By Carnegie Europe, 2017
When Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France, his first official visit was to Berlin. This long-established tradition is supposed to reaffirm the special relationship that Germany and France forged soon after World War Two when they established the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor of today’s European Union. But Mr Macron’s visit was more than symbolic. He was in Berlin to inform Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, about his plans to reform the French economy – and the eurozone group of 19 countries.
