President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Olaf School, They began a meeting at the Elysee on Tuesday to try to close the escalating bilateral disagreements that had led to the postponement of the bilateral summit originally scheduled for today.
Scholz arrived at the Elysee Palace shortly after at 12:30 local time (10:30 GMT), and Macron descended to meet him at the foot of his official car. Together, they posed very briefly for the cameras – as planned – without any explanation – before a work dinner.
The appointment was accepted by both sides after growing differences in several key areas, including defense or energy, led to the delay of the Franco-German summit scheduled for today at Fontainebleau.
Inconsistencies with the Iberian exception
Officially, this has been due to timing issues from various ministers, although in recent weeks Paris and Berlin held very different positionsespecially on the energy policy of the European Union after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
France wants to apply across the so-called EU “Iberian exception“ something that Germany opposes to lower the price of electricity.
In addition, the German government strongly supported the MidCat gas pipeline project between Spain and France and will eventually be abandoned in favor of a submarine tube to transport hydrogen connecting Barcelona and Marseille.
Various defense issues in recent weeks have further complicated the relationship between the two great powers, such as the anti-missile shield project launched by Berlin or some differences in the development of future European warplanes (in which Spain also participated). EU and euro.
out of whack
Commentators also insisted Lack of personal harmony between Macron and ScholzHe took office in December 2021, especially after the French leader’s close relationship with Angela Merkel, the former head of the German Government.
Minutes before Scholz arrived at the Elysee, French Government spokesman Olivier Véran made an effort to ignore the disagreements between the two countries and to emphasize that Paris and Berlin have made progress “all over the world” since Emmanuel Macron became president. lands”.
“We intend that this Franco-German axis will continue to work, and the visit of the German chancellor at this time (…) shows that: this friendship is so alive and it is our desire to move forward togetherVéran added that this includes “confronting the challenges of the moment when the priorities of one country do not align with those of another.”
Asked about the differences, specifically to agree on a mechanism to lower the energy price, the government spokesman recalled that there was indeed a consensus “at the initiative of France” to come up with a formula at the European summit last week.
In addition, the French repeated his position. in favor of extending the so-called “Iberian exception” to the European Unionthis makes it possible to set a ceiling on the price of gas used to generate electricity.
“This is a convenient mechanism for all, and it allows us to be stronger together,” Véran stressed, “when we move forward together, we can weigh against producing countries where prices do not need to be moderate at the moment.”
A message to Berlin, which is reluctant to generalize gas price limits in the EU because of the risk of causing producers to seek other markets and not supply the European market.