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Emmanuel Macron meets Scholz in Berlin for bilateral talks.
© Gonzalo Fuentes/RTR/AP/dpa
The last meeting between Macron and Scholz resulted in an open conflict.
A three-party summit in Berlin should bring relaxation.
But it is already clear beforehand: the differences will probably remain.
Berlin - Almost three weeks after their open conflict over the Ukraine strategy, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Berlin to discuss it.
Shortly before the meeting in the Chancellery, both sides reiterated their positions: Macron wants to continue to leave all options for help for the Ukrainian armed forces on the table - including the use of Western ground troops.
Scholz, however, continues to categorically rule out sending soldiers.
Macron wants to leave all options on the table
“There is no change in the Chancellor’s attitude towards this.
He made that clear," said German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit just a few minutes before Scholz received the French president with a handshake - but no hug - on the red carpet in front of the Chancellery.
“Both have their points of view and it will stay that way.
That's what I'm assuming.” The evening before, Macron had reiterated his position on ground troops on French television.
“All of these options are possible,” he said, but at the same time made it clear that he did not believe the time had come for ground troops and that such a deployment was not his wish.
We are not relying on escalation and we are not at war with Russia, but we should not let Russia win the war in Ukraine, said Macron.
“In order to achieve peace in Ukraine, you cannot be weak.” You have to look at the situation soberly.
“And we must say with determination, will and courage that we are prepared to use the means necessary to achieve our goal of ensuring that Russia does not win the war.”
The bilateral meeting between Scholz and Macron preceded a three-way conversation with the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
It is the first meeting at the top level of this so-called Weimar Triangle since June 2023.
Memorable Ukraine conference in Berlin with consequences
The talks took place almost three weeks after the memorable Ukraine conference in Paris, to which Macron invited around 20 heads of state and government and which resulted in a scandal.
At the subsequent press conference, the President did not publicly rule out sending ground troops for the first time, which Scholz contradicted several times in the following days.
“To put it bluntly: As German Chancellor, I will not send any soldiers from our Bundeswehr to Ukraine,” said the SPD politician.
Macron then explained during a visit to Prague: “We are certainly approaching a moment in our Europe in which it is appropriate not to be cowardly.” Some people took this as a reference to Scholz, who, unlike France, did not launch cruise missiles Ukraine wants to deliver.
The Chancellor fears that Germany will become involved in the Ukraine war.
Scholz on his relationship with Macron: “very friendly”
Scholz tried to smooth things over this week.
He could assure "that it is different than what many people think: Emmanuel Macron and I have a very good personal relationship - I would call it very friendly," he said at a press conference.
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However, the relationship between the two was considered cold from the beginning of the Chancellor's term in office.
All attempts at lasting improvement didn't really work.
They made their last attempt in October last year at a meeting between the two governments in Hamburg.
What remained are pictures of a shared fish sandwich tasting on the Elbe promenade.
Not much more.
Poland has not yet taken a clear position
Poland's position on Macron's move is not entirely clear.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a meeting with his Czech colleague Petr Fiala in Prague at the end of February: “Poland does not intend to send its troops to Ukraine.” However, he did not comment on what position his government would take if other NATO -Countries would send troops to Poland's eastern neighbor.
A little later, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski took a much clearer position.
“The presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is not unthinkable.
“I welcome the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron,” he wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) last Friday.
Because this suggestion from Macron means “that Putin is afraid, instead of us being afraid of Putin,” Sikorski continued.
Before the Weimar Triangle meeting in Berlin, Sikorski upped the ante.
Macron wants Putin to worry about what the West might do against him.
“We could also do something he doesn’t expect.
And then we, not Putin, control the so-called staircase of escalation.
I absolutely agree with this attitude.”
Discussion not yet over
Polish media therefore assumed that Poland could take on the role of a mediator between Germany and France because of its more flexible position on this delicate issue of ground force deployment.
“Tusk for consensus” was the headline in the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza” on Friday.
The discussion is likely to continue at the EU summit next week.
dpa