This is a new opportunity to put oil in the cogs of the Franco-German engine which had seized up on energy and defense issues.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will travel to Germany on 25th November where she will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

During this visit - scheduled for September but postponed because Olaf Scholz had tested positive for Covid-19 -, the progress of the European combat aircraft (SCAF), a program bogged down for more than a year, will be discussed.

"We are on the right track after long discussions and there is great satisfaction on the German side as well as on the French side," said German government spokesman Stefan Hebestreit during a press briefing in Berlin.

New impetus for the Paris-Berlin tandem

Asked whether Paris, Berlin and Madrid had agreed to begin the next phase of development of the SCAF - so-called phase 1B, which provides for the development of a demonstrator (a kind of pre-prototype) - Stefan Hebestreit replied “We are very confident that we will be able to answer this question for you on Friday” next.

Elisabeth Borne's trip takes place after the arrival, on October 26 in Paris, of Olaf Scholz who had displayed with Emmanuel Macron the desire to give new impetus to the Franco-German tandem, struggling after a series of disputes over backdrop of war in Ukraine and dark clouds gathering over growth in Europe.

60th anniversary of the Franco-German Treaty

The meeting with the German Chancellor “will allow us to take stock of the bilateral agenda and the next Franco-German deadlines”, detailed Matignon, while a Franco-German Council of Ministers has been postponed from October to January.

"France is Germany's closest partner," said Stefan Hebestreit.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who will receive her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Monday, mentioned in

Le Parisien

last Sunday the idea of ​​a "meeting of the two Parliaments in Versailles" to mark the 60th anniversary, in January, of the Treaty Franco-German.

The presidency of the French Assembly had mentioned in September the date of January 22 for this meeting.

This is the Prime Minister's third trip abroad, after Algeria and Portugal.

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  • Olaf Scholz

  • Elisabeth Borne

  • Germany

  • Berlin