Emmanuel Macron’s state visit that began on Sunday in Berlin continues. The French president will pay tribute on Monday in Berlin to the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis at the imposing Holocaust memorial and launch an appeal in eastern Germany to young people for more Europe, to less than two weeks before the European elections.
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The movement ofEmmanuel Macron in Dresden illustrates Paris’ desire to rebalance a Franco-German relationship which, almost 35 years after the fall of Berlin Wallstill remains focused on the western part of theGermany.
Some 5,000 French companies are represented in Germany. There are only 300 of them in the east of the country, which nevertheless accounts for 15% of the population, notes our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut.
This deficit is found at all levels: learning French at school, youth exchanges, twinning. To correct this imbalance, an initiative was launched in the fall of 2022 to strengthen the French presence in the former GDR in the medium term. A program supported by the five regions concerned, including Saxony which welcomes Emmanuel Macron this Monday.
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This is the first trip by a French president to East Germany on a state visit since the fall of the Wall. Dresden for Emmanuel Macron is also the “metaphor of a European phoenix”, a city destroyed during the Second World War has become a city of innovation, underlines the special correspondent from RFI’s political service, Valérie Gasin Berlin.
Deliver a message against the rise of extremes
Emmanuel Macron says to himself “ very happy » to get there « to mark [l’]European commitment and the defense of our democratic values “. Because if Dresden and its “Silicon Saxony” is the stage chosen to talk in particular about new technologies, Emmanuel Macron also wants to address young people there, during a Europe festival in front of the Notre-Dame Church, a symbol of the city. To do this, he brushed up his German.
With less than two weeks before the European elections on June 9, the objective is to raise awareness of what is at stake in this election, particularly the danger of the rise of the far right.
Emmanuel Macron, like his host Frank-Walter Steinmeier, highlighted this Sunday the dangers of populists for their respective countries, but also for the continent. In France,like across the Rhine, Emmanuel Macron is in the campaign and he only targets one adversary: the National Rally. He also explained his wish to want to debate with Marine Le Penwhose party, the National Rally, “ threatens Europe […] by his ideas », Indicates the head of state. When he is “ placed at the top of the polls, […] I consider that it is the responsibility of the President of the Republic to remove these ambiguities “.
Emmanuel Macron also notes the “ fascination with authoritarianism » in democracies which benefits the extreme right and denounces the “ balance sheet ” of the ” far right in Europe in power for five years » : « impoverishment, division, support of Russiaabandonment of Ukraine and less democracy “.
Saxony, like eastern Germany in general, is a stronghold of the far-right AfD party.
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