The German Chancellor is visiting France. Meanwhile, according to experts, German-French relations are now in crisis. What is the reason and how will it affect the situation in the EU?
On October 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited France and met with the President. Emmanuel Macron. In fact, the annual meeting of the German-French Council of Ministers was previously scheduled for this day in Fontainebleau, where the heads of both state and government, as well as various ministers, were traditionally participate.
Important decisions are not made within the framework of this body – its symbolic meaning is important, which confirms the cooperation of the two largest economies of the EU and the existence of a political tandem of Germany and France. But the scheduled meeting was postponed to early 2023.
Why the meeting of the German-French Council of Ministers did not take place
The official representative of the German government, Steffen Hebeshtreit, called the reason for the delay the need to agree on “bilateral issues.” The Elysee Palace ensures that the postponement of the date of the meeting does not reflect the state of German-French relations. At the briefing, the representative of the French government stressed that it is not about the cancellation of the event, but only about its postponement due to the fact that not all ministers have time and preparations have not yet been completed.
But it raised doubts not only among journalists who participated in the briefing, but also among experts who indicated a serious breakdown in German-French relations. “Because of the existence of this council since 1963, when the agreement on its holding was signed, not a single meeting has been canceled,” recalled Stefan Seidendorff in an interview with DW. He is the acting director of the German-French Institute in Ludwigsburg, which publishes the results of these bilateral negotiations at the highest level.
“Normally, new heads of state have to go through a certain process, learn something to understand that such meetings and the German-French axis itself are very important. This is the case under German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In Europe, you cannot apply the American doctrine where one superstate takes the role of leader and the others just follow,” Seidendorf explained.
No European country is too big, he insisted, to safeguard political stability alone: ”We need a consensus between Germany and France, whose positions are very different. The other EU member states are can be guided by this compromise.”
Berlin and Paris prefer to be alone
For now, both sides seem to prefer to go it alone. Berlin has adopted a 200 billion euro package to support the German economy to offset rising electricity and gas prices. And he did not inform his French partners about it, which is considered not very good form, because a financial injection of such size, as observers point out, will negatively affect the market.
In addition, Germany, with 12 countries, but without France, at the last NATO summit signed an agreement on a new joint project in the field of air defense, the so-called European Sky Shield Initiative. And France is working with Italy to develop the Mamba missile defense system. Defense issues after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine again became paramount.
President Macron at the EU Heads of State and Government Summit, together with Spain and Portugal, announced that he wants to build a new pipeline that will supply hydrogen and – in an emergency – gas from Barcelona to Marseille under the sea. This project will replace plans to build a MidCat gas pipeline between France and Spain through the Pyrenees, which Berlin prefers. In addition, in Brussels, Macron emphasized that neither Europe nor Germany would be happy if Germany isolated itself.
Both parties are not satisfied with each other, says Stefan Seidendorf. Germany believed that without France it could find consensus among smaller countries. And France hopes, as Macron put it in his 2017 Sorbonne speech, that Germany will make more efforts toward European integration.
Crisis at the wrong time
Sophie Pornschlegel, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels, does not see the current situation as normal. “We don’t have time for this, there is a war in Europe. We are facing an energy crisis,” the analyst listed the problems in an interview with DW. “If we’re lucky and it’s not too cold, we’ll make it winter this winter. But in the long term, we need a European solution to reduce high energy prices, such as a solidarity fund.”
If EU countries can no longer pay for energy, it will lead to an economic crisis and high unemployment, the analyst said. And in this situation, the current divisions in Europe play into the hands of Russian President Putin, because in this way the EU becomes incapacitated, said Pornschlegel.
Jacques-Pierre Goujon, a German expert at the Paris Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), added that the current crisis between Germany and France is deeper than previous conflicts between the two countries, for example, in energy issues. Thus, France takes a completely different position than Germany in the use of atomic energy. “But the conflict is now exacerbated by the fact that it could have dire consequences if the rest of the EU, the smaller ones like Poland or the Baltic states, doubt the leading role of the German- French tandem,” Goujon warned in an interview with DW.
Ronja Kempin of the Berlin-based Foundation for Science and Politics (SWP) takes a deeper look at the tensions between Germany and France: “Macron has long wanted the EU to work in small, subject-oriented groups and -doubts about eastward expansion before the reform process. EU”.
For France, the EU is the main tool for strengthening power, said an expert on German-French relations in an interview with DW. “Germany, on the other hand, is leaning towards the eastward enlargement of the European Union because it sees the EU as a transformative, peace-bearing element,” he continued. In terms of defense, the positions of the two countries are also different, according to Kempin.
Although Germany, contrary to its tradition, has announced an additional 100 billion euros for defense, Berlin relies on direct arms purchases instead of joint European defense projects, which contradicts the position of France, Kempin pointed out. In turn, Seidendorf believes that the situation should eventually become normal, because until now all the leaders of both states understand that one cannot do without the other – even if the search for a compromise is very difficult.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.