelines for reinforcing and then reducing NATO troop numbers. dpa bn cb amh