{"id":284024,"date":"2025-07-23T02:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284024\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T02:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:11:09","slug":"merz-and-macron-vowed-to-restart-the-franco-german-engine-its-already-sputtering-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284024\/","title":{"rendered":"Merz and Macron vowed to restart the Franco-German engine. It\u2019s already sputtering. \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paris thinks the same. \u201cThe Franco-German reflex has been rediscovered,\u201d an Elys\u00e9e official said.<\/p>\n<p>But despite the good vibes and increased cooperation on policy areas involving deregulation and migration, the leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to conceal an uncomfortable reality: The promised restart of the Franco-German engine that long powered the European Union is already sputtering, as Merz and Macron confront a series of intractable divisions on everything from defense to trade.<\/p>\n<p>One of the key differences between the current German chancellor and his predecessor is that Scholz recognized how difficult it would be to resolve the key Franco-German differences, and didn\u2019t want to exert enormous energy to achieve the nearly impossible, one conservative lawmaker focusing on foreign relations told POLITICO.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cScholz failed because he is smart and simply realized how difficult it is and then lost interest,\u201d the lawmaker said. \u201cWe have the desire\u201d to make the Franco-German relationship work, he added, \u201cbut it is still difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>New agreement, deeper divisions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Merz and Macron have a lot in common when it comes to their pro-business leanings and desire to see less regulation. Perhaps the greatest example of this was last month\u2019s cooperation between the two leaders to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/inside-the-franco-german-plot-to-kill-europes-ethical-supply-chain-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defang a due diligence law<\/a> meant to bring EU-style protections to global supply chains.<\/p>\n<p>Another area of increasing agreement is on nuclear energy. In May, Merz\u2019s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, signaled that Berlin was prepared to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/wirtschaft\/soziales\/eu-taxonomie-bundesregierung-findet-frankreichs-atomstrom-jetzt-klimafreundlich-a-37ebf61f-7979-4848-a6e0-4880e222d956\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">give up its long-standing opposition<\/a> to classifying nuclear power as a renewable energy source, potentially ending an enduring clash that has complicated EU energy policy. (Merz\u2019s junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats, oppose the move however.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris thinks the same. \u201cThe Franco-German reflex has been rediscovered,\u201d an Elys\u00e9e official said. But despite the good&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[1213,22707,5108,6215,473,32,33,34,35,2000,299,805,36,1945,1824,475,806,43,7911,22708,7337,5111,46,2443,22713,6648,479,1201,6862,657,15,49,1116],"class_list":{"0":"post-284024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-americas","9":"tag-armaments","10":"tag-asylum","11":"tag-cooperation","12":"tag-defense","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-elections","15":"tag-emmanuel-macron","16":"tag-energy","17":"tag-eu","18":"tag-europe","19":"tag-foreign-policy","20":"tag-france","21":"tag-friedrich-merz","22":"tag-germany","23":"tag-imports","24":"tag-industry","25":"tag-macron","26":"tag-meat","27":"tag-mercosur","28":"tag-olaf-scholz","29":"tag-parliament","30":"tag-policy","31":"tag-regulation","32":"tag-south-america","33":"tag-supply-chains","34":"tag-tariffs","35":"tag-trade","36":"tag-trade-agreements","37":"tag-ukraine","38":"tag-united-kingdom","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-weapons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114900125857478489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}