‘Europe’s engine’ seizing up. French-German relations during the polycrisis
‘Europe’s engine’ seizing up. French-German relations during the polycrisis

Author(s): Sebastian Płóciennik, Lidia Gibadło
Subject(s): National Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, Energy and Environmental Studies, Economic policy, Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Security and defense, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: French-German relations; EU’s economic policy; global economy; energy policies; Security;
Summary/Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have highlighted the differences in interests between Paris and Berlin, and caused tension to accumulate in their bilateral relations. The significance of this tension goes beyond the purely bilateral dimension: policy alignment between the EU’s two most important members has always played a key role in the integration mechanism in Europe. However, the current disputes will not necessarily bring an end to this coordination. They are deeply embedded in the patterns of the traditionally divergent approaches which Germany and France have to economic, security, and integration issues, which is why they have not come as any surprise to the ruling elites in these states. Nevertheless, both countries will benefit from overcoming them in the long-term. Efforts to define Franco--German cooperation in an enlarged and more diverse EU will pose an even greater challenge to Paris and Berlin. Flexible coalitions between states and other cooperation formats which arise ad hoc will likely compete with these two leaders.

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