“The Franco-German relationship is essential,” says Jean-Marc Ayrault

“The Franco-German relationship is essential for European construction”, insists Wednesday, October 26 on franceinfo Jean-Marc Ayrault, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Emmanuel Macron is to receive German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for a working lunch. He assures that “durable solutions are European and cannot only be national”. For Jean-Marc Ayrault, “if the solutions are not European, the risk is a division of Europe” which will benefit, according to him, the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. The former Prime Minister of François Hollande thus declares that he hopes that this meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz “will make it possible to better understand, to better identify the issues and to seek a solution together” to the current energy and security crises.

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Jean-Marc Ayrault thus pleads for “a joint order of energy” in the face of the threat of shortages hanging over the winter. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs recalls that at the start of the Covid-19 health crisis, “there was a temptation at first to fend for yourself, especially on the issue of vaccines”, but that after a Franco-German discussion, in particular, “what prevailed was unity and common command”. Jean-Marc Ayrault warns about this energy crisis which “particularly affects the Germans, who are very distressed because their economic model, which is an industrial model based on export, is suffering very strongly and durably. If we want to move forward together, we must first listen to and understand each other.” he says.

The former head of government under the five-year term of François Hollande welcomes this meeting which comes after a series of dissensions. A Franco-German council of ministers scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed “undated”, alert Jean-Marc Ayrault. He sees in this cancellation “a warning to be taken seriously” and an element “revealing the seriousness of the crisis we are going through”. This “crisis is deep and serious in terms of security with the war in Ukraine”, alert Jean-marc Ayrault, especially since it is doubled with a “energy crisis, a financial crisis and an economic crisis with the coming recession”. “There are so many things to settle at the same time, that there are contradictions and disagreements which are not always easy to overcome at once”, says Jean-Marc Ayrault.