25 January 2019

Sigmar Gabriel: Franco-German friendship is not enough

By signing the Treaty of Aachen, Germany and France have taken an important step toward firming up the Franco-German partnership at the heart of the European project. But insofar as the pact excludes all other EU member states, it risks deepening Europe's divisions even further.

[...]As a follow-up to the Élysée Treaty, the Treaty of Aachen can be touted as a symbol of Franco-German friendship. But Germans should not overlook the fact that both agreements enshrine a political strategy that is at odds with Germany’s own longstanding approach of balancing the friendship with France alongside strong transatlantic relations with the US and the UK.

This is not to suggest that the two Franco-German friendship agreements are worthless. But by putting too much store in the idealistic notion that “we can do it, together,” France and Germany could find that they have achieved a Pyrrhic victory for the European project.

After all, there is reason to worry about how the new agreement will be perceived in other European capitals. Any Pole, Italian, Greek, Swiss, or Spanish citizen who reads the text might find it strange that the two European poster children of multilateralism would sign a bilateral deal, excluding everyone else. What ever happened to the principle of sovereignty and equality among all EU member states?

Moreover, France and Germany view the world differently. Whereas integration into the Western liberal order is enshrined in the German constitution (Grundgesetz), French foreign policy is guided by the country’s national interests at any given time. The Treaty of Aachen, like its precursor, obscures these different outlooks with a fog of good intentions.

The Élysée Treaty symbolized the end of enmity between Germany and France. But with the Treaty of Aachen, the two countries have gone beyond that. Their stated intention now is to prevent the internal splintering of the EU.

To be sure, there are deepening divisions over matters of finance and economic policymaking between north and south (and also between France and Germany). Western member states are worried about the rule of law in eastern member states, and those in the northwest want to tackle corruption, organized crime, and weak governance in the southeast. Yet it is precisely on these EU-wide challenges that the Treaty of Aachen lacks specificity.

Though the European project no doubt depends on France and Germany, that does not mean that they alone can preserve it. Without an approach that is more sensitive to their European partners, the two countries risk giving the impression that mere obedience to the Franco-German axis is all that is expected or required.

But France and Germany have distinct interests. While Germany would fully support a reversal of Brexit in order to preserve the EU’s internal balance, France might see in Britain’s withdrawal an opportunity to increase its own relative political, economic, and military clout within the bloc. Never mind that a more “French Europe” without the UK would be weaker on the world stage. Even with two countries wielding nuclear arsenals, the EU is already considered by other powers to be politically irrelevant.

In a world of geopolitical carnivores, we Europeans are the last vegetarians. Without the UK, we will become vegans, and possibly prey. What really matters, then, is not “strategic autonomy” but the preservation of European sovereignty in a rapidly changing international context. France and Germany must both commit themselves to achieving that objective. The Franco-German friendship is necessary for Europe; but it will not suffice to guarantee our place in the world.4

Full column on Project Syndicate

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EurActiv: Will the new Franco-German treaty revive the EU, or hold it back?

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