Paris
Macron’s warning that Germany is isolating itself in the EU is having an effect. Berlin is trying to improve – but there is still a lot to do.
A thunderstorm cleans the air, as the saying goes. The French President’s vehement accusation has seen this Emmanuel Macronthat Germany is isolating itself in Europe actually came like a thunderstorm. All of a sudden, the government in Berlin seems to have realized that, despite the urgent national problems, they must give their European partners – first and foremost the French preferred partner – a little more care.
After Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already arranged a hurriedly Tete-a-tete with the angry Macron in the Seine metropolis and spent three hours trying to clear up the irritations that had been building up among the French in recent months, a veritable demonstration of bilateral coordination took place in November.
One after the other, Ministers Volker Wissing, Annalena Baerbock, Robert Habeck and Christian Lindner traveled to Paris to seek talks with their French counterparts. In return, the French head of government finally granted Elisabeth Borne Berlin her first official visit.
Paris and Berlin are trying to reach unity
If after all these bilateral meetings There was at least one point in which there was conspicuous agreement, then in the assertion, voiced with conviction, by almost all participants that Franco-German relations were of excellent quality.
Baerbock, for example, assured before her return flight that she had not come to Paris to sweep away broken pieces because there was no pile of broken pieces. A pretty cheeky claim after the by no means alone in Paris criticized German going it alone in energy supply or armaments issues, which came suspiciously close to the appearances of an elephant in a European china shop.
But it also shows how much people like each other in Berlin at the moment Paris focused again on finding common lines.
Efforts are having an effect
In any case, the intensified exchange did not remain fruitless, which is underlined by the fact that the Franco-German Council of Ministers, which was recently canceled due to unresolved differences, will now take place in January after all.
The most visible sign of the rapprochement, however, is the breakthrough in the already dead believed Fighter Aircraft System FCAS. Finally, an agreement could be reached on the financing and the construction of an airworthy demonstration model for this important Franco-German armaments project.
Even in the energy policy a certain willingness to compromise, predominantly German, seems to be emerging. After much hesitation, Berlin has now signed a formal solidarity agreement on the exchange of electricity and gas with France.
About the form of a cover of the gas price Opinions continue to differ in the EU, but the federal government agreed to support the project of joint European gas purchases on the world market, which it had previously rejected.
Of course, the long-term deal does not fit into this halfway harmonious picture at all Germany just concluded with Qatar on LNG supplies. Remarkably, however, Paris refrained from any criticism this time, which can definitely be seen as a sign of a slowly changing wind.
In the end it crunches
Halfway harmonious – this finding should generally apply to the current status of Franco-German relations. Still, as Borne noted in Berlin tight-lipped, it has once again been shown that the friendship is crisis-proof and able to overcome differences.
A statement that makes it clear that not all upsets have been resolved on both sides of the Rhine.
In any case, in Berlin, the “call to order” uttered by Macron in front of the cameras was anything but funny. Also the audacity with which the Frenchman has been since leaving Angela Merkel the European leader is not really appreciated on the Spree.
In Paris, meanwhile, there is concern that scholz that Germany’s responsibility for the EU is less important than his predecessor’s and that he could also be tempted, in his efforts to promote good transatlantic relations, not to counteract the protectionist sides of the multi-billion dollar subsidy program for US industry (Inflation Reduction Act) energetically enough .
Can the men get along?
From one that is now being considered in Paris “European Buy Act” (i.e. the systematic preference given to European companies when awarding public contracts) to counter at least the long-existing “American Buy Act”, German government circles don’t believe in anything at all.
For a threat – and as such, the “Inflation Reduction Act” also viewed in Berlin – responding with a provocation does not correspond to Scholze’s approach. Incidentally, it cannot be ruled out that the bilateral tensions are at least partly due to the different temperaments of Macron and Scholz.
Because if France’s outspoken president is said to have difficulty making friends with the chancellor’s North German coolness, it’s no secret that the von Macron the diplomacy of “fruitful confrontation” that Scholz likes to practice makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
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