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Politico (23 July 2025)

Nette Nöstlinger and Giorgio Leali

When French President Emmanuel Macron arrives on Wednesday evening at a villa on the outskirts of Berlin where he is set to go for a stroll, listen to a jazz trumpet performance and dine with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the two leaders are likely to exhibit plenty of back-slapping bonhomie.

After all, on Merz’s first full day in office in May, he traveled to Paris and vowed “a new Franco-German start for Europe” after years of strained relations between Macron and Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz. Merz said at the time that he had already developed a “deep personal bond” with the French leader that would help them work together.

“The atmosphere is completely different,” said one senior German government official with intimate knowledge of Franco-German relations. “I’ve never experienced this kind of interaction in all these years.”

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