France and Germany face a difficult road
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Paris with reporters on Wednesday for a round-table talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, but Macron’s campaign said there were no press conferences scheduled, Politico reports. rice field.
The two leaders will now meet for a “working lunch,” which could serve as a downgraded replacement for the abolished ministerial meeting. The move would be another indicator that relations between her two of Europe’s biggest economies are not what they used to be.
Sandra Wieser, a member of Germany’s Liberal Democrats and a member of the Franco-German parliamentary parliament, said there was “probably a lack of contact and interaction between the new government teams” of each country. Macron is said to have expressed disappointment to Scholz for not making efforts to develop a better personal relationship than Macron enjoyed with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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But Macron and Scholz have clashed over a number of topics, including how to deal with Europe’s looming energy crisis and growing interest in Europe from China.
Chantal Kopp, a member of Germany’s Green Party and another member of the French and German parliamentarians, said that French parliamentarians wanted to “closely” coordinate their responses to these issues. said he understood.
But while Germany has pursued a “smug” stance with Wieser over curbing gas prices and lack of support for a “joint European defense technology project,” she also said Paris is stepping into a new pipeline project. I accused him of not.
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The two countries are divided over how to approach nuclear energy, with Germany saying that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed energy prices up, German parliamentarians are rethinking their approach, and that the last three nuclear power plants They intended to shut down the remaining nuclear power plants until they ordered two to be shut down. leave it open.
France, on the other hand, has been pursuing the path of opening new nuclear power plants even before the invasion began.
The two countries are also sharply divided on how to deal with China after Germany approved the purchase of a 24.9% stake in the port of Hamburg on Wednesday after Scholz approved the move. The approval of Costco’s purchase at the port, which was cut from his 35% originally proposed, immediately sparked “unprecedented” protests within the government, Reuters reported.
The German foreign ministry said the investment “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence on Germany’s and Europe’s transport infrastructure and Germany’s dependence on China” and has been repeatedly rejected. drafted a document to
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President Macron questioned the deal last week, arguing that “vital infrastructure” had become vulnerable to Beijing, saying that “because I thought Europe was an open supermarket”, Europe would still be open to Chinese purchases. He said he was “naive.”
Tensions first began to boil when Macron and Scholze did not meet last month to commemorate the famous speech given by former French president Charles de Gaulle in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Both sides offered conflicting explanations as to why the talks did not take place.
And Scholze appears to have snubbed French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne when he failed to meet her in Berlin. The first meeting was called off because Scholz tested positive for COVID-19, but he canceled the subsequent video call. However, he held a press conference via video later that day, announcing a €200 billion energy relief package.
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French officials expressed great disappointment with Germany’s actions, especially since they didn’t know about the package until Scholz announced it.
Reuters contributed to this report.