German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was making his first trip abroad since taking office on Friday, meeting President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and EU and NATO heads in Brussels.
“We are meeting in order to develop a joint strategy with France,’’ Scholz said ahead of his meeting with Macron.
Paris has long been the first port of call for an incoming German chancellor.
Macron also highlighted relations between the European Union’s two largest economies in congratulating Scholz on his inauguration on Wednesday.
“We will write the next chapter together, for the French, for the Germans, for Europeans,’’ he tweeted.
Amid the signals of German-French cooperation, there are also clear points of difference – over nuclear power and over the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Germany is also opposing French moves to have nuclear power declared “green energy” for investment purposes.
Ahead of the visit, Scholz said countries were choosing their own paths to achieve carbon neutrality and the aim was to facilitate “progress towards the same goal, each in their different way.
“But at the same time to set up something that (both sides) can come to an understanding on’’.
Scholz was then to travel on to Brussels for talks with European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO General-Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg.
The crisis on the border between Russia and Ukraine, where Russian troops have massed, is likely to be on the agenda. (dpa/NAN)
