A major meeting for the Franco-German couple. Angela Merkel receives Emmanuel Macron on Monday, June 29 at the dawn of a German presidency of the EU confronted, with the coronavirus, with an unprecedented crisis which the Chancellor intends to seize to refine her European heritage. The press conference can be followed live on our antenna and on our site (by clicking on the video at the top of the page).

For his part, the French president, who promised to bring Monday morning "strong answers" in matters of ecology, must recover after the failure of his party Sunday in municipal elections which saw a green wave sweep over the France.

Macron-Merkel meeting: European recovery plan on the agenda

Multiple projects await Angela Merkel

From the "Green Deal" of the European Commission to Brexit, via the migration issue or relations with China and the United States, the sites will not fail, from July 1, for the German Chancellor. She had not held the rotating EU presidency since 2007.

But it is the Covid-19 epidemic and the ensuing economic crisis that will be the priority for the next six months.

"The coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside down, as have the plans of the German presidency," said the chancellor in late May.

"We want to use this unprecedented crisis to set in motion unprecedented changes in the European Union," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas confirmed to the European Council on International Relations on Monday.

"The first reflexes, including ours, were rather national and not always European," admitted Angela Merkel, who now intends to ward off "the danger that a deep gap will continue to widen in Europe".

Chancellor's turn?

She is now betting on "solidarity and mutual aid" between the 27. A 180 degree turn on the part of the German leader, questioned for her intransigence towards a Greece close to bankruptcy in 2011 .

The chancellor could thus "use this presidency to shape a legacy", according to a European diplomat, referring to her "swan song". Angela Merkel, in power for 15 years, has indeed planned to leave her post at the end of 2021.

Often accused of lacking political courage, she has just broken a German taboo in terms of financial solidarity by proposing with Emmanuel Macron a European recovery plan of 500 billion euros.

Above all, the two leaders, who meet at the beginning of the evening at Meseberg Castle, north of Berlin, proposed that it be financed by shared European debts.

This Franco-German initiative paved the way for the plan estimated in the end at 750 billion euros by the European Commission, which, however, still promises tough negotiations in Europe.

"We are optimistic, determined and determined to obtain a budgetary agreement in July," wants to believe the French presidency.

With AFP

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