BERLIN - At next week's Group of Eight summit in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel must juggle her good relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush against European differences with Bush's latest proposal to fight climate change.

The German chancellor _ a skilled dealmaker who worked on the Kyoto Protocol climate change treaty as environment minister in the 1990s _ has made the push for concrete goals to reduce emissions a centerpiece of her leadership of the G-8. But Bush's proposal to let each country decide how much to do leaves a gap between Washington on one side and Merkel and the European Union on the other.

Still, Merkel praised Bush's proposal _ a shift from earlier outright rejection of emissions goals _ as "positive" and "common ground on which one can act."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and EU Energy Commission Andris Piebalgs also welcomed Bush's new proposal, which appears to give Europe and the U.S. new fodder for discussion at the summit.

Merkel's friendly relationship with Bush, forged in meetings that included Bush's stop last year in her parliamentary district for a barbecue, seemed to have paid dividends even ahead of the summit, as Bush acknowledged her concerns in an interview aired Friday with Germany's ZDF public television.

"Angela was concerned at one time whether or not I would be willing to accept a post-Kyoto framework and today I expressed my keen desire to work with her on such a framework," Bush said.

The 52-year-old former scientist, whose country chairs both the European Union and the G-8, is pushing for countries to commit to concrete reductions in the emissions of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, and for a 2-degree Celsius limit (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on further increases in average temperature.

The three-day meeting Wednesday to Friday at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm will bring together leaders of the United States, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and Japan. Climate change, efforts to stop uranium enrichment by Iran, aid to Africa, currency exchange rates and global growth are on the agenda. Emerging economic powers such as China, Brazil and India are there as non-members.

The meeting will challenge Merkel's considerable skills as a negotiator, demonstrated last month by her success in wheedling the EU countries to overcome disagreements over the role of nuclear power and renewable energy and commit to a 20 percent cut by 2020 _ and 30 percent if it's part of an international agreement.

The idea is to prepare for a new round of international climate treaty negotiations set for December in Bali, Indonesia to come up with a replacement for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which committed developed countries to cut emissions 5 percent from 1990 levels. The United States signed but did not ratify the treaty because it placed no burden on rapidly growing poorer countries such as China and India.

The White House's proposal leaves an apparent gap with Merkel's efforts; Bush would have the major countries that produce greenhouse gases meet and set an overall reduction goal, but would leave it to the countries to decide how to meet it. Bush has stressed cleaner energy technology and biofuels over the European demands for concrete reduction goals.

Merkel's chief G-8 negotiator, Bernd Pfaffenbach, underlined the differences in an interview published Friday in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, saying that Merkel, despite her hopes for a deal, would not sign on for any final G-8 statement that rejected the United Nations as a forum for climate talks, or distorted the state of scientific knowledge.

"If it should come to this, that we must bid farewell to our two chief demands for the sake of peace, then we will say no," Pfaffenbach was quoted as saying.

Despite the gap between the positions, Merkel has a track record as a skilled backroom dealmaker who can find agreement in difficult situations, most notably, getting European governments to resume work on a treaty to replace the stalled draft constitution. She also forged a difficult EU budget compromise.

A former physicist at a research institute in communist East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall, she is credited with a strong grasp of the basic scientific ideas, and gained experience as Germany's environment minister in the government of conservative Helmut Kohl in the 1990s.

She may also be helped by her role in improving U.S.-German relations after the clash between Bush and former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder over Schroeder's vehement opposition to the invasion of Iraq, and Bush has gone out of his way to express his respect for her judgment.

Other tough issues will vie with climate change at the summit, including efforts to halt Iran's program to enrich uranium, viewed by the United States as an effort to build nuclear weapons, and aid to Africa and poorer countries. Anti-poverty activists such as the rock musicians Bob Geldof and Bono are urging Merkel to get other rich countries to live up to a commitment made at the 2005 G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. They say vows to double yearly aid spending to Africa by 2010 have only partly been kept.