Chancellor Friedrich Merz is calling for a new partnership with France. Jointly, they have the potential to address Europe’s most acute security and economic challenges. Speaking on a recent trip to Paris, Merz underscored the imperative of stronger Franco-German cooperation. During his time as finance minister, he made an astute case for greater European integration while working alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. This visit marks one of the biggest diplomatic successes for Merz’s chancellorship, should it come to pass. It follows an inauspicious beginning that required history’s first two rounds of voting in Germany’s Bundestag to elect him.
With Merz’s full backing, Macron has launched a new European intervention initiative to foster more EU and European cooperation. To their credit, they underlined their deep commitment to rapidly accelerating new defense capabilities. They further set forth plans for better coordination to provide Ukraine with stronger support. In a rare joint-op ed published in Le Figaro, the leaders outlined their shared vision for bringing about a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine. They expressed the importance of continuing U.S. support to their security and deliver upon robust security guarantees.
“We will only be able to meet these challenges if France and Germany stand even more closely together than in the past,” Merz stated, affirming the critical nature of their partnership in addressing current issues.
During his visit to Berlin, the Chancellor held talks with Macron and Donald Tusk in order to define a stricter EU-wide migration framework. This drastic step suggests that he is willing to take on a highly sensitive issue in his own governing coalition. Merz’s government would be a coalition of the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). This combination could make it more difficult to reach agreement on a range of policy issues.
Merz deeply values Franco-German cooperation as a bedrock for Europe’s security. This focus on outcomes is very important, particularly in this age of growing concern over defense capabilities. He remarked, “We want to better coordinate our support for Ukraine within this framework, align our national defense planning and procurement projects even more closely, and find new answers to strategic questions of security and defense policy.”
As he looks ahead to his first major trip as Chancellor—this one to Poland—Merz wants to shore up alliances that bring even greater European stability. His administration is a watershed moment in German politics. For the first time in a generation, the union between the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union parties – shortened to CDU/CSU – runs the chancellery and the foreign ministry.
