French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Aachen, Germany, January 22, 2019 (Martin Meissner/AP)
On Tuesday, in a symbolic meeting in Germany’s border city of Aachen, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel signed a new treaty updating the 1963 Franco-German accord of reconciliation, hoping to reinvigorate the European Union.
But can the two leaders overcome challenges and home and the rise of the far right, as well as issues such as “populism”, Brexit, and Donald Trump?
Charlotte Galpin of the University of Birmingham and Susi Dennison of the European Council on Foreign Relations offer their analysis on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight.
Merkel: Franco-German treaty a step toward ‘European army’
The leaders of France and Germany on Tuesday laid out their commitment to a future joint European Army, an idea that has sparked angry reactions from US President Donald Trump.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said closer defence ties agreed in a new friendship treaty aim to build a Franco-German “common military culture” and “contribute to the creation of a European army.
Both Macron and Merkel have pushed the idea of a joint European Army for the bloc that would be part of the wider transatlantic NATO alliance.
https://www.thelocal.de/20190122/m 1/22/2019
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Macron’s European army proposal ‘very insulting’, says Trump on arriving in France
“President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the US, China and Russia,” the US president tweeted as soon as he arrived in France to meet with Macron to mark the centenary of the end of World War 1.
“Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidises greatly,” Trump added.
On Tuesday [November 6], Macron said Europe needed a real army to reduce reliance on the United States for defense. “We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America,” Macron said on French radio, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Macron, an ardent advocate of closer European integration, said a joint European Union military force was needed to wean Europe off American might, not least after US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty.
https://www.france24.com/en/20181109-france-trump-macron-european-army-eu-insulting 11/9/2018
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Europe can fill security gap left by US in Syria
With the US forces leaving, there is a realistic scenario that the Turks would seize the opportunity to invade Rojava, and in so doing, kill the aspirations of the Kurds for autonomy in a federal Syria in the future, similar to what their Kurdish brethren enjoy in Iraq.
Whether it is a re-emerged ISIS, or a Turkish invasion, one certain outcome under both potential scenarios is that the Rojava region would be significantly destabilised.
This will potentially create a humanitarian disaster with much bloodshed and a flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees as a result.
Such a scenario would have grave consequences for Europe which has hardly been able to cope with the wave of migrants from Syria and which has left the EU being heavily dependent on Turkey to contain that problem.
It is therefore imperative for the EU and its member states, particularly France and Germany, to use all their diplomatic tools to preserve the stability in the Rojava region of Syria.
In addition, there lies an opportunity for France and Germany to consider military options. […]
A military presence of France, supported by Germany would avert an almost certain humanitarian disaster resulting from the scenarios discussed above.
It will also pave the way for the two European powers, and by extension the EU, to finally play a meaningful role in Syria.
https://euobserver.com/opinion/143777 12/20/2018