None, they didn’t have to sweep up any broken pieces, say Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Catherine Colonna as if in chorus. The two foreign ministers have far removed the impression that Franco-German china has been smashed in recent weeks. Forget the cancellation of the Franco-German Council of Ministers in Fontainebleau at short notice, preparations are now being made intensively for the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty, in order to celebrate it “dignified”, as Minister Colonna emphasizes. The warnings of President Macron that “Germany is isolating” also fade away.
Minister Baerbock says how unsuccessful Vladimir Putin was in dividing Europe, and that applies particularly to Paris and Berlin: “We are closer together than ever before.”
The two foreign ministers climbed the stairs to the top floor of the Lycée Montaigne in Paris on Monday morning to celebrate Franco-German friendship. Communication between the two women is obviously working well, Baerbock speaks of “my friend Catherine”, Colonna regrets that she never learned German for fear of conjugating German verbs (“so difficult!”).
Students deal with disagreements
Students from the Abi-Bac classes are already waiting in the classroom to demonstrate that there is another way. The Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW) prepared the exchange as part of a day of encounters. The students take turns asking their questions in both languages. But she, too, is concerned with the question of how bad the Franco-German relationship is.
Baerbock explains that differences of opinion are part of everyday life, “you don’t always agree with your best friend when you’re buying clothes.” The Foreign Minister believes that it speaks for the strength of democracies that differences are addressed openly. There are “different cultures” about nuclear power and it doesn’t make sense to keep them secret.
But still everyone pulls together in energy policy. Colonna explains that she was in Egypt at the start of the World Climate Conference, Baerbock was there at the end. “We exchange ideas all the time,” she says. “Where were you, where was I?” They are actually constantly in dialogue, Baerbock agrees. The Foreign Minister describes that Germany is currently getting gas from France, while Germany is supplying electricity to France.
When she addresses the students directly and asks where they see room for improvement in the Franco-German relationship, they can’t think of anything at first. A student says that the cooperation is very close and very good. Another student, somewhat hesitantly, refers to the lack of young German teachers, more than 70 percent of the advertised positions in France this year remained vacant. Colonna advises promoting the German language more, “the more demand there is, the more teachers are trained”.
Baerbock expresses the wish that the schools in both countries organize more student exchanges again. After all, anyone who believed that understanding was somehow “old-fashioned” will now become aware of what Europe actually is for thanks to the war. “And of course there is more bonding when you have prepared for a class test together than when you spend hours together at an EU Council of Ministers,” she says. The question of war and peace is again an issue for the younger generation.
It is also the topic of the day for the two ministers, who want to organize concrete winter aid for Moldova at an international supporters’ conference. The first aid conference was organized in Berlin, now Paris has taken the initiative.
Aid for the Republic of Moldova is so important because Putin is testing European resilience on the eastern flank in the country, which has a population of only around 2.6 million. The aim is to prevent the EU accession candidate Moldova from having to give in under pressure from Moscow. That is why Germany and France want to organize concrete help with the energy supply together with the neighboring country Romania.
