Pascal Thibaut is Germany correspondent for the French broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI)
If, like me, you’ve been reporting on Franco-German relations for a long time, you can hardly manage to list all the bilateral crises. Therefore, I view the current disputes on energy and defense issues with composure.
Aren’t crises or at least differences of opinion part of the norm in this tandem? Are the “double booms” that France allegedly knew nothing about in advance, or the dispute over the gas price brake in Europe, that serious?
When Helmut Kohl surprised Europe in November 1989 with his ten-point plan for German reunification, it had a different geopolitical meaning. In the meantime, however, contacts between the two countries have become more intensive. Europe is now domestic politics. You spot problems faster.
Worry about decoupling
The media play their part. In France in particular, anger at Germany boiled up in the comment columns on the recent friction. Talk shows even talked about a Franco-German twilight of the gods.
En passant, anti-German resentments seeped through in some places, which unfortunately still lurk like sharks under the surface. This French sensitivity was underestimated in this country. If Chancellor Scholz fails to mention France in a keynote address on Europe in Prague, if his closest partner is not informed about the “double boom” in advance, he reacts like a spouse who is given the cold shoulder.
The French fear of “découplage” – of decoupling from Germany -, the love-hate relationship with the partner with whom one is constantly comparing oneself, the fear that Berlin will flirt with its eastern neighbors and become the “tête-à-tête franco-allemand “ Unfaithful: All this feeds doubts and fears on the other side of the Rhine.
The basic differences remain
It was all the more surprising when words like “reconciliation”, “make up” or “get together” suddenly appeared in some French media. This was preceded by a week of numerous bilateral meetings full of oaths of eternal friendship, most recently last Friday between Olaf Scholz and his counterpart Elisabeth Borne.
A few kisses left and right, gas against electricity and finally the green light – with nuances – for the long-awaited Franco-German armament project, the fighter pilot SCAF: So from “Rien ne va plus” to “One Love” in a flash?
The Franco-German engine often needs a longer warm-up phase when new drivers are behind the wheel.
Pascal Thibaut, Germany correspondent for the French broadcaster RFI
Behind these scattered signals lie enduring fundamental differences between our two countries, which continue to create friction. There are as many examples as there are types of cheese in France and types of bread in Germany: the role of the state, industrial policy, the attitude towards the transatlantic relationship or shared debts in Europe.
Joint initiatives have become rare
Compromises can be all the more fruitful. This applies to the bilateral relationship as well as to Europe. Political scientists have coined the beautiful term “consensus workshop”. It is particularly successful when not only technocratic problems are painstakingly eliminated, but also when challenging projects are initiated together. The EU Recovery Fund was one such example. In addition, however, Franco-German initiatives have now become a rarity.
It was actually assumed that the victory of the traffic light coalition a year ago would make cooperation between the two countries easier. The three parties involved, above all the Greens, had always supported President Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for the further development of the European Union and criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for her lack of answers. The FDP belongs to the same group in the European Parliament as the members of Macron’s Renaissance party.
A partnership as close as no other in the world
The Franco-German engine often needs a longer warm-up phase when new drivers are behind the wheel. It was no different with Schröder and Chirac, with Merkel and Sarkozy or Hollande. And the Ukraine war has overheated the government machinery on both sides of the Rhine.
A lack of sensitivity has also contributed to the disputes of the last few weeks. And the Chancellor’s underdeveloped communication skills certainly didn’t help.
Strange when you consider that there are no two countries in the world that maintain so many contacts – between civil society, but also between officials.
The violent reactions to Emmanuel Macron’s brusque postponement of the Franco-German Council of Ministers will hopefully be taken as a wake-up call in Paris and Berlin. A mutually well-stocked gift table for the sixtieth anniversary of the Elysee Treaty in January would certainly be appropriate.
I have been working in the news website industry for over 4 years now, first as a reporter and then as an editor. I enjoy writing about politics news and am also an author. I try to cover a lot of different angles when it comes to my articles so that readers can get a well-rounded understanding of the story.
