While all eyes were on Davos this week, the German and French governments were having an altogether more significant pow-wow in the western German city of Aachen. It was in the same place, once Charlemagne’s capital city, that Emmanuel Macron received, appropriately enough, the Charlemagne Prize for his work in the service of European unity.
This time Macron and Angela Merkel were in town to sign a new treaty to intensify their countries’ cooperation on EU politics, security and foreign policy, and trade. The immediate reaction to the new agreement was one of concern in many quarters. After all, an even closer relationship between Europe’s two biggest powers will have profound consequences.
Curiously enough, the EU hierarchy was not at all happy about this development. After all, Eurocrats are vehemently opposed to any attempts to develop parallel structures to the European Union. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk both sought to underline that it is not only France and Germany who are enthusiastic about European integration.
As Tusk put it, “to the east of Germany there are hundreds of places where the European spirit of a place — genius loci — is felt as strongly”. His argument is that instead of daring to go it alone, France and Germany should focus on the EU as the only cooperative tool for countries. “Let me put it very bluntly,” Tusk warned. “Today Europe needs a clear signal from Paris and Berlin that enhanced cooperation in smaller formats is not an alternative to the cooperation of Europe as a whole.”
But while the reactions from EU institutions can be brushed off as an institution going into full jealous girlfriend mode, there are also serious concerns among smaller member states that an enhanced Franco-German relationship will mean ever more pressure on smaller countries to deepen European political integration.
The Czech MEP Jan Zahradil, for instance, warned that “a Franco-German axis that goes around other member states to stitch up EU business is exactly what we feared when the UK announced their intention to leave”.
