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Friedrich Merz: The relationship between Germany and France is “as good as destroyed”
Photo: Bernd Weißbrod / dpa
The relationship between Berlin and Paris is considered tense, and there are always disagreements between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron.
Union faction leader Friedrich Merz has now accused Scholz (SPD) of pitiful behavior with regard to his foreign and French policy.
The relationship between Germany and France is "as good as destroyed," criticized the CDU leader at a regional conference on his party's new basic program in Stuttgart.
Merz was referring to the Ukraine conference in Paris last week.
Scholz and Macron sat opposite each other for two hours without saying a word with their arms crossed, and later Scholz explained at an "unfortunate press conference" why he did not want to deliver the Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Merz then also discussed the France policy of former chancellors: “Imagine for a brief moment in your mind’s eye – Konrad Adenauer in Paris, Helmut Kohl in Paris, Angela Merkel in Paris, even Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, you name it “Even Gerhard Schröder – none of them would have behaved as pitifully as the German Chancellor did last week.”
The CDU leader also spoke out in favor of supporting Ukraine and defending Germany and Europe.
Russia must lose the war, Ukraine must win.
Recently there have been repeated disagreements between Germany and France.
At the conference, Macron did not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine.
Scholz later contradicted this.
eru/dpa