France and Germany are an "important couple for Europe" and must work out their differences, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday after talks to repair strained ties.
Scholz made the comments during a press conference with Macron in the northern German port city of Hamburg after two days of Franco-German meetings.
"As is common for many couples, there are sometimes different perspectives on one issue or another but it is possible to develop a common point of view," the chancellor added.
Präsident Macron und ich haben mit Präsident Biden, Premier Sunak und Premierministerin Meloni telefoniert und unsere Unterstützung für Israel bekräftigt.
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) October 9, 2023
Unsere 5 Länder werden sicherstellen, dass Israel sich und seine Bürger gegen die abscheulichen Angriffe verteidigen kann. pic.twitter.com/M54eMv5fiD
Macron echoed the sentiment, saying the two European Union heavyweights "have a historic, moral, political duty... to build common paths to move forward for our two countries and for our Europe.
"A stronger and more united Europe is essential, and a necessary condition for this is for Germany and France to be closer," he said.
Willingness to compromise
The closely watched Hamburg gathering, also attended by government ministers from both countries, was billed as a chance to revive the Franco-German friendship after a series of spats over energy policy and defence projects among other things.
Plans by the European Commission to reform the electricity market have been held up in recent months as Berlin and Paris disagree over how best to decarbonise the sector and deal with the energy price shock sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine.
But Macron signalled a willingness to come up with a compromise soon.
"We agreed to work together... in the coming weeks to seek to conclude a necessary agreement by the end of the month," Macron said, while noting that both countries were advocating "extremely different" models.
Scholz said the two neighbours were working "intensively and very constructively to develop common solutions" on how to bring together "the energy systems in Europe to generate impulses for growth and lower electricity prices".
A key point of difference between Paris and Berlin is the topic of long-term energy contracts at guaranteed prices between government and electricity producers.
France wants its existing nuclear fleet be allowed to benefit from those contracts. But Germany, which has phased out nuclear power, wants to incentivise investment in new renewable energy projects.
(with newswires)
