Olaf Solz in Paris: What he will discuss with Macron

With most political analysts agreeing that the Franco-German axis is in crisis, German Chancellor Olaf Solz the French president is visiting today Emmanuel Macron in Paris, with the main aim of allaying the concerns that were rightly raised last week, following the third consecutive postponement of the statutory joint meeting of the French and German governments.

The withdrawal of Germany from close cooperation with France was acknowledged a few days ago by the French Minister of Finance Bruno Lemaire speaking of “difficult moments” in the relations between the two countries, as also President Macron, who declared that “Germany is in an era of model change, the destabilizing character of which should not be underestimated”.

The French newspaper Le Figaro underlines that “what is happening today between France and Germany is part of a profound geostrategic shift, a continental shift, that began a long time ago and promises to transform the face of Europe for a long time.” As noted in an article in the same newspaper, in the eyes of the former Soviet Republics, Hollande, Merkel and their successors compromised with Putin during the Minsk agreements on Donbassin 2015, while at the same time describing a Germany, “which is tempted to embrace more and more the eastern side of the EU, at the risk of alienating itself from Paris.

Among other things, Figaro points to Germany’s “purchases” of American equipment at the expense of European industry, while it speaks of an “anti-Putin” air shield, with Germany leading the way, along with Israel and the United Statesbut without France.

The newspaper also estimates that “in France they sometimes miscalculate the extent of the shock caused to Germany by the war in Ukraine” and that Russian aggression causes the Berlin “challenging the European economic model, awareness of security challenges and a sense of guilt towards the neighbours”. According to the newspaper, Germany suddenly becomes a geopolitical player again and notes that in this tectonic shift of plates, it is not Germany that is at risk of “isolation”, as Macron says, but France. “Unhindered, Berlin sees itself as the center of a Europe that extends significantly eastward, from Ukraine to the Balkans,” notes Figaro, which estimates that “it is up to France to redefine, without delay, its priorities , to reinvent its European policy, to clean up its public accounts, instead of asking for help from Brussels, to develop its industrial and military capabilities, so as to continue a dialogue between equals with Germany, which is necessary to maintain of the cohesion of Europe”.

RES-EMP

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