French President Emmanuel Macron received German Chancellor Olaf Schulz on Wednesday at the Elysee Palace, hoping to relaunch bilateral cooperation between the two countries, which has been marred by a series of differences.
The Elysee declared that the meeting was "very constructive" and led to the formation of working groups in the fields of energy, defense and development.
Macron and Schultz "discussed bilateral relations in a spirit of very close work in the medium and long term," AFP said.
"The two leaders will continue their talks on defense, economy and energy, with the aim of strengthening Franco-German cooperation," the French presidency said in a statement.
The French president criticized Germany's behavior in the energy crisis currently taking place in Europe, and accused it of working to isolate itself.
"I think it is not good for Germany, or Europe, for Berlin to isolate itself," Macron said, on the sidelines of a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels last week.
The Russian war on Ukraine - which began less than 3 months after Schulz took over the German chancellorship last December - caused crises in Paris and Berlin, which made several decisions due to the pressure of the war and the anxiety its repercussions caused on both sides.
The German government launched a program worth 200 billion euros to ease the burdens caused by high gas and electricity prices.
On the other hand, many European bloc countries saw that this step would affect competition, because they could not launch a program of this size, and these countries accused Germany of taking a single path in the energy crisis.
Germany is currently facing criticism within the European Union, in part because it refuses to set a ceiling on gas prices in Europe, a move demanded by most member states of the bloc.
Berlin and Paris also differ on the EU's willingness to be more flexible in the face of new challenges and receive new members faster.