On the evening of Monday, February 26, it was raining in Paris. The courtyard of the Elysée Palace was pitch dark as Olaf Scholz discreetly took leave of Emmanuel Macron. Unlike other leaders who had come to attend the international conference in support of Ukraine, organized by the French president two years after the start of Russia's invasion of the country, the German chancellor slipped away without making a statement to the press. Earlier, during festivities at the Elysée Palace, Scholz had joined forces with Spain's Pedro Sanchez, Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Slovakia's Robert Fico to nip in the bud the debate initiated by on sending Western troops to Ukraine.

"There's no consensus today to send in an official, endorsed manner troops on the ground. But in terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out," maintained the French president at the end of the conference. He added: "Many of the people who say 'never, never'' today were the same people who said 'never, never tanks; never, never planes; never, never long-range missiles.' (...) I remind you that two years ago, many around this table said: 'We will offer sleeping bags and helmets.'" It was a clear allusion to Germany, which made a fool of itself in the eyes of its allies in January 2022 by trumpeting the shipment of 5000 helmets to Ukraine.

Above all, it was a stern dig at Scholz, who has balked every time there's been talk of taking military support for Kyiv to a new qualitative level. The Social Democrat leader's response was swift. "What was agreed among ourselves and with each other from the very beginning also applies to the future, namely that there will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent there by European countries or NATO states," he replied the very next morning, on the sidelines of a visit to Freiburg im Breisgau, in southern Germany.

The episode gives an idea of the incomprehension plaguing cooperation between France and Germany in the face of the conflict in Ukraine, well beyond the obvious differences in style that pit the leaders of the two countries against each other. Between Macron, deliberately grandiose and disruptive, and Scholz, resolutely quiet and cautious, the gulf has been widening steadily over the months. Each is giving the impression of playing his own part, rather than seeking to coordinate, no longer hesitating to criticize the other publicly.

The way in which the French president launched the debate on Western military presence in Ukraine is leaving its mark. Scholz was very unpleasantly surprised that Macron would publicly report on discussions held behind closed doors, and rather annoyed by his account of them. "He [Macron] said that there was no consensus on the subject, but that's not true: The truth is that France was isolated because most participants expressed their clear refusal," said a source on the German side. The French government, on the other hand, is claiming that participants had come with full knowledge of the facts and that many of them expressed themselves neither for nor against the prospect.

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