Macron and Merz meet, keen to revive French-German engine

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/27/macron-and-merz-meet-keen-to-revive-french-german-engine_6738643_4.html

by LeMonde_en

17 comments

  1. **France has welcomed the future German chancellor’s initial positions on defense and Ukraine.**

    For now, he is only the winner of the election and in talks with the Social Democratic Party over forming a coalition have only just begun. But he is already acting as the future German chancellor. Three days after his victory, the Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz dined with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Wednesday, February 26. The two leaders are keen to revive the French-German engine, as relations between the French president and the outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have never been smooth. Donald Trump’s desire to rush through a peace agreement with Vladimir Putin to put an end to the war in Ukraine, and the threat of the United States withdrawing from European security arrangements, are acting as an electroshock.

    This is contrary to the usual practice in Germany, where the chancellor waits until he has been sworn in by the Bundestag, which can take months, before making diplomatic visits. But the Christian Democratic leader seems determined to move very quickly, given the acuteness of the crisis. “Together, our countries can achieve great things for Europe,” wrote Friedrich Merz on X after the meeting. “Thank you very much, dear Emmanuel Macron, for your friendship and the trust you place in French-German relations,” he added, in French and German, in this message accompanied by a photo of the two men.

    Nothing has emerged from the discussions, but the first steps of the next chancellor are being closely scrutinized in Paris. All the taboos that have hitherto prevailed across the Rhine when it comes to security are falling away. The transatlantic alliance, a foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany since the Second World War, is being called into question. “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we can gradually achieve true independence from the United States,” declared Friedrich Merz on election night, February 23, adding that he “would never have thought of saying that on television.”

    **Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/27/macron-and-merz-meet-keen-to-revive-french-german-engine_6738643_4.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/02/27/macron-and-merz-meet-keen-to-revive-french-german-engine_6738643_4.html)

  2. They could start by adopting real defense cooperation instead of constantly trying to screw each other.

  3. That engine only works when the German economy is humming. It is not humming at this point in time.

  9. The last time the French and Germans worked on an engine, we got the PSA Prince. It took 10 years and the Germans to bugger off for it to work properly.

  10. I guess there will be A LOT more public investment coming up. In defence of course, but also infrastructure, green energy and other stuff. Germany is pretty far behind when it comes to digitalisation and their railroad system is not strong enough to logistically support and army even if they had one. Decades of fiscal austerity have put Europe behind on a lot of necessary investments. New times a head.

  11. Wild that Merz would still write the post to X. Does he also make the same post elsewhere? Or is he giving exclusive content to x?

  12. Again with this French German engine rhetoric. What are all the other countries? Second tier members?

  14. The bully and the playground in Europe, he is trying to break the unity to destabilize. And gain the advantage and control over individual countries. GO EU!!!!!!’

    Trump understands that a united Europe will make his lordship more difficult.bullies seek to divide and conquer. Europe’s unity is its strength if it can dig into it fully. It has to if it wants to have a seat at the adults table with Russia and US. Russia is a shit show but it will have military capacity again in the future. Trump knows he can control Russia with economics more than he can contro EU. EU has the talent and the ability to be a player…when unified. Trumps aim is to create turmoil by breaking EU into factions or individual countries and Trump will seek to pick each one off sowing dissension within countries and between. That’s how a bully wins. Fuck that bully. Fuck all the bullies. You know the one who voted against Ukraine in UN. EU is the playground kids that unite to fuck the bully. It’s an old storyline, at its simplest. The EU just needs to follow through with its commitment to the ideal and what they commonly know they stand for that is not transactional like Trump but transformational for the continent. Just like those who stood for the UN resolution on Ukraine they will stand for each other in the big picture. The EU, Canada, Mexico, and others realize the importance now. Rather than scaring the countries of the EU, Trump has reawakened the power within and created through unity.

  15. Cool that you have meetings. Now where are the actual plans?

  16. yes! please! already making plans to steal that engine.:))

  17. Attention, la France sera toujours et encore le cocu de l’Allemagne ! Mais Macron aime ça !

Comments are closed.