The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, staged this Sunday in Paris a new impulse of the Franco-German axis. Is it a step forward for the neuralgic pairing of the European Union? Or the typical verbiage of commemorative acts? The events in the coming months will be the test of cotton.
In any case, Macron and Scholz took advantage of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Élysée treaty to turn the page on the discrepancies in recent months between France and Germany. The centrist leader and the Social Democratic chancellor also led a Franco-German Council of Ministers. The difficulties in organizing this traditional annual (or biannual) meeting – it was postponed up to three times last year – made visible the discrepancies between Paris and Berlin on key issues during the war in Ukraine, such as energy or defense.
Support for Ukraine
The Franco-German summit began with an emotional and rather austere ceremony – by French standards – in the amphitheater of the Sorbonne university. “Germany and France, having paved the way for reconciliation, must to be pioneers in the re-foundation of Europe”, Macron assured in his speech in commemoration of the signing on January 22, 1963 of the Elysée treaty between the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, and the chancellor Konrad Adenauer. An agreement with a legal framework similar to the one signed this week between Macron and Pedro Sánchez.
At the same ceremony, Scholz claimed the need for a “more sovereign Europe”, a very common expression in Macron’s speeches. Germany and France will continue “supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes and they will provide him with all the support he needs”, added the Social Democratic chancellor, who has received intense pressure in the last week for Berlin to accept the shipment of German Leopard 2 tanks to kyiv.
A few hours later, during a joint press conference with Macron, Scholz threw balls out when asked about this issue. The French president, on his side, said that he did not “rule out any option” regarding the possibility of commanding Leclerc tankssimilar to the Leopard, although he put a series of conditions, similar to those exposed by Scholz in recent weeks, such as not causing an escalation and “cooperation with the other allies” “like Germany”.
In addition to Ukraine, both leaders had their sights set on the United States. They claimed their convergence of views regarding the EU response to Biden’s green protectionism, a matter discussed next month at a European summit. Macron said that both Paris and Berlin agreed that the European Commission should propose financing mechanisms “simple for companies” and with “amounts similar to those invested by the United States.” They also took advantage of their appearance to announce that Germany is joining the H2Med green hydrogen pipeline project between Barcelona and Marseille.
a tense autumn
The president and the chancellor have tried throughout Sunday to show good harmony after the evident discrepancies in autumn. “I think that it is not good for Germany or Europe that it isolate itself,” Macron had assured in October, after the unrest caused in France and other EU countries by the German government’s announcement of a plan of 200,000 million euros to help German companies and individuals in the face of the energy crisis.
French authorities were also annoyed by Teutonic reluctance to adopt regulatory measures on gas. And they also disagreed on weapons matters, after the Bundeswehr preferred acquire American fighters instead of French and promote an anti-aircraft defense system with Israeli technology.
Before the summit on Sunday, the German and French governments had already calmed their tensions. He helped the agreement, first, to promote a continental gas purchase platform and then a “temporary” mechanism to limit the price of gas.
Paris and Berlin also managed to unlock in early December the project of the future European fighter, the FCAS, in which Spain also participates. The “Franco-German engine” sometimes “roars sweetly”, since “it does not work with flattery” but with the “firm will to always transform controversies” into “convergent action”, defended Macron from the Sorbonne amphitheater .