Emmanuel Macron will pay an official visit to the Netherlands next Tuesday and Wednesday, the first by a French president since 2000, a sign of a new dynamic between the two countries after Brexit, the Elysee has announced.

President Macron will be accompanied by his wife Brigitte and seven ministers (Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Armed Forces, Interior, Energy Transition, Industry, Research and Transport).

“It is the expression of a Franco-Dutch approach, it is time to admit it, the result of a form of European architecture,” the French presidency underlined.

Because of Brexit, the Netherlands lost an important ally within the European Union, a development that led it to seek other partnerships.

“Since the start of the war in Ukraine, there has been a convergence of positions” mainly in terms of European sovereignty, the Elysee also reports, while until recently The Hague was traditionally seen as “more liberal and parsimonious” and Paris more “solidarity and protectionist”.

The visit will include a more formal leg on Tuesday, with ceremonies and dinner at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, at the invitation of King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Maxima.

The French president will also deliver a speech on “European sovereignty in economic and industrial matters” at the Nexus Institute on Tuesday in The Hague.

On this occasion, he will present “a doctrine of economic security” to China, from which he has just returned, and to the United States, which is actively committed to the development of its green industry.

On Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron will visit the University of Amsterdam’s quantum physics labs and then hold consultations with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, for the third time since 2021.

The two countries will sign a “pact on innovation and sustainable development”, with key collaborations being in semiconductors, quantum physics and energy, all areas where the EU intends to strengthen its independence.

France’s STMicroeletronics and the Netherlands’ ASLM, two European semiconductor giants, already have joint projects.

In this area, French start-up Pasqal, founded by Nobel laureate in physics Alain Aspe, merged with Dutch Qu&Co to create a pioneering giant.

The two governments will also work to finalize a defense deal by 2024.

French shipbuilding group Naval Group is also in a tender — with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and Sweden’s Kockums — to deliver four submarines to the Netherlands. “The issue could be raised by President Macron during the visit,” said a source with knowledge of the matter.