The escalation of Franco German contradiction postponed the ministerial meeting

2022-11-02

Recently, French and German officials said that due to the difficulty in reconciling the differences between the two countries, the French German ministerial meeting originally scheduled to be held in Fontainebleau, France, in late October was postponed to January next year. This has raised concerns about the future development prospects of Europe. The differences in energy policies have led to the intensification of conflicts. According to sources, the postponement of the Franco German ministerial meeting is related to the policy differences between France and Germany in the energy field. Since the outbreak of the Russian Ukrainian conflict, European energy supply has been tight and prices have soared. In response to the energy crisis, at the end of September, Germany unilaterally announced to invest 200 billion euros (1 euro is about 7.3 yuan) to subsidize the energy bills of its residents and enterprises. This practice of suppressing energy prices by means of huge government subsidies has caused dissatisfaction within the EU. This move was opposed by many EU member states, including France, who believed that in the case of unbalanced economic development in EU countries, Germany's unilateral subsidy to its own country would lead to the aggravation of energy crisis in other countries. French President Marcon even warned that the German government's subsidy plan might "distort" the European market, and called on Germany to consider maintaining European unity when formulating its energy policy. In addition, France and Germany disagree on whether to set a ceiling on natural gas prices. France has been trying to set a ceiling on the price of natural gas due to power shortages caused by the shutdown of some of its nuclear power plants. Germany, as a major natural gas consumer, strongly opposes it and advocates joint procurement, reducing consumption and increasing supply to deal with the energy crisis. Especially after the destruction of the "Beixi - 1" natural gas pipeline, Germany lost its status as a natural gas hub in the EU. In order to solve the problem of natural gas source, Germany hopes to cooperate with Spain, which has the largest LNG terminal in Europe, to build a natural gas pipeline through the Pyrenees Mountains on the French border, but France opposes it. The differences between France and Germany on energy policy eventually led to the intensification of the contradiction between the two countries. On the surface, the postponement of the French German Ministerial Conference is mainly due to the differences between the two countries on energy policies, but in essence, it is the result of the long-term fierce competition between the two countries for the dominance of European affairs. As two "engines" in the process of European integration, France and Germany actively advocate and promote European integration, but their starting points and goals are not consistent. Germany mainly hopes to promote political cooperation through European integration, so as to enhance its status and influence in Europe. At present, Germany has a population of more than 80 million, ranking first in the European Union. Its total economic output accounts for about 30% in the European Union. Germany's desire to dominate Europe is increasingly strong. Not long ago, German Prime Minister Schultz first defined the geopolitical profile of the EU, saying that the EU should expand to 30 to 36 member countries in the future, mainly including Eastern European countries. Since the Eastern Europe is Germany's traditional sphere of influence, once most of the Eastern European countries join the EU, Germany will become the geographical center of the EU. In addition, Scholtz also proposed to abolish the one vote veto system of the EU and transition to the majority consent system. These will greatly enhance Germany's influence within the EU and lay the foundation for Germany to ultimately control the EU. France is keen to promote European integration and vigorously promote defense cooperation, including the construction of a "European army", in order to improve its presence in Europe

Edit:Yi Bing    Responsible editor:Wei Li Bin

Source:people.com.cn

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