Macron and Scholz agree on working groups to ease tensions in the Franco-German axis

Behind the handshake and the smiles, the biggest differences between the Franco-German axis in years.

However, the leaders of both governments tried this Wednesday, October 26, to lay the foundations to close the current gaps in matters such as energy, defense and the economy.

After a three-hour meeting at the Elysée Palace, both agreed to establish working groups on the three key issues, since more time is needed to reach a consensus on several bilateral issues, highlighted the French Presidency, which considered the talks “constructive”.

Paris stressed that the two leaders focused on forging a “close working relationship” on various issues in both the medium and long term.

For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the meeting with President Emmanuel Macron as “very good and important.”

“Germany and France are very close and are tackling the challenges together,” Scholz said.

The German leader flew to the French capital for a hastily scheduled working lunch, in an attempt to find agreements after Macron postponed for several weeks a Franco-German Council of Ministers, the first under the Scholz government and which was also planned. for this Wednesday.

The cancellation occurred amid the current abysmal differences between Paris and Berlin that are presented in a context of crisis, due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The number of issues on which France and Germany disagree is growing: from the bloc’s defense strategy, its response to the energy crisis, relations with China and even fiscal policy.

For experts, Macron’s decision to postpone the joint ministerial meeting underscored the president’s frustration at finding common ground. Berlin, for its part, blamed it on logistical difficulties and downplayed the gap.

“The Franco-German couple diverges, therefore it is paralyzed (…) We cannot afford at this moment in history not to have a united and strong Europe. (Solving it) begins with a fruitful Franco-German dialogue,” acknowledged former French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin last Friday.

Despite Scholz’s visit, his government went ahead with one of the issues that has encountered the most reluctance on the part of France and other European Union countries. The meeting in Paris coincided with a day in which the German cabinet gave the green light to the Chinese company Cosco to buy a stake in a terminal in the country’s largest port. A decision promoted by the chancellor that also provoked an unprecedented protest within the ruling coalition.

Moments before Scholz’s arrival, French government spokesman Olivier Véran tried to downplay any tension with his country, noting that the Franco-German duo has always been able to overcome difficulties that arise from time to time.

“Today’s meeting reflects that this friendship is still alive,” said Véran.

The energy crisis, the engine of the estrangement between Paris and Berlin

Difficulties arise as the EU struggles to reach an agreement on whether to cap fuel prices in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of its neighbor.

Paris defends that the European Union put in place a mechanism to limit the price used for the generation of electricity, while Berlin is one of the governments that strongly opposes it.

Scholz spent weeks backing Spain and Portugal with the Midcat gas pipeline project, ultimately rejected in the face of Macron’s opposition and replaced by the BarMar, a hydrogen corridor between Barcelona and Marseille.

But the big splash of cold water for the EU’s second-largest economy came when Scholz decided to allow a Chinese company to buy a stake in its biggest port and follow what the French say is a “myopic” mercantilist policy towards China. The move has baffled Paris.

The French government warns that these actions show that the lesson left by the Russian conflict has not been learned: not to depend on nations outside the bloc in transcendental matters, much less in questioned democracies.

“They haven’t learned their lesson yet,” a senior French official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Just as Sholz was meeting with Macron in Paris, in Berlin his cabinet, with the support of the ministries led by the chancellor’s Social Democrats, approved a 24.9% investment by the Chinese company Cosco in one of the port’s three terminals. from Hamburg.

The guaranteed investment is less than the initially planned 35% stake that the Chinese shipping giant and German transport and logistics company HHLA were targeting. It also does not give Cosco any say in strategic or management decisions, German officials say.

But the painful experience of relying too much on Russian gas causes rejection not only from France, but also within the German government regarding foreign investment in strategic matters. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its strong rejection of the decision in a note addressed to the Government.

The investment “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence on German and European transport infrastructure, as well as Germany’s dependence on China (…) Considerable risks arise when elements of European transport infrastructure are influenced and controlled by China, while China itself does not allow Germany to participate in Chinese ports,” the protest letter highlights.

After vainly warning Germany of the risk of over-reliance on Russia for its gas, Macron feels vindicated in his drive to strengthen European self-sufficiency, from energy to defense to trade.

From the German side, they indicate that they are aware that they need to reduce their dependence on China, but they add that this should not mean prohibiting all the investments of the Asian giant in the Old Continent.

Defense and trade add to the frictions of the Franco-German axis

The discrepancies are also affecting Europe’s plans to build its next generation of fighter jets.

Berlin’s decision to launch a European air defense system with 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, but in which it left out France – the most prominent military power in the EU – was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

However, German officials claim that France had been invited to join, but refused.

The French claim that the proposal to buy non-European material, such as Israel’s Arrow 3 system and US Patriot units, was a failure.

The discrepancies also reached the commercial level and further cooled bilateral relations.

When Germany unveiled a €200 billion package to protect its industry and consumers from rising energy prices, its government failed to notify neighboring France beforehand, causing unrest in its neighboring nation.

“We found out from the press. That is not what is done,” said a senior French official.

Representatives of the German government had visited the Elysée Palace days before and did not report anything about the package that, in Paris’s opinion, gives an unfair advantage to German companies and threatens the single market of the European Union.

“Germany first”?

Relations between France and Germany have taken a notable turn since the departure of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. The difference starts from a “lack of personal chemistry” to an alleged interest of the current German Government to lead full leadership.

Tara Varma of the ECFR think tank noted that there was a perception in Paris and other European capitals that German foreign and security policy was driven by a “Germany first” spirit.

“The ultimate reason is that both are locked in a competition for primacy in the EU,” emphasized Ulrich Speck, a German analyst at Neue Zurcher Zeitung, on the background of the heightened differences.

At the same time, analysts point out that Scholz’s need to deal with a complicated government coalition has led Germany to become more introspective and consult less with partners such as France.

In Berlin, government officials play down any division. They point to common ground recently found in Macron’s European Political Community initiative and say France needs to understand Germany’s internal challenges of dealing with turbulent coalition partners that slow decision-making.

“It’s not the end of the world,” said a German official.

Meanwhile, Macron faces his own difficulties, after losing his party’s absolute majority in Parliament, which will curb his ability to act, while boosting his country’s leadership in Brussels.

Beyond a clash of personalities and European leadership rivalry, the various crises Europe is facing are bringing to light broad strategic discrepancies in the EU’s two largest economies amid efforts to maintain a facade of unity, sources say. Germans.

But Europe cannot afford a breakdown in relations that weakens the unity of the 27-nation bloc as it grapples with multiple crises: the Russian war, spiraling inflation and its largest economies teetering on the brink of recession.

Issues against which Scholz and Macron hope to begin to iron out rough edges and find common ground, starting at this Wednesday’s meeting in Paris.

With Reuters and local media