Olaf Scholz visits Paris to rekindle Franco-German friendship

Published on : 12/10/2021 – 09:50

French President Emmanuel Macron will welcome in Paris, Friday, December 10, the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for a first working meeting during which the leaders of the first two European powers will try to find common ground to face the crises that the bloc must face within it and beyond.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the priorities of the French presidency of the European Union, which Emmanuel Macron detailed at a press conference on Thursday, will be on the agenda, French officials said. .

Emmanuel Macron had developed a friendly relationship with Angela Merkel, predecessor of Olaf Scholz, who formally handed over power to him on Wednesday after sixteen years at the head of Germany.

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The French president and the former German chancellor, however, disagreed on certain key issues, such as German gas imports from Russia, the means to defend Europe or the bloc’s relations with its competitors, especially with China. .

“It is always good to have a good understanding in the Franco-German couple, but that is never enough”, explains Marion Gaillard, specialist in Franco-German relations and European questions and teacher at Sciences Po Paris.

The energy question on the menu

French diplomats appear optimistic about Olaf Scholz’s future ties to Germany, citing the “strategic sovereignty” of the coalition agreement that brought him to power and which they say echoes the will of Emmanuel Macron to develop a European “strategic autonomy”.

Another key question concerns how to finance the transition to cleaner energy production and whether nuclear energy and natural gas can be considered by the European Union as renewable energy sources, and therefore, be subsidized.

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Emmanuel Macron wants to relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in France while Germany must close its last reactors next year.

The new German coalition agreement, however, makes no mention of the issue, which leaves room for a compromise, Paris said. Angela Merkel had made the decision to gradually close German nuclear power plants after the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

With Reuters