France and Germany are going through a “couple crisis”. Energy prices and the development of defense equipment have been at the heart of disagreements between Paris and Berlin in recent weeks. So much so that the Franco-German council which was to be held on Wednesday October 26 has been postponed to January. Lack, in particular, of having found a “common position” on “a whole series of subjects”, recognized the German chancellery. “If France and Germany do not succeed in finding a compromise, it is difficult to imagine that the Twenty-Seven will succeed,” said deplored last week to franceinfo Sophie Pornschlegel, political analyst for the think tank European Policy Center in Brussels. Here are the five main points that sow discord in the Franco-German couple.
European gas price cap
Differences between France and Germany over gas are slowing down European negotiations. Emmanuel Macron pleads for the gas price cap, like 14 other Member States. But Germany, very dependent on gas-fired power stations to produce its electricity, opposes this mechanism. She fears that gas sellers will turn to other markets if a maximum price is imposed on them.
Despite this disagreement on prices, solidarity between the two countries is still at work. For the first time, France began in mid-October to send gas directly to Germany. But the energy situation feeds other tensions between the neighbours. Berlin did not hesitate to denounce in September the state of French nuclear power plants, which would oblige Germany to compensate for this lack of production with electricity from gas-fired power plants.
A gas pipeline project that divides
It is a gas pipeline which must link Spain to Germany. Called “MidCat”, the project initiated in 2013 was stopped in 2019 due to its environmental impact and an economic interest then considered limited. But at a time when gas could run out across Europe this winter, the energy project, which has become a political issue, is resurfacing.
Madrid and Berlin, supported by Lisbon and several Central European countries, are campaigning for the relaunch of the project. But Emmanuel Macron does not hear it that way: “I don’t understand why we would jump like goats from the Pyrenees on this subject to explain that it would solve the gas problem”, he recently launched. In addition to the environmental cost, France would be tempted to sell gas to Germany itself.
Germany’s lone rider in Europe
At the end of September, Olaf Scholz unveiled a 200 billion euro plan to cushion soaring energy prices. A measure that finds few precedents in a Germany concerned about its public accounts and which has annoyed its European partners.
France, in particular, has not been taken into the secret despite regular contact between the two leaders. EU countries fear that this lone rider will further fragment a multi-speed Europe. The German Chancellor underlines for his part that his plan is inspired by other systems in force in Europe, in particular in France, where the State has been financing for more than a year (September 2021) a cap on energy prices with its tariff shield.
The missile shield
This is a recent thorn in the Franco-German relationship. Olaf Scholz announced this summer that Germany was going to equip itself with an anti-missile and anti-aircraft shield, an assembly of European (Iris-T), American (Patriot) and, potentially, Israeli (the “Iron Dome”) systems, developed by the Rafael company).
If this project arouses the enthusiasm of 14 NATO countries (including the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Baltic countries), it hardly enchants the Elysée. An adviser to the Head of State is alarmed to AFP by a possible “relaunch of the arms race in Europe” while France prefers to continue to bet on its medium-range surface-to-air defense system Mamba.
The European combat aircraft
It has become a sea serpent: the Future Air Combat System (Scaf), supported in particular by Paris and Berlin, has been at a standstill for a year. This project, launched in 2017 and supposed to replace in 2040 the French Rafale and German and Spanish Eurofighter. But the division of tasks between Paris, Berlin and Madrid creates tensions.
“Politically, we agree. It gets stuck at the corporate level. Dassault is afraid of losing its position on the market”, deciphers a French official with AFP. The French company Dassault aviation has failed to reach an agreement with its main partner, Airbus, which represents the interests of Germany and Spain.