“We should not expect a great revolution” in the Franco-German relationship, explained Wednesday, December 8 on franceinfo Hélène Miard-Delacroix, professor at Sorbonne University, specialist in contemporary Germany and Franco-German relations. The new German government headed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz was sworn in on Wednesday in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, the final step before taking office to lead the country.
franceinfo: Will his arrival in power change anything in the Franco-German relationship?
Hélène Miard-Delacroix: We should not expect a great revolution. Olaf Scholz presents himself as Merkel’s heir, he is not from the point of view of political ideas but because he takes the head of a government, of a country, which remains faithful to its fundamentals. Among them, there is multilateralism, the Atlantic Alliance, Europe, including the Franco-German relationship, and the defense of Germany’s economic and industrial interests. So we should not expect a revolution in Franco-German relations. He is familiar with these relationships as Minister of Finance, but also when he was Mayor of Hamburg. I have no doubt that he will be able to put his skills, which are underestimated, to the service of an agreement with Paris.
How does he see France?
Very rationally, I think. It is from this point of view in the succession of Angela Merkel. He is a man from the North, quite detached, quite cold in appearance, who does not have the cheerful side that Helmut Kohl or Gerhard Schröder might have had. The feelings that Olaf Scholz might have for France do not play out, what matters is the importance of the alliance with France in a collective strategy to defend German and European interests in the wider world.
Does he know Emmanuel Macron?
Yes, because he has been Federal Minister of Finance since 2017 and we know that this is one of the most important positions and that there has been a lot of finance in recent years. Even if Olaf Scholz had Bruno Le Maire as his immediate interlocutor, with whom he got along very well, he knows the French president well. The French side also followed the program perfectly in the German campaign and the establishment of this coalition contract of the new government with three parties which highlighted what its priorities were, and in this contract we talk a lot about Europe.