European Unity.....?

[Metalmicky]

I read this over lunchtime and thought I would share..... interesting dynamics

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/behind-facade-unity-franco-german-relations-falter-crises-mount-2022-10-26/

[Branton Red]

I read this over lunchtime and thought I would share..... interesting dynamics

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/behind-facade-unity-franco-german-relations-falter-crises-mount-2022-10-26/

Geopolitics. The last paragraph sums it up "both are locked in a competition for primacy in the EU."

France has been happy playing second fiddle to Germany for some time but times are changing politically and economically.

France and Macron are on the up. The French economy has performed comparatively very well over the last few years and this is very likely to continue given they are not overly exposed to increasing energy prices. Macron is internationally established as a statesman, popular in the EU for being a staunch and vocal Europhile and is politically practically unassailable at home.

In comparison the German economy has been performing wretchedly over the same time frame and due to the energy crisis things are unlikely to improve. Scholz is new and untested, having to pick up the hideous long term strategic errors of his predecessor on energy and defence spending, and his position in Germany is tenuous given the ensuing economic problems.

Macron is France's equivalent to Blair. Like Blair he has the ambition to be the de facto President of Europe and the motivation to enact EU wide reform and further European integration. Unlike Blair he has a genuine opportunity to do this. He's looking to take advantage of Germany's comparative current weakness to enhance his ambitions.