Paris and berlin want new impetus for the eu
Immediately before the signing of the new franco-german friendship treaty, bundestag president wolfgang schauble (CDU) called for more ambition in european policy.
"We need concrete and significant integration projects again that make people understand that europe can do things in a completely different dimension and quality than any country can do on its own," schauble told the "stuttgarter zeitung" and the "stuttgarter nachrichten". The SPD also called for progress in european and financial policy. "Franco-german cooperation must not be exhausted by solemn declarations," SPD politician martin schulz told the newspapers of the funke media group.
56 years after the signing of the elysee treaty, german chancellor angela merkel (CDU) and france’s head of state emmanuel macron want to seal a new friendship pact in aachen. In 1963, president charles de gaulle and chancellor konrad adenauer had ended the german-french enmity by joining forces. The ceremony will take place this tuesday in the crown hall of aachen city hall. The bundestag concludes a supplementary agreement with the parisian national assembly.
The two governments had pointed out in particular that the new aachen treaty provided for numerous concrete projects, ranging from cooperation on security issues and rustic projects to the closer integration of border regions, joint daycare centers for children and better coordinated local public transport.
Schauble liked to admit that he thought merkel’s reaction to macron’s european policy reform proposals was inadequate. In his capacity as bundestag president, he did not want to answer the question of whether the german response was too dark, as his party colleague friedrich merz had lamented. But: "if I were to run for the CDU presidency, which I certainly don’t intend to do, I would probably agree with friedrich merz’s opinion that.Merkel had declared in her video message on the weekend: "we are working in europe, we want to give impetus to european unification"."
Schauble announced that he would build up political pressure in parliament: "we will control the governments, press for the implementation of projects and fight for common positions on european policy."The possibilities are infinitely great. He emphasized: "franco-german cooperation is crucial to moving europe forward. When both countries cooperate on issues that have not yet been regulated on a pan-european level, this serves as a role model."
Schulz called for paris and berlin to push for digital tax. "We finally need an internet tax. Germany and france have to raise them on their own if necessary," the former SPD candidate for chancellor and former president of the EU parliament told radio. In this way, the governments of both states were able to show "that it is not the small ones who are footing the bill, but the big ones who have to pay a fair share of the tax bill".
Scheduled to speak at the ceremony in aachen are north rhine-westphalia’s prime minister armin laschet, EU council president donald tusk, EU commission president jean-claude juncker and rumanian president klaus iohannis. Romania took over the EU presidency at the beginning of the year. ARD broadcasts the ceremony from the coronation hall of aachen city hall and a subsequent discussion between macron and merkel with selected french and german burgers in the aula carolina.
Police also expect "yellow vest" demonstrators. In addition, four demonstrations with up to 200 participants are planned for the meeting, including representatives of the pro-european citizen movement pulse of europe. The "yellow vests" have triggered a political crisis with their protests in france. They oppose the reform policies of the center government, some also demand macron’s resignation.