PARIS, Nov 13 French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz share the belief that the relationship between Paris and Berlin is a «driving force» for Europe.
The Minister noted that the countries will work to improve relations and that their common vision of European construction should be based on specific projects.
“They (Scholz and Macron — ed.) share the conviction that the relationship between France and Germany is the driving force for Europe. The war in Ukraine, the energy crisis is disrupting our way of thinking, but there is nothing that cannot be resolved through dialogue. When France and Germany come to an agreement, this often represents a middle point of balance within the EU: we have this responsibility, and each of us knows it.I receive my German colleague Annalena Burbock on November 21, and the Prime Minister Elisabeth Born will be in Berlin on the 25th,» the minister said in an interview with the Parisien newspaper.
As French and German media noted earlier, relations between France and Germany are at their lowest point. The most contentious topics concern the marginal price of gas, Scholz's unwillingness to support French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of European sovereignty and common defense, as well as the negotiations of the French leader behind the back of his German counterpart about the construction of a gas pipeline between Barcelona and Carcassonne, also led to the conflict.< br>Earlier, the meeting between the leaders of France and Germany, as well as the meeting of the French and German governments, scheduled for October 26 in Fontainebleau, was postponed to January. According to the head of the French Ministry of Finance Bruno Le Maire, the reason for the transfer was the busy schedule of the participants. However, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that the participants «need more time» due to the fact that an agreement has not yet been reached on a number of issues in the field of energy and defense.