{"id":416924,"date":"2025-01-22T19:17:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T18:17:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-01-22T20:14:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T19:14:00","slug":"macron-and-scholz-meet-in-paris-europe-to-be-united-in-the-face-of-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/01\/22\/macron-and-scholz-meet-in-paris-europe-to-be-united-in-the-face-of-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron and Scholz meet in Paris: “Europe to be united in the face of Trump”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strasbourg\u00a0– French President Emmanuel Macron<\/strong> received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz<\/strong> in Paris to reaffirm the two countries’ commitment to strengthening Europe<\/strong> and creating a common front to act as a buffer against the unpredictability of the new U.S. administration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The meeting between the two leaders, which took place today (Jan. 22), was organized to mark the anniversary of the signing, back in 1963, of the Elys\u00e9e Treaty<\/strong>\u2014signed by Charles De Gaulle<\/strong> for France and Konrad Adenauer<\/strong> for the then West Germany\u2014which marked the beginning of the close cooperation between the two countries<\/strong> traditionally considered the engine of European integration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But, in the sumptuous Parisian presidential residence, historical symbolism merged with the timing of the present: the meeting took place two days before\u00a0Donald Trump<\/strong>‘s inauguration as the 47th president<\/a> of the United States and a month before early elections in Germany<\/strong>, scheduled for Feb. 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

62 years ago, General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer set the framework for our very special relationship.<\/p>\n

Germany and France are moving forward hand in hand, convinced that in the times ahead, our friendship is our strength.<\/p>\n

Together, today and tomorrow. pic.twitter.com\/9CLyAYSMqY<\/a><\/p>\n

– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a joint press conference at the end of the meeting, the two leaders\u00a0<\/span>reaffirmed<\/a>\u00a0the need to\u00a0<\/span>stand together<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>to counter\u00a0<\/span>the new Stars and Stripes administration’s\u00a0unpredictability<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0The topic of how to approach transatlantic relations is holding sway these days<\/a> during the ongoing EU Parliament plenary<\/strong> in Strasbourg.<\/p>\n

Berlin and Paris, the host argued in front of reporters, must play “their full part” in the context of a “united, strong, and sovereign Europe<\/strong>” that is able to “defend its interests<\/strong>” even against the unfriendly actions that Trump is expected to take. The latter was described by Scholz as “a challenge” for the Old Continent<\/strong>, after the New York-based tycoon complained yesterday<\/a> of the fact that the EU is\u00a0“very, very nasty” to the US<\/strong>, threatening for the umpteenth time heavy tariffs<\/strong> to achieve “fairness” in Washington’s relationship with the Twenty-Seven.<\/p>\n

“Europe will not cower and hide<\/strong>\u00a0but will instead be a constructive and assertive partner<\/strong>,” Scholz assured, describing such an attitude as “the basis for good cooperation with the new American president.” In turn, the French president stressed that the EU “must also develop its industrial base”<\/strong> as well as increase investment in defence, as suggested this morning<\/a> by European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/strong>, EU executive chief Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong> and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk<\/strong> in the Strasbourg chamber.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/a>
US President Donald Trump (photo: Imagoeconomica)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Macron and Scholz, Europe must strengthen to stand up to a second Trump presidency. But, net of monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident<\/i>‘s statements (“the couple we form is solid,” he claimed while speaking to the press), the proverbial Franco-German engine has never seemed more broken down<\/strong> than it does today, with the Old Continent’s two leading economies struggling to stay afloat and their respective political systems in deep crisis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Across the Alps, the head of state’s popularity\u00a0is in free fall<\/strong>, while the transalpine government led by Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou<\/strong> (the fourth to take office since January 2024) hangs by a thread<\/a> due to splits at the Assembl\u00e9e nationale<\/i><\/strong>. The success of his primary task, to ensure the country a budget for 2025<\/strong> and to reduce the deficit\/GDP ratio, currently around 6 per cent<\/strong>, (twice what European constraints would allow), is far from guaranteed.<\/p>\n

It’s no better on the other side of the Rhine, where the resigning chancellor is considered an inept<\/strong> and where, polls in hand, the second-largest party in next month’s elections<\/strong> will be the post-Nazi, pro-Russian far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland<\/i> (AfD)<\/strong>,\u00a0which, to mark the occasion, has nominated for the first time in its history<\/a> a candidate for head of government after being incensed <\/a>by Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2014the owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla who will be given a key role in the Trump bis <\/strong>and ended in a storm<\/a> for performing a double Nazi salute<\/strong> at the very inauguration of the new president\u2014as the only political force capable of “saving Germany<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

In all of this, the German economy has been in recession for the past two years<\/strong> and, abetted by the black automotive crisis<\/strong> that is gripping the entire continent, no light at the end of the tunnel is in sight for the time being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the anniversary of the Elysee Treaty, the leaders of Europe’s two leading economies renewed their pact to work together to make the Old Continent strong and autonomous in a rapidly changing world. Especially at the dawn of the tycoon’s return to the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":416917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[26411,30242,26260,26268],"class_list":["post-416924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-customs-duties-en","tag-emmanuel-macron-en","tag-olaf-scholz-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416924"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416929,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416924\/revisions\/416929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}