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French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the meeting in Paris
Photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has promised Ukraine the continued support of the Europeans.
“We will continue to support Ukraine – for as long and as comprehensively as necessary.
Together, as Europeans - to defend our European peace project," Scholz said at the start of the ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Franco-German friendship treaty in Paris on Sunday.
"Putin's imperialism will not win," said Scholz.
"We will not allow Europe to fall back into a time when violence replaced politics and our continent was torn apart by hatred and national rivalries." He emphasized the need for Franco-German cooperation "as a catalyst in a united Europe."
At the ceremony in Paris, Scholz thanked France for the friendship.
"Thank you, Mr. President - thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said in French to President Emmanuel Macron.
Relations between the two countries had been strained in the past year.
A joint ministerial meeting planned for autumn was canceled at short notice.
»Transforming controversy into parallel action«
Coordination between Germany and France is a central part of opinion-making in the EU, emphasized Scholz.
"The Franco-German engine is a compromise machine - well oiled, but sometimes loud and marked by hard work," he said in a speech on the anniversary of the Élysée Treaty.
He gets his drive “not from sweet cuddles and empty symbolism”.
Instead, out of "our firm will to repeatedly convert controversies and differences of interest into aligned action."
It is normal that there are always differences due to different political and economic structures and other historical experiences, said the Chancellor with a view to various efforts, for example in EU financial and industrial policy.
This is precisely why solutions are also acceptable for others.
In response, Macron called on Germany to become “pioneers in the re-founding of our Europe”.
The two neighboring countries play this role because they went down the path of reconciliation together after the Second World War.
The European Union must continue to be able to act as a "geopolitical power" in the world.
Big meeting of both governments
The cabinets of both countries and the leaders of the two national parliaments are meeting in Paris today to mark the anniversary of the Élysée Treaty, which formally sealed Franco-German friendship on January 22, 1963.
The entire federal government is expected to attend the celebration in Paris, with the exception of Labor Minister Hubertus Heil, and 140 members of the Bundestag are also arriving.
The meeting will also cover the most important current issues, such as economy, energy, security and defence.
A joint declaration should ultimately set out a vision for Europe's future.
Scholz stressed the need for a sovereign Europe, for which France and Germany worked together.
»By joining forces where the nation states have lost their assertiveness on their own – in safeguarding our values in the world, in protecting our democracy against authoritarian forces.
But also in the competition for modern technologies, in securing raw materials, in energy supply or in space travel,” he said.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) had previously called for a "new impetus" for Franco-German relations.
She would like new joint projects, for example in social and security policy, she said.
"France and Germany could develop a common European idea for social integration - for example with the minimum wage and other social standards," suggested the SPD politician.
Recently, Bas said, peace seemed to be taken for granted, "especially for the younger generation."
From the very first moment of the war, Europe had shown overwhelming solidarity with the country under attack, Ukraine, which was also in its own interest.
"It's about the security of our continent." It's also about values like freedom, the rule of law and democracy.
But this also requires cohesion within Europe, emphasized Bas.
»We can only assert our values internationally if Europe is strong internally.« Geopolitical upheavals, climate change, economic challenges and migration demanded common answers.
The partnership plays a key role in mastering the major tasks.
»Europe needs the Franco-German tandem.«
Bas began the celebrations with a tribute at the grave of French women's rights activist Simone Veil in the Pantheon in Paris.
Honoring a great European, "a woman with strong convictions and exemplary actions, whose legacy we want to carry on," wrote the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, on Twitter, with whom Bas visited the memorial.
Numerous joint institutions since the signing of the contract
French President Charles de Gaulle once wanted to use the treaty to tie Germany to France in order to prevent the neighboring country from allying with Great Britain or the USA against his country.
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer saw moving towards France as a suitable means of reducing mistrust of the Germans in Europe.
At that time, it was agreed that the heads of state and government, the foreign and defense ministers and the chiefs of staff would meet regularly.
It is about "awakening and deepening greater understanding for the other people," said a German government spokesman after the signing.
However, there was also headwind.
The then US President John F. Kennedy was concerned about the Franco-German rapprochement, especially since France strictly rejected NATO.
He had tried in vain to prevent the conclusion of the contract.
But he managed to get Germany to add, on its own initiative, a preamble reaffirming Germany's commitment to the United States before ratification by the Bundestag.
France has nothing against it, was the official reaction from Paris.
But behind the scenes it was seething.
Numerous Franco-German institutions emerged from the Élysée Treaty, which have steadily deepened the relationship between the two countries.
In the aftermath of the treaty, the Franco-German youth organization was founded around 1963, through which around ten million young Germans and French got to know each other's neighboring countries through exchanges.
The Franco-German military brigade has existed since 1989.
Three years later, the binational cultural broadcaster »Arte« went on the air.
kig/Reuters/dpa/AFP
