The sight of French President Emmanuel Macron and his cabinet drinking beers on a boat with their German counterparts in Hamburg this week will project an image of the enduring Franco-German friendship. But the informal team-building exercise, a German government tradition called "Klausur", belies a power struggle between the European Union's two biggest powers and its impact on a raft of EU projects. From joint defence programmes to nuclear energy or relations with China, Paris and Berlin are at odds over a growing number of issues.
France and Germany's governments kick off an unprecedented two-day retreat in Hamburg on Monday in a bid to re-set relations between the European Union's two biggest powers amid a host of disagreements on energy, industry and defence policy. Europe is grappling with surging irregular migration, the transition to a carbon neutral economy, the Ukraine war, a shift in the relationship with top trade partner China and now also conflict in the Middle East. "The Franco-German relationship, and as a result Europe, is not living up to the challenges we are currently facing," said Jacob Ross at the German Council on Foreign Relations.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas militants is making a global impact with Britain, Canada, France and Germany among nations stepping up security around potential Jewish targets as pro-Palestinian protests break out in the Middle East and beyond."At a time when terrorist attacks from Gaza are hitting Israel, I ask you to immediately step up vigilance, security and protection of Jewish community sites in France," he wrote in the message seen by AFP.
He called for a "visible and systematic sta
BAKU (Reuters) -Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has decided against attending an EU-brokered event in Spain where he could have held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani state media reported on Wednesday. Aliyev had been considering taking part in a five-way meeting in Granada, Spain, on Thursday with the leaders of France, Germany, Armenia and EU Council President Charles Michel.
The UK economy has performed better than France and Germany since the pandemic, revised official figures suggest, delivering a boost to Rishi Sunak days before the start of the Conservative party conference.