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Serious tensions between France and Germany

2022-10-26 19:49:48Fokus SHKRUAR NGA BERND RIEGERT
Serious tensions between France and Germany
Macron-Scholz

Relations between France and Germany are once again in crisis, and this time the crisis is more serious than usual. Because it comes at a critical time and damages the EU's ability to act in crises.

A recent announcement that the Franco-German ministerial meeting has been postponed until next January shows how big is the rift created in the relations between these two countries. The alliance between Germany and France has often been called the "engine" of the European Union, and analysts say the current crisis is hampering the EU's ability to act.

The Elysee Palace quickly explained the difficulties of some ministers to attend the meeting and the lack of time to prepare the meeting. "The postponement does not in any way indicate the current state of Franco-German relations," the press spokeswoman told the press last week, adding that we are dealing with a postponement and not a cancellation of the meeting.

But, her statement and the quick planning of the visit to Paris of the German chancellor for this Wednesday (26.10), did not convince the analysts.

Collaboration is vital

"The Franco-German ministerial meeting in general does not bring very concrete results except for taking some trivial decisions, such as the organization of joint language courses, and it is an occasion where both countries re-express their commitment to close cooperation," he says. Stefan Seidendorf, deputy director of the Franco-German institute DFI, based in Ludwigsburg.

"But this meeting and Franco-German cooperation is vital to the functioning of the EU, and the meeting has never been canceled since it was first held in 1963," he told Deutsche Welles.

Seidendorf explains that what works in American foreign policy does not work in Europe. America can go it alone because it is so big that other countries can follow in its footsteps.

"Meanwhile, no European country is big enough to guarantee political stability alone, so a basic consensus is needed between France and Germany, the bloc with the two largest economies in Europe, which also represents the two most divergent points of view. Other countries support this compromise," Seidendorf points out.

Both France and Germany are acting alone

But currently, both Germany and France seem to want to go their separate ways.

Berlin recently approved a $200 billion aid package to ease its country's crisis of rising gas and electricity prices, without informing France first. Informing France would have been a welcome step, since such a sum of money can change the market.

In addition, at the last NATO meeting, Germany signed an agreement with 14 other NATO countries and Finland to create a new air defense system, called the European Sky Shield Initiative, ESSI for short. This initiative aims to create a common defense program on the continent. But France was not included in it.

The step taken by Germany is the same as that taken by France, because France is already developing an air defense system, together with Italy, the so-called Mamba.

Since the beginning of the Russian attack against Ukraine in May-February of this year, military defense has taken on great importance.

Meanwhile, at the EU's high-level meeting with heads of state and government last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a new agreement with Spain and Portugal to build a new hydrogen and gas pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille. . This project rejected the project to build a gas pipeline, called Midcat, that would connect Spain and France passing through the Pyrenees. Berlin preferred this project more, hoping to also benefit from the Iberian gas.

The French president directly issued a statement against the country he is supposed to have an ally. "It is neither good for Germany nor for Europe when Germany isolates itself", he said.

This is no time for jokes

"Both sides are irritated with each other," comments Seidendorf. "Germany remembers that it can make multilateral agreements with other small countries bypassing France. And France is still waiting for Germany to accept Macron's request for deeper European integration, made during the speech he gave at the Sorbonne University in 2017," adds the political science researcher. At that time, the French president requested, among other things, a common eurozone budget and greater cooperation in the military field and in the tax sector.

But Sophie Pornschlegel, an expert analyst at the European Policy Center based in Brussels, thinks that the display of mutual ironies is not at all amusing. "We don't have time for such things — a war has broken out in Europe and we are facing an energy crisis," she told DW.

"If we're lucky and the next few months aren't too cold, we'll somehow get through this winter. But we will need a long-term solution to the crisis of rising energy prices, for example by creating a solidarity fund in the EU," she argues.

Otherwise energy will become unaffordable, adds Pornschlegel, and lead to economic crisis and greater unemployment.

"The current rift in Europe is grist to [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin's mill and hurts the EU's ability to act," she points out.

Are the disagreements much deeper?

There are sectors where France and Germany have traditionally not reached an agreement, for example in the field of energy. France is in favor of using atomic energy, while Germany is against it.

But as Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, an expert on Germany at the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Relations, points out, the current crisis is deeper than past disagreements.

"The gap created is so big," Gougeon told DW, "that some small EU member states, such as Poland and the Baltic countries, are questioning the Franco-German ability to lead."

Ronja Kempin, an expert at the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, also thinks that the current disputes reflect deeper, more fundamental disagreements. "Macron has long wanted the EU to work with smaller groups, created for specific issues, and is against the enlargement of the EU without reforming it. He sees the EU as a way to expand France's power," she explains to DW.

"Germany, on the other hand, sees the EU as a way to make changes and bring peace to countries," she adds.

Looking on the positive side, DFI's Seitendorf still sees a glimmer of hope.

"The leaders of Germany and France have often had to go through the process of receiving lectures to understand that the EU cannot function without the Franco-German duo."

Seidendorf points out that former German leader Ludwig Erhard, who was in power in the 1960s, and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, president from 2007 to 2012, received such lectures.

It is "very difficult" to reach a compromise with an ally who disagrees with you on certain issues, he admits. "But sometimes everyone takes a turn." /DW


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