The German and French governments will meet on Monday October 9 and Tuesday October 10 in Hamburg for informal meetings. Objective: casual conversations to try to overcome differences between the two countries. Visit to the Airbus site, boat tour and walk, but also work meetings are on the menu for these two days. But the agenda was upended by Hamas’s attacks on Israel.
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With our special correspondent in Hamburg, Pascal Thibaut
For Olaf Scholz, it is “ a terrible and barbaric attack “. “ France and Germany stand alongside the Israeli people in these tragic moments “, declared Emmanuel Macron. The German Chancellor and the French President, during their preliminary statements at the Airbus site in Hamburg, underlined the solidarity of the two countries with Israel, at open war with Hamas since Saturday’s attacks.
Both announced joint conversations on Monday evening with the American President, Joe Biden, and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Objective: to prevent a conflagration in the region.
Germany and France stand together alongside the Israeli people in this tragic moment.
The fight against terrorism is a common cause that we will continue to pursue with Israel, with all our allies and partners.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 9, 2023
These attacks have darkened the Franco-German government seminar, the first of its kind bringing together the two governments without an agenda or communication for informal exchanges. The Franco-German couple has struggled in recent months on military cooperation or energy issues, to cite just two examples.
Emmanuel Macron considered that Franco-German agreements, in a troubled period, were more necessary than ever: “ We must, perhaps even more than before, be a force of proposal together, a driving force behind decisions for our two countries and our Europe. We will be able to build bold proposals. »
Working groups must be set up to deliver common proposals. Objective for the German Chancellor: “ We want a united, strong and sovereign Europe, a Europe that is technologically at the forefront of the world. »
So many principled objectives that can only be unanimously agreed upon. It remains to find laborious compromises between divergent interests to achieve this.
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