On both sides of the Rhine, diplomats were astonished. It was hard to tell whether Emmanuel Macron or Friedrich Merz was more eager for their meeting. The French president and the new German chancellor, who are scheduled to meet in the morning on Wednesday, May 7, in Paris – before Merz flies to Warsaw a few hours later – both struggled to contain their enthusiasm about the prospect of working together.

The circumstances are, indeed, exceptional: Europe faces the two-fold threat of war on its eastern flank, over three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the United States' disengagement, at a time when free trade, the foundation of the European project, is being challenged. Europe's future partly rests on the French-German partnership. "They both want to mark history," said a diplomat. The idea of a trip to Normandy for a photo op on the D-Day beaches, 80 years after the Third Reich's capitulation, has even been discussed. The image would certainly be just as evocative as that of former leaders François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl holding hands in Verdun on September 22, 1984.

You have 85.12% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.