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France-Germany tensions 'hamstring EU's capacity to act'

October 26, 2022

The French-German relationship is in crisis again and this time, the spat seems more serious than usual, threatening to undermine the EU's ability to act. Chancellor Scholz and President Macron aim to find common ground.

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In May, French President Emmanuel Macron (left) was received with military honors in Berlin by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
In May, French President Emmanuel Macron (left) was received with military honors in Berlin by German Chancellor Olaf ScholzImage: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron will meet in Paris after signs of a deepening rift emerged between the two countries have emerged.

A Franco-German ministerial meeting — long scheduled to take place this week — was pushed back to next January at short notice.

The Elysee Palace was quick to put the move down to scheduling difficulties for several ministers and a lack of time to prepare for the meeting. "The delay does in no way give an indication of the current state of the Franco-German relationship," a spokeswoman told the press last week, adding that it was indeed just a delay and not a cancellation.

But her statement — and then the hastily scheduled visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Paris this Wednesday — failed to convince analysts.

The alliance between Germany and France is often described as "the engine" of the European Union and analysts say the current spat is undermining the EU's capacity to act.

Vital cooperation

"The Franco-German ministerial meeting generally does not yield many concrete results apart from nonessential decisions, such as setting up common language courses, and is an occasion to repeat the two countries' commitment to close cooperation," Stefan Seidendorf, deputy director of the Ludwigsburg-based think tank, the German-Franco Institute, or DFI, said. 

European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The French President has outlined bold plans for EU integration, while Germany tends to want to go more slowlyImage: Yves Herman/REUTERS

"But these meetings and Franco-German cooperation are vital for the functioning of the EU — and never since the first one in 1963 has a meeting been cancelled," he told DW.

Seidendorf explained that what works for the US in foreign policy doesn't work in Europe. The US presumes it can act alone, as it is big enough for other countries to see its actions as an example to follow.

"But no European country is large enough to guarantee political stability by itself and we need a fundamental consensus between France and Germany, the bloc's two largest economies, which also represent the two most divergent standpoints. Other member states align with that compromise," Seidendorf pointed out.

France and Germany, both going it alone

Currently though, both Germany and France seem to prefer forging their own independent paths.

Berlin recently voted through a €200 billion ($197 billion) emergency package to aid against rising gas and electricity prices at home, without informing France. That would have been common courtesy, especially as such an amount is likely to distort the market.

What's more, at a recent NATO meeting, Germany signed a deal with 14 other NATO countries and Finland on a new air defense system called the European Sky Shield Initiative, or ESSI. The initiative aims to create a joint air defense program on the continent. But France was not included.

This is even though France is already developing the so-called Mamba air missile defense shield together with Italy.

NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems are being placed by the Dutch Defence.
Air defense systems being tested in the Netherlands, one of the countries that signed up for the ESSIImage: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/ANP/dpa/picture alliance

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February this year, military defense has gained new importance.

Meanwhile at the EU's Summit of the Heads of State and Government last week, France's President Emmanuel Macron announced a deal with Spain and Portugal to build a new hydrogen and gas pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille. That project buries the so-called Midcat pipeline that would have linked Spain with France through the Pyrenees. Berlin preferred this pipeline, likely in the hope that Germany would eventually benefit from Iberian gas too.

The French President also had a direct dig at his supposed ally. "It's neither good for Germany nor for Europe when Germany isolates itself," he said.

No time to be sulking

"Both sides are irritated with each other," Seidendorf commented.

"Germany seems to think it can come to multilateral agreements with other small countries and circumvent France. And France is still waiting for Germany to accept Macron's pledge for deeper European integration that he made during his speech at Sorbonne University in 2017," the political scientist added. At the time the French President pleaded for a whole-of-eurozone budget and stronger military and tax cooperation, among other things.

But Sophie Pornschlegel, a senior policy analyst at Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre, doesn't find the show of bilateral sulking particularly amusing. "We don't have time for this — there's a war in Europe and we're facing an energy crisis," she told DW.

Brussels-based analyst Sophie Pornschlegel
Brussels-based analyst Sophie Pornschlegel says this is no time for sulkingImage: Frederike van der Straeten (Berlin 2021)

"If we're lucky, and it doesn't get too cold in the coming months, we'll get through this winter. But we'll need a long-term solution to deal with rising energy prices through, for example, an EU solidarity fund," she argued.

Otherwise energy could become unaffordable, Pornschlegel added, and lead to an economic crisis and more unemployment.

"The current rift in Europe plays into [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin's hands and hamstrings the EU's capacity to act," she stressed.

A far deeper disagreement?

France and Germany have areas where they traditionally disagree, such as on energy. For instance, France is in favor of nuclear energy whereas Germany is opposed to it.

But, as Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, an expert on Germany at Paris-based think tank, the Institute for International and Strategic Relations, pointed out, the current crisis seems deeper than previous disagreements.

"The spat is particularly grave," Gougeon told DW, "as some smaller EU member states, such as Poland and the Baltic states, are questioning Franco-German leadership." 

France's President (right) and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez (left)
Better friends? France's President (right) and Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez agreed on a new gas pipeline Image: Bertrand Guay/AP/picture alliance

Ronja Kempin, a senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, also thinks the current argument reflects a deeper, more fundamental disagreement.

"Macron has for a long time been pushing for the EU to function with smaller, issue-specific working groups and is opposed to an EU expansion before it's been reformed. He sees the EU as a way to widen France's power," she explained to DW.

"Germany, on the other hand, sees an EU expansion as a way to transform and bring peace to countries," she added.

Looking on the bright side

DFI's Seidendorf still sees a silver lining.

"German and French heads of state have often had to go through a learning curve to understand that the EU cannot function without the Franco-German couple."

Former German leader Ludwig Erhard, who was in power in the 1960s, and former French leader, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, had to learn this too, Seidendorf pointed out. 

It's "incredibly difficult" to come to a compromise with an ally who disagrees with you in certain key areas, he conceded. "But eventually they all come around." 

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