The winner of Germany's parliamentary elections has travelled to Paris to meet the French president for a working dinner on Wednesday.
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A mere three days after the German elections, Friedrich Merz, the leader of the victorious Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) has made his first international trip, signalling urgency in reviving the Franco-German axis amid rapidly deteriorating transatlantic relations.
For Emmanuel Macron, freshly back from a trip to Washington and talks with President Donald Trump, it seems of equal importance to tie in the likely next chancellor of Germany to his European crisis diplomacy already.
Macron had briefed EU leaders about his talks earlier today. He had welcomed Merz, the leader of the opposition, in the Élysée Palace for the first in December 2023. Merz has stressed his good rapport with Macron since.
After their meeting, Merz posted on social media site X: "Thank you...for your friendship and your trust in Franco-German relations. Together, our countries can achieve great things for Europe."
No details of what was discussed were immediately available, though it was reported by German media that the two men were on the same page regarding a variety of topics and agreed on a number of joint initiatives.
Merz's Paris trip took place amid a rapid deterioration in transatlantic relations over trade and defence, and on the same day that US President Donald Trump said he would slap 25%tariffs on the European Union (EU), claimed that the bloc was formed to "screw the US" and ruled out Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO.
Echoing points made to similar effect by Macron regarding Europe self dependence, Merz this week referred to a strong Europe independent of the US as his "absolute priority", a significant change of approach from the former Atlanticist.