Frost though smiles all’Eliseo- Corriere.it

from our reporter
PARIS – The meeting of the rediscovered agreement began with a disagreement: Yes to the final press conference according to the Germans, there is no press conference according to the French. and as the highest Macron–Schulz It was in Paris that it was done as the Elysee wanted: at the end Business lunch and an interview that took a total of three hours and 20 minutes The leaders of the two countries did not ask questions from journalists, as is usually the case on these occasions.

One way to avoid any annoying insistence; So that you do not have to repeat the ready-made formulas more or less directly, openly, entrusted to the official press releases; And also, at least from the French side, to indicate that the problems do exist and The relationship between the two great countries is not at its best yet.

In addition to the press conference, it has a joint statement. In any case, According to the Elysee, the meeting was “very constructive” and made it possible to evoke “the Franco-German relationship in the spirit of very close work in the medium and long term” (In the short term, it’s legitimate then to have some skepticism.) Berlin defines the conversation as “friendly and constructive” by announcing that the next few weeks will see “excellent and intense cooperation” from the Franco-German “engine”, which the French call instead the romantic “couple”. But “The truth is it’s a marriage of convenience,” says a French diplomatic source..

The most tangible advertisement, if we may say so, is about The birth of “working groups” in the field of energy, defense and innovation In order to “cooperate in light of the next steps”. But the fact that we have to start from the bottom up, from the working groups, suggests that on individual problems — energy prices, help for businesses and families, defense — the positions are far off.

There was a time when the governments of France and Germany were close enough to hold joint cabinets: Just yesterday one of the lectures was supposed to take place at Fontainebleau, but it was officially canceled due to problems with the schedule of some German preachers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Barbock. This is how last week in Brussels Macron had brought the disagreement to the surface: “I think Germany’s isolation is not good for Germany itself or for Europe.”

And yesterday, other than statements of ritual intent, neither Macron nor Schulze indicated how they intended to find a single answer to the questions that separate them: gas price ceiling With the support of Italy and Germany against it. Paris reiterates that it is necessary to deal with the economic crisis and inflation with European solidarity on a continental scale, while Berlin has launched without warning a 300 billion national plan to help German families and businesses; While Macron has been devoting much of his energy for months to building at least one embryo of a common European defense, Schultz prefers buying American F35 fighters and engaging the United States and Israel. In building an anti-missile shield to protect against Russian threats.

As for diplomatic efforts to stop Russian aggression and bring peace to Ukraine, Macron did so alone by asking the Pope to try to engage Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, Russian President Putin, and US President Biden together.