hours after the speech Vladimir Putin in Moscow for the Victory Day over Nazi Germany, the Franco-German axis showed its unity in Berlin on Monday. The German Chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholzreceived the French president, Emmanuel Macronin a meeting that has had the war in ukraine as a central theme.
In a joint press conference, both welcomed the fact that Putin did not brandish in his speech a possible military escalation beyond the borders of Ukraine, a general mobilization to expand the offensive or the use of nuclear weapons, but they consider the relative moderation of the Russian president insufficient. “We want to get a Stop the fire as quickly as possible & rdquor ;, said the French president. Only then can the negotiations between Ukraine and Russiaargued Macron, who insists on the need for the European Union (EU) support kyiv at the negotiating table.
Scholz has repeated the idea that has marked his position since the beginning of the Russian invasion: the talks of peace they are important, but the conditions cannot be imposed by Moscow. The German chancellor thus rejects what he calls “dictated peace.” And while both bet on the silence of the weapons, their governments continue to bet on sanctions against Russia and the shipment of light and heavy weapons to the Ukrainian army. The argumentation of the Berlin-Paris axis is as follows: if Ukraine does not receive military aid In order to defend itself against the Russian invasion, kyiv will have no possibility of negotiating an acceptable way out of the war with Moscow.
EU reform
The reform of the EU proposed this Monday by Macron in the European Parliament in Strasbourg was the second outstanding topic of the meeting in Berlin. Chancellor Scholz has welcomed the idea of creating a kind of European Community from which states that are not members of the EU can form. In that community, which should be based on common values, there could be a place for the United Kingdom, Balkan countries that are official candidates to become EU member states – such as Macedonia, Montenegro or Serbia – and also Ukraine. “We agree that Ukraine belongs to the European family & rdquor ;, Scholz said.
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Berlin is, however, much more skeptical about Macron’s proposal to reform European treaties. The French president’s idea is to change the legal basis of the EU to end, for example, the principle of unanimity in the European Council when making decisions on defense or fiscal policy. “Greater efficiency can be achieved in many fields without having to apply treaty reform,” Scholz said.
Berlin and Paris seem, therefore, to agree on the use of the qualified majority – instead of the unanimity principle – in matters that require greater speed when making joint decisions within the EU. The way to achieve this separates, however, the two halves of the so-called European engine.