Franco-German Relations Hit New Low Over EU Recovery
THE TELEGRAPH: Franco-German relations have hit a new low after Angela Merkel slapped down Nicolas Sarkozy to assert Germany's control over the European Union's economic recovery.

Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel. Photo: The Telegraph
The French president has surrendered to the German Chancellor's demands on EU economic governance and her idea of "red cards" for member states that break spending rules set in Brussels.

Mr Sarkozy had been determined to create an "economic government" of the 16 eurozone countries with a powerful secretariat to coordinate national budgets, tax and spending.

But Chancellor Merkel refused to accept his plan, insisting that it extend to all 27 states with the euro continuing to be run by the European Central Bank.

She won out after a tense meeting saying it was a red line issue for Germany.

"The members of the EU have to look at themselves as a kind of economic government. We must not create the members of the first and second class," she said.

The German victory is also bad news for David Cameron who had been hoping for French support in keeping Britain out of such measures. They include an EU demand to vet the British budget before it is presented to the House of Commons or the public.

President Sarkozy was then bludgeoned into accepting a German ultimatum that euro zone states that persistently breach budget deficit limits should have their voting rights suspended on economic issues, even if that requires changing the EU treaty. Previously, the issue of treaty change has been taboo for Mr Sarkozy who fears a French referendum. "If a treaty change is needed we will propose it," he conceded in Berlin.

Attempting to paint a gloss of unity over the talks, the French president claimed that "more than ever, Germany and France are determined to talk with one voice".

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, a French Eurosceptic MP, blasted Mr Sarkozy's climbdown as "a capitulation while in pitched battle".

"Germany has imposed its European choices on a submissive France, which has definitively given up on its own (choices)," he said. "Faced with a suicidal and unilateral Germany, France has once again been totally absent, forgetting that in a couple, it takes two to tango". >>> Henry Samuel in Paris and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Hyperactive, Boastful Président and the Cautious, Ponderous Bundeskanzlerin
THE INDEPENDENT: To cancel one high-level Franco-German meeting is unfortunate. To cancel two in less than a week implies a bank of freezing fog is descending over the Rhine.

French and German officials sought yesterday to play down the significance of the abrupt postponement – both by Paris – of two meetings between the countries' most senior politicians.

Privately, and not so privately, the talk in both capitals is of a serious rift in the single most important national partnership in Europe. Officials blame an increasingly difficult relationship between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel.

With France scheduled to take the presidency of the European Union in July, the Franco-German tiff could not be timed worse.

Berlin has been especially annoyed by M. Sarkozy's determination to push ahead with a so-called "Club Med" or formal union of countries on the shores of the Mediterranean. Chancellor Merkel believes that such an organisation would be either a pointless distraction or a threat to the unity of the EU.

There have also been tensions over the management of the euro and on foreign and defence policy. France has repeatedly criticised the monetary policy of the European Central Bank while ignoring its European commitments to restrain its budget deficit. Germany has refused to join a French-sponsored EU military mission to Darfur.

At the heart of the quarrel – not yet an overt crisis – is the strained relationship between the two leaders.

German officials say that the hyperactive and boastful behaviour of the French President – and his over-familiar personal style – has irritated Ms Merkel. French officials suggest M. Sarkozy finds Ms Merkel too cautious and too ponderous. French diplomats also complain that M. Sarkozy – in his determination to shake up all aspects of French government – wants to play down the Paris-Berlin relationship that has been the bedrock of France's domestic and European policy for half a century. "For Sarkozy, the West very much means UK and the US," one French source said. Europe’s closest friendship falls apart >>> By John Lichfield in Paris and Tony Paterson in Berlin
Thursday | 28 February 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
Leading article: A problem and an opportunity Thursday 28 February 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
Sarkozy sorry for trading insults. Or is he? By John Lichfield in Paris
| Wednesday, 27 February 2008

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