After examining the motion of censure, this Monday morning at 10 a.m. at the National Assembly, Gabriel Attal will fly to Berlin.
For this first trip abroad since his appointment on January 9, the French Prime Minister is expected to have a broad overview with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
According to Berlin, this meeting will cover all “bilateral, European and international” subjects as well as economic policy questions.
And there is no shortage of files.
After a speech to the French community at the French Embassy, Gabriel Attal will be received with military honors at 6 p.m. at the German Chancellery where he will have a one-on-one meeting with Olaf Schlotz: decarbonized hydrogen, expansion of the European Union, agricultural crisis, rise of the far right and European elections…
During his appointment, Olaf Scholz congratulated Gabriel Attal, looking forward to “continuing and strengthening” cooperation between the two countries.
Gabriel Attal replied “that an ever more united France and Germany is a Europe that is ever stronger and moving forward”.
Stubborn points of divergence
The fact remains that the Franco-German couple is currently cultivating more of a marriage of convenience rather than a passionate romance.
At the end of a seminar between the two governments in October in Hamburg, the participants conceded that the Franco-German couple was not in the best shape, while displaying their determination to get it back on track, including on the issue of energy and the electricity market on which the energy bill of households and businesses in Europe depends.
The fact remains that several divergences remain well anchored.
The war in Ukraine has exposed the two countries' different visions on aid.
Olaf Scholz is pleading for its increase at a time when new promises of Western aid to kyiv have slowed down sharply, against a backdrop of political dissension.
They have even fallen to their lowest level since the start of the Russian invasion, the German research institute Kiel Institute calculated in early December.
And in this case, Paris is accused of not doing enough, in particular by not delivering combat planes even though French military support for Ukraine amounts to 3.2 billion euros, according to a report parliamentary published in November.
On another note, Gabriel Attal and Olaf Scholz should discuss the agricultural crisis, which affects their two countries.
If Paris is opposed to the controversial trade agreement project between the European Union and the Latin American countries of Mercosur, Germany, which relies on exports, still views it favorably.
Another point of tension, the question of energy in the place of nuclear power and the electricity market on which the energy bill of households and businesses in Europe depends.