Could Konrad Adenauer have dreamed that?

One of his political grandchildren is standing on Wednesday evening in the Palais Beauharnais, the residence of the German ambassadors in Paris, and celebrating the Franco-German friendship in perfect French.

In the Salon of the Four Seasons, companions like the long-time minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement, the former head of government Alain Juppé and Hélène Carrère d'Encausse from the Académie française are all ears when the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) the continuation of good relations even after Summons a change of government in Berlin.

Michaela Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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The French Secretary of State for Europe, Clément Beaune, previously recalled Adenauer's reservations when he visited President Charles de Gaulle in September 1958.

"A necessary, if not a pleasant trip," noted the Chancellor at the time.

Looking back and looking back are always close when the French and Germans come together in the Palais Beauharnais after a long pandemic-related break.

Prime Minister Hans emphasized how much he had been against the border closure during the pandemic, while State Secretary Beaune remembered the admission of French Covid 19 patients with gratitude.

Whatever happens, you can rely on Franco-German cooperation, said the host, Ambassador Hans-Dieter Lucas.

Knowledge of French is a recruitment criterion

The Prime Minister also tried to dispel the doubts that creep in some French people at the end of Angela Merkel's era. He pointed out how much cooperation close to the border had become a pillar of friendship thanks to the Aachen Treaty. The Saarland with its France strategy is playing a pioneering role. The prime minister has set a goal of full bilingualism. Knowledge of French is already an important recruitment criterion for civil servants in the state administration. It has been possible to plead in French at court chambers in Saarland since September 2019.

In Saarland, children from kindergarten to high school learn the language of their neighbors. The Prime Minister had the laughs on his side when he emphasized that the Saarlanders don't have to be thanked for their Franco-German commitment, “it's everyday life for us”. The governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, whose family comes from the Saarland, laughed particularly loudly. The president has just nominated him for another six-year term.

On the 31st anniversary of German unity, however, State Secretary Beaune also intoned a thoughtful tone. He was just nine years old when his parents took him to Berlin with them in the summer of 1990. He remembered the exuberant joy among relatives and friends over the fall of the wall and reunification. “We weren't jealous then,” said Beaune. The close cooperation is more than a miracle “an act of will”. The achievements are often taken too much for granted.

Linguistic communication is becoming less and less a matter of course.

The number of German learners in French schools is falling.

3.7 percent of pupils learn German in primary school, less than 10 percent in middle school.

In 2020, a government decree came into force that no longer allows students to take their language test for the intermediate diploma in German.

It will only be checked in English.

Of 222 new German teacher positions, only 156 could be filled in 2020 - due to a lack of qualified candidates.

The development worries many.

Perhaps that is the reason why language guardian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse from the Académie pleads for better support for multilingualism.