Increase World Role, Clinton Tells Germany : Europe: President calls nation ‘plainly capable’ of more responsibility. Chancellor Kohl seconds that view.

President Clinton prodded Germany on Monday to broaden its world leadership, lending support to Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s efforts to calm German and European fears of a more assertive, reunited Germany.

In a two-day visit, planned partly to reassure a country whose history excluded it from the observances of D-day, Clinton said he hoped “we will have the benefit of the full range of Germany’s capacities to lead.”

He cited the leadership responsibilities that Europe’s largest economic power “is plainly capable of fulfilling.”

Clinton’s comments, delivered as he stood with Kohl outside the German Chancellery, were the latest expression of his desire to see Germany share in the costs and burdens of leading Europe and policing world trouble spots.

The visit, which took Clinton to Berlin on Monday night, comes on the eve of a decision by the German Constitutional Court, which is expected to legalize the use of the German military in peacekeeping efforts around the world.

In their eagerness to break with their country’s Nazi past, postwar Germans have confined their military to a narrow domestic role and have been reluctant to allow deployment of troops abroad.

Clinton’s interest in the court ruling was underscored by his questioning of German President Roman Herzog, formerly chief judge of Germany’s high court.

Kohl, who this month took over the presidency of the European Union and is seeking a seat for Germany on the U.N. Security Council, has been the country’s leading voice for a broadened international role. At the news conference, he supported Clinton’s views, pointing out that, as a nation rebuilt with international support, Germany “cannot simply sit back and let the others do the work.”

Germany cannot be a country “with the kind of reputation and prestige we claimed for ourselves if we do not fully accept our responsibilities and fulfill our obligations,” Kohl said.

Clinton’s motives stem in part from domestic considerations. The American public generally feels it pays a disproportionate share for military security and economic aid around the world.

The United States wants Germany to play a greater role in multinational military operations and to continue the heavy economic aid it has distributed among former Soviet Bloc countries since the fall of communism.

But, while there is growing support for a broader international role within Germany itself, it runs counter to a strong pacifist streak that makes many here unwilling to countenance expanded military operations.

Rudolf Scharping, leader of the Social Democratic Party and Kohl’s main rival in the Oct. 16 federal election, generally agrees with the chancellor on the issue.

But Scharping’s party filed the court challenges against government use of the military abroad. The cases challenge the deployment of German ships in the Adriatic Sea to support an embargo against Serbia and of German soldiers in radar surveillance flights over Bosnia-Herzegovina and on the ground in Somalia.

Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel--who leads Kohl’s coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party--said in an interview published Monday that, even with the expected court approval, Germany will be circumspect in its use of troops abroad. “We have done well with our policy of restraint. In the future, we will still be saying ‘no’ more often than ‘yes,’ ” Kinkel said.

Clinton supports a key aspect of Kohl’s program to broaden the German role--his effort to integrate Eastern Europe into the European Union. The proposal is controversial among America’s other West European allies because it would effectively shift Europe’s center of power to the East and toward Germany.

While Clinton’s support is expected to bolster Kohl’s position against internal critics who still want Germany to hold back, chancellery sources expressed concern that unabashed support from the President for a strong Germany could backfire. It could, they said, scare Germany’s European neighbors and make Kohl’s job as president of the European Union tougher.

The ticklish aspects of Clinton’s desire for a more assertive Germany were apparent during his Bonn appearance when a German reporter asked whether the phrase “special relationship” now refers to America’s ties to the Germans rather than the British. “That’s like asking me to pick a team in the World Cup,” Clinton said.

In Bonn, Kohl and Clinton rhapsodized about the American role in protecting and helping rebuild postwar Germany. “We have not forgotten the millions of American soldiers who, over a period of more than 40 years, defended freedom and peace and security for us here in Germany,” Kohl said.

After private meetings with Herzog and Kohl, Clinton had a ceremonial lunch and individual meetings with Scharping and Kinkel.

The President then flew to Kohl’s home in Ludwigshafen to dine on Italian cuisine with a leader who shares his fondness for a good meal. En route to Berlin, he stopped at Ramstein Air Base to address American troops.

Clinton’s visit is expected to boost Kohl. But a Clinton aide insisted the President was not taking sides in German politics.