Announcements as scrutinized as their reunion. While Emmanuel Macron receives Olaf Scholz this Sunday, on the occasion of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty, destined to seal the reconciliation between France and Germany, the French president and the German chancellor tried to find points in common. land.
In October, the traditional annual meeting between the two countries had to be postponed in particular due to disagreements on a number of key issues, from energy to defense.
To justify this misunderstanding, Olaf Scholz used the metaphor of that “Franco-German machine” that often “purrs softly”, that “does not work with blows of flattery” but with the “firm will to always transform controversies” into “action convergent”. .
And Emmanuel Macron to allow himself a moment of poetry during this speech at the Sorbonne: “Two souls in the same chest, that is what we are”. For the Chancellor, the Franco-German friendship “symbolizes a united Europe”.
“Germany and France, because they have paved the way for reconciliation, must become pioneers in the reconstruction of our Europe,” Emmanuel Macron declared.
The French president cited in particular the need to “build a new energy model”, to promote “innovation and tomorrow’s technologies” or to favor a “European Union capable of assuming itself as a geopolitical power in its own right, in defense, space , diplomacy”.
Continue support for Ukraine
As fighting continues on the EU border, Olaf Scholz vowed to continue “providing Ukraine, as long as it is necessary, all the support it needs.”
“Together, as Europeans, to defend our European peace project”, added the German chancellor.
But one question remains unanswered: will Germany decide to hand over its Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian army? At a time when pressure on Berlin is growing, the two leaders could discuss it this afternoon at the Elysée, during a Franco-German council of ministers.
A train ticket designed to encourage young people to travel between the two countries will also be launched.
Along with the governments, parliamentary delegations from the two countries also met in Paris. The president of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet and her counterpart in the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, paid tribute in the Pantheon to Simone Veil, “a great European” and “a woman of convictions” of whom they said they wanted to carry the “torch “.
Source: BFM TV
