A state visit by the French president to Germany had not been seen since 2000. On Monday, the German presidency announced the arrival of Emmanuel Macron, from July 2 to 4. “This particular event marks the beginning of a new chapter in the friendship that has united the two countries for decades,” the presidency wrote in a statement.
Emmanuel Macron will pay tribute “to the close friendship that binds our two countries on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty”, signed on January 22, 1963 by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, added the German presidency. “Together, the French President and the German President [Frank-Walter] Steinmeier will visit several regions of Germany and thus underline the unique relations between our states, our citizens and in particular the German and French youth,” argued the German presidency. .
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit is announced after months of friction between Paris and Berlin on multiple subjects, from nuclear power to CO2 emissions from automobiles, through relations with Washington and European defense.
The head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, will be in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday. The environmental minister will notably be received by the head of state on Tuesday, before attending the next day at the council of ministers.
His French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, is expected in Berlin on Thursday for talks with the German, Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers on the situation in the Middle East.
Finally, the two governments will meet in Germany in the fall, according to the French presidency, specifying that this format of intergovernmental consultations “will be intended to be reproduced annually, for an ever closer consultation between the two countries”. “It’s like in a good marriage, you can always give new impulses to keep it good and intense, that’s exactly what happens in Franco-German relations,” commented Steffen Hebestreit, spokesperson of Olaf Schlolz in front of the press on Monday in Berlin.
