The German Presidency of the Council of the European Union begins on July 1, 2020 at a time of acute crisis. It is facing unprecedented challenges and organizational constraints in a context marked by high expectations from its European partners.

The development of Franco-German cooperation can be described as an intergovernmental process. Depending on the perspective, the capacity for innovation of the relationship lies either with central decision-makers at the state level or with decentralized actors at the local level.

While international multilateralism is under strain, it is vital for France and Germany to defend it, since it is the most appropriate system for preserving their interests – particularly in terms of welfare, security, prosperity and environmental protection. Against this backdrop, three political fields offer opportunities for joint initiatives: trade, conventional arms control and climate change.

The issue of the digital transformation of the industry provoked in France as in Germany the return of the state and the introduction of a subsidiary industrial policy. Feeling threatened in its industrial leadership, Germany mobilized its resources through industry 4.0 by building a vision around the concept of “cyber-physical system” before developing in each Land an accompanying offer. France has forged the concept of the industry of the future by following a logic of modernization of the production tool, reinforcing particularly the automation and building on the integration of new technological bricks.

Even though the CDU-CSU led Grand Coalition was renewed following the German legislative elections of 24 September 2017, and even though Angela Merkel was re-elected chancellor a fourth consecutive term, the country has entered a period of growing political uncertainty. The formation of a new government took much longer than after previous elections for a number of different reasons: after negotiations, the liberal party refused to join a coalition with the CDU-CSU and the Green party, the SPD was reluctant to continue in government, and, above all, the internal divisions of the two sister parties CDU et CSU, that nearly caused the fall of the new government three months after its investiture.

At the time of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Elysée treaty in January 2013, the Franco-German defence cooperation is not at its best.

The German dual system of professional training is seen as an international reference model. It aims at training qualified employees for an innovative economy rather than being the last resort for less able pupils. Parents and adolescents regard apprenticeships as an entry ticket to a good job with career opportunities; companies value the advantages of practice-oriented training in situ conceived in cooperation with its own professionals as this spares them the costs of integrating school graduates.

Attitudes vis-à-vis Russia expressed in the public sphere are heterogeneous, in France more so than in Germany. In both France and Germany, the general public is by and large skeptical of Vladimir Putin and his policies. The picture is more diverse in the political realm. In Germany, there (still) is an approach that might be qualified as “mainstream”. The French debate, in turn, is highly fragmented.

Germany has a long tradition of climate policy programmes with ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and comprehensive climate and energy policy packages.

This target-driven policy approach is, however, increasingly facing challenges due to the lack of progress on greenhouse gas emission reductions in key sectors, i.e. the power, the transport and the building sector. 

The conflict in and about Ukraine has catapulted the European Union's Eastern Partnership (EaP) into the limelight of international attention. Belittled as a bureaucratic and technical policy instrument, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EaP as its Eastern regional dimension have within the course of a few months gained unexpected geopolitical significance. 

This essay focuses on Greek-German relations with emphasis on the period of the SY.RIZ.A-Independent Greeks governments in 2015. In particular, it attempts to outline the political dimension of negotiations between Athens and Berlin at the EU level and explore mistakes and opportunities in the bilateral relationship.