During the new French President's first official visit abroad in Berlin on Monday 15 May, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, expressed their intention to breathe new life into the Franco-German partnership in order to reform Europe.
The French elections showed that the rise in populism is the consequence of a country that doubts and of a Europe that does not do enough to protect its workers or its businesses, Macron said following the meeting. Pledging to reform his country – “the only one that has not been able to reabsorb mass unemployment in 30 years” – he called for a revision of Europe to be based on a Franco-German relationship shored up by trust rather than blackmail. Wishing Macron all the best, particularly in the run-up to the general elections in June, Merkel said that the French had shown in the presidential elections that Europe was a “treasure” that Franco-German cooperation must work hard to protect.
The two leaders listed the priority short- and medium-term areas in which they intend to get to work. Macron said that Europe should be less bureaucratic and more protective, for instance by introducing “reciprocity” in trade with international partners. The German Chancellor also referred to the reforms underway of the European rules governing seconded workers and the asylum system, as well as bilateral projects in the field of defence.
On the eurozone, they said that both of their countries would get to work in the coming weeks on a “roadmap” aiming to deepen Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). “We will have more than just Brexit to deal with, because we are going to deepen EMU”, Merkel stressed. More specifically, Macron added that on the issue of eurobonds, the idea of pooling resources should be used to make future investments, rather than mutualise past debt.
As for the question of treaty change to consolidate the eurozone, the French President and the German Chancellor both declined to rule out European institutional reform, as long as the end purpose of the project is clarified in advance. “We can change the treaty if it makes sense to do so. First of all, we have to agree on what we hope to achieve”, Merkel said. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)