POTSDAM Germany AP Germany and France proposed broad new priorities for Europe on Tuesday reflecting the left's influence on the political mood: a governmental push to create jobs and better regulation of financial markets. Leading his first summit since taking office German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left politics breathed new life into French-German relations. The ties strong when both nations were run by conservatives had stagnated after France's government turned left under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Schroeder spoke of ``a new dynamic'' between Europe's two closest partners and biggest nations now back in synch under left-leaning governments since his election in September. Just as Chancellor Helmut Kohl emphasized his personal friendship with Francois Mitterrand Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac displayed an obvious liking for each other. The German and French leaders agreed Tuesday to make a new push to give the European Union military capability of its own parallel to NATO a project dear to the French and recently supported by Britain. But jobs were the focus of the summit as the two nations renewed their role as the engine behind efforts to turn Europe into an economic superpower. Unemployment in the 11 countries launching Europe's single currency the euro on Jan. 1 is a stubborn 10.9 percent and putting people back to work has been a dominant political theme among European leaders. ``We want to make a great common effort to move the theme of employment to the center of European politics'' Schroeder a center-left Social Democrat told a news conference with Chirac and Jospin. In a joint declaration the leaders said a jobs creation pact is needed to offset government austerity pledges designed to bolster the euro. European governments should set binding targets for putting their citizens back to work the declaration said. With the euro tying 11 European economies closer together than ever before the leaders also pledged to make workers' rights a greater focus in the European Union. Taking their cue from a campaign by Germany's leftist finance minister Oskar Lafontaine they called for tighter financial regulation internationally to counter economically damaging swings in the markets. The proposals were a departure from the Kohl era when Germany resisted calls for a common European fight against joblessness. Despite the warmth among the leaders and the common vision for guiding Europe toward the single currency and EU expansion there also was discord at the summit. Both governments said they would study the impact of Germany's pledge to abolish nuclear power. France which has no such plans does lucrative business reprocessing nuclear fuel from German power plants. Both sides agreed to push plans to merge European aerospace industries to take on U.S. giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin though they didn't resolve the issue of whether the French would immediately participate. Schroeder said he supports German and British aerospace firms in their efforts to merge even if the French only join later. UR; tc-cb APW19981201.0405.txt.body.html APW19981201.0087.txt.body.html