BERLIN (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Germany on Sunday for the first state visit by a French head of state in 24 years, a three-day trip aimed at underscoring the strong ties between the European Union’s traditional leading powers.
The visit was originally scheduled to take place in July last year but was postponed at the last minute due to riots in France following the police killing of a 17-year-old.
Although Macron visits Germany regularly as Paris and Berlin try to coordinate their positions on EU and foreign policy, this is the first state visit with full pomp since Jacques Chirac arrived in 2000. Macron and his wife Brigitte are received by Germany’s largely ceremonial president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The visit comes as Germany celebrates the 75th anniversary of its post-World War II constitution.
Steinmeier will hold a state banquet for Macron at his Bellevue Palace in Berlin on Sunday evening, before the two presidents travel to the eastern city of Dresden on Monday, where Macron will give a speech, and to Münster in West Germany on Tuesday. The state visit will be followed later Tuesday by a meeting between Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and ministers from both countries at a government guesthouse outside Berlin.
Germany and France, which have the EU’s largest economies, have long been seen as the engines of European integration, although there have often been differences in policies and emphasis on a range of issues between the two neighbors.
This was evident earlier this year from differing positions on the question of whether Western countries should rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine. Both countries are strong supporters of Kiev.
