Brussels, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting with the press, CSU MEP Ingo Friedrich was keen to point to the European dimension of the forthcoming elections at the Bundestag (18-25 September). He affirmed that “European issues have never carried so much weight as during the current Bundestag elections” Anticipating CSU successes, he considered that a new federal government should keep up intense relations with not just France, but between Germany, France and the United Kingdom too. He exclaimed that Schröder and Fischer were too unilateral in their approach to the Berlin-Paris axis and that following the French no-vote on the Constitution, this would no longer work. Friedrich also attacked the Schröder-Chirac line on Turkey, warning that the negotiation mandate with Turkey had to be decided at unanimity and that a Schröder government which was just concerned with current affairs (while awaiting Angela Merkel at the Chancellery) could not make any important decisions for the future. In the “worst case” at the beginning of negotiations on 3 October, the new German government would propose a “privileged partnership” rather than accession. According to Friedrich a CDU/CSU government would get its voice heard on Germany's net contribution to the EU budget (“we don't we have the right to a rebate like the British?”) he asked.