the necessary strengthening of the Franco-German union, the engine of the European economy

A Franco-German Council of Ministers takes place on Tuesday in Berlin. There is an urgent need to strengthen ties between France and Germany, as the gap continues to widen between the euro zone economies and the United States.

The state visit of President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron to Germany ends on Tuesday, May 28, with a Franco-German Council of Ministers devoted to competitiveness. And everything is said in this little sentence released Monday evening, in Dresden, by the Head of State: “Europe must build a new growth paradigm. This objective cannot be achieved without strengthening the Franco-German couple, the famous “engine” of the European economy.

According to the World Bank, US GDP (the wealth produced by the United States) has increased by 28% since the 2008 financial crisis, compared to around 13% in Europe. Europe is seeing its population age, resulting in declining dynamics and greater spending on research and development (R&D) across the Atlantic than on the Old Continent. With the anti-inflation plan (IRA) drawn up by Joe Biden ($3,000 billion in public and private investments over the next ten years), more than the sums released, the United States is showing its capacity to deploy money quickly, where Europe is dragging its feet.

There is an urgent need to relaunch the Capital Markets Union. Not to enrich shareholders, but to enable the entire European industry to find the money necessary to finance the energy, ecological and digital transitions. Artificial intelligence is a formidable competitive terrain between the European Union, the United States and China. We also need less finicky regulation, we need to return to growth.

There remain blocking factors, such as the reorientation of citizens’ savings on both sides of the Rhine. In Germany, savings are rarely invested in stocks, therefore not risky, whereas France is campaigning for the use of money in the equity of companies and which requires more boldness on the part of savers.

We have great heterogeneity with 27 small wooden balls (European countries) caught between the two iron balls that are the United States and China, with the Paris-Berlin axis as the center of gravity. A stone’s throw from the European elections (Sunday June 9), the Franco-German Council of Ministers, which meets Tuesday May 28 in Berlin, is full of meaning.