Macron and Scholz meet to resolve differences over Ukraine

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron of France met in Berlin on Friday to iron out their differences over how to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and allay concerns that the Franco-German “engine of Europe” is sputtering.

Mr Scholz received Mr Macron alongside the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, as Europe struggles to maintain unity at a critical time, with US support for Kiev in question and Russian forces making gains on the battlefield .

In recent weeks, disagreements between the allies have become unusually public and bitter, even as they all agree that support for Ukraine is crucial to preventing further Russian aggression in Europe.

Mr Macron, keen to take a tougher stance on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, chided his allies not to be “cowards” after they strongly rejected his suggestion that NATO countries should suspend the deployment of troops in should not exclude Ukraine. From Europe’s dove on Russia, the French leader, who felt humiliated over his initial support for Mr Putin, has transformed into his hawk over the past two years.

The manner in which he made the transition has left some allies confused. Mr. Macron’s comment was interpreted as a jab at Mr. Scholz’s government, which in turn responded that Mr. Macron should deploy more money or weapons to back up his words.

Mr Scholz, who has made Germany Ukraine’s biggest military supporter after Washington, believes he has provided the necessary material support and is opposed to doing more. But to the chagrin of even his own coalition partners, he has drawn a line against sending long-range Taurus missiles.

Mr Macron doubled down on ideas he had previously put forward in a television interview on Thursday evening, telling television channels TF1 and France 2 that “strategic ambiguity” over how far NATO allies would go to support Ukraine was necessary to maintain the Kremlin. guessing.

“If, confronted with someone who knows no boundaries, confronted with someone who crosses every boundary he has given us, we naively tell him that we will not go beyond this or that – at that moment we do not decide on peace. , we are already deciding on defeat,” he said.

“If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero,” Macron added. “Do you think the Poles, the Lithuanians, the Estonians, the Romanians and the Bulgarians could keep peace for even a second?”

French and German officials privately acknowledge that there is a serious clash between the two leaders – a clash that reflects not only very different personal styles but also major differences in their approaches to European security.

Those close to Mr Scholz say Mr Macron fails to see that Germany cannot play with strategic ambiguity the way France can: Germany has no nuclear weapons and is dependent on NATO for its nuclear umbrella.

Mr Macron is likely to win support for his more robust stance when he and Mr Scholz are joined by Mr Tusk later on Friday.

Earlier this week, Mr Tusk said it was up to Paris, Berlin and Warsaw to “mobilize all of Europe” and provide more support to Ukraine.

The trilateral talks are a revival of the so-called ‘Weimard Triangle’, the 1990s talks between France, Germany and Poland to bring Eastern European states closer to the European Union and NATO. After years of inactivity, officials returned to the format in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This round of talks takes place amid stalled negotiations in the United States. With a $60 billion aid package blocked by Republicans in Congress, President Joe Biden announced a $300 million package for weapons to Ukraine as a stopgap measure that military accountants cobbled together with savings from out-bid contracts.

Ukraine is desperate for weapons to repel the Russian advance, especially ammunition and air defense. Still, Europe is struggling to get more money for supplies. European Union leaders on Wednesday announced a 5 billion euros, or $5.5 billion, fund for arms supplies, but the deal allows EU partners to offer discounts on shipments they have already delivered directly to Ukraine.

In Germany, a growing number of lawmakers are pushing for the delivery of Germany’s Taurus missiles, despite Mr. Scholz’s adamant refusals. The opposition Christian Democrats put the issue to a vote in parliament on Thursday – a largely symbolic move because Scholz’s Social Democrats’ two coalition partners, the Greens and the Free Democrats, did not support it.

Nevertheless, the two partners have been increasingly vocal in their disagreement with the chancellor over the Taurus missiles, and the debate sparked on the floor of Parliament reflected growing concern among Ukrainian supporters about hesitation in Berlin.

The rift within Germany appears to be widening as members of the Social Democrats, who before the war were seen as close to Russia, put forward arguments that sounded like a gradual retreat to their pre-war pacifist positions.

The head of the parliamentary group of the Social Democrats, Ralf Mützenich, asked in parliament on Thursday: “Isn’t it time to think, not about how we should wage a war, but about how we can freeze this conflict and can we put an end to it later?”

Norbert Röttgen, a Christian Democrat, called it an “incredible” proposal, writing on social media platform X that it suggested the chancellor’s party would “abandon its goal of ending Putin’s war.”

The debate in Germany on Thursday seemed shockingly distant from Macron’s comments that same day, when he told interviewers that “peace is not the capitulation of Ukraine.”

Still, he stopped short of earlier comments last month calling for Russia’s defeat, instead using Mr. Scholz’s refrain that Russia “cannot win this war.”

It was perhaps intended as a conciliatory gesture towards the chancellor, who has also tried to defuse tensions. Earlier this week, he told journalists he had a “very friendly” relationship with Mr Macron. “It’s different from what a lot of people think.”

The central role of the Franco-German relationship in propelling Europe through the war, and indeed in the whole project of ever-greater European integration, will put heavy pressure on the two leaders to paper over their differences and make the best of Berlin to make of.

Yet the real test will not be the declarations of friendship they formulate, but whether they can offer concrete plans for more support, Mr Tusk warned. “Real solidarity with Ukraine?” he wrote on X, just hours before the meetings: “Less words, more ammunition.”