Hélène Kohl and Jacques Serais, edited by Solène Leroux 11:46 am, November 3, 2021

A last meeting for the current Franco-German couple.

Angela Merkel will have dinner this Wednesday evening with Emmanuel Macron at the Château du Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy.

Angela Merkel is stepping down after 16 years at the helm of Germany.

Sixteen years during which she has known four French presidents.

TO ANALYSE

It's kind of a farewell tour, and it's the last time she's coming to France.

In sixteen years of power at the head of the German state, Angela Merkel has known four French presidents, with whom she has had very different relations.

With Jacques Chirac, there was too much difference in age and political experience for the Franco-German relationship to be constructive.

A year and a half later, the arrival of Nicolas Sarkozy at the Élysée changes the situation.

The two right-wing leaders are the same age.

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But Merkel struggles with the president's temper: too energetic, too eager.

She can't figure it out.

Until the day when her husband gave her DVDs of films by Louis de Funès.

The Merkozy couple, as they said at the time, found their marks and managed to play a leading role in the management of the financial crisis.

With François Hollande, we will especially remember the empathy of Angela Merkel after the attacks in France.

A photo sums it all up.

The Chancellor, who rests her head for a moment, her eyes closed on the president's shoulder.

On the other hand, she was disappointed with her lack of support during the refugee crisis.

Macron-Merkel: the most balanced relationship

Finally, it is with Emmanuel Macron that the Franco-German relationship seems to have been the most balanced for sixteen years. Almost nothing predisposed them to form this inseparable couple, so different are Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel. He, seen across the Rhine as a disruptive and impatient president. She, judged in France to be conservative and cautious. Barely elected, the tenant of the Elysee had not spared it, with a speech from the Sorbonne on Europe which had quite annoyed Berlin. 

But the couple finally revealed themselves in successive storms: Brexit, then the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic consequences.

In May 2020, the President and the Chancellor initiated the European recovery with 750 billion euros, largely financed by pooled debt.

After four years of high and low, the two leaders today dedicate mutual admiration and respect.

There were hiccups.

Sometimes the mechanics slowed down, but Merkel never let the slightest grain of sand block the cogs of the Franco-German engine.