Berlin, 22 January 2023: Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads to Paris in the morning.
He is joined by the Federal Cabinet. This is the first visit for the new Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius (l.).
The plan lands at Orly airport in Paris later that morning.
The first port of call for the ministers is Sorbonne University for a joint ceremony of the two parliaments to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty.
The signing of the Treaty on 22 January 1963 laid the foundation for the close friendship between France and Germany.
The ceremony at the Sorbonne was hosted by the Assemblée nationale and the German Bundestag.
The Elysée Treaty is a symbol of how enemies in two world wars became friends. In his speech at the university, Scholz stressed that the treaty of friendship marked how Germany and France “had overcome centuries of ingrained animosity” between the two countries.
What mattered now was “maintaining and defending our peaceful order in Europe and our values against the centrifugal forces within our union, but above all against external threats”, said Scholz.
Germany and France are working “side by side to strengthen European sovereignty. We are consolidating our strengths where nation states working alone have lacked the strength to assert themselves,” he emphasised.
Later, a meeting of the Franco-German Council of Ministers took place at the Élysée Palace. This included a tour of a display of industrial exhibits.
The ministers took the opportunity to hold bilateral talks with their respective counterparts.
The first event on the programme was a joint session of the two cabinets, which covered a range of issues.
Later, there was a working meeting on business and industrial policy.
Meeting with participants in “Generation Europa”, a new networks for young professionals from France and Germany. The aim of the one-year programme is to build a network to develop and implement joint projects across national borders.
The first intake for the young professionals programme comprises 24 young people from various social sectors. The network was set up with partners from business, culture, academia, and civil society.
Afterwards, the Federal Chancellor and President Macron held a joint press conference. Scholz stressed the importance of close collaboration between the two countries, which was also essential for progress in Europe.
The joint session of cabinet also discussed Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine. Scholz pledged to support Ukraine for as long as was necessary in political, financial, humanitarian, and military terms.