FRANKFURT: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel consulted Sunday on migration, fixing the euro currency, Europe’s defense, taxing digital companies and other issues as the two leaders looked to preserve their influence abroad while their authority flags at home.
Macron, who came to Berlin to take part in Germany’s national remembrance day for the victims of war and dictatorship, urged European government to seize more responsibility for their own fate, especially regarding defense.
Macron said that the French-German alliance “is invested with this obligation not to allow the world to slide into chaos, and to accompany it on the road of peace.”
He said that Europe can’t play its role “if it doesn’t take more responsibility for its defense and security and is content to play a secondary role on the international scene.”
The two biggest countries in Europe can be a powerful force, but their leaders at the moment are hampered by falling domestic support. Macron has seen his poll ratings sag at home, where more than a quarter-million people protested Saturday over proposed gas tax hikes. Merkel has been a lame duck since saying she wouldn’t seek another term.
Merkel has offered support for Macron’s proposal for a European army. Both leaders have said Europe needs to depend less on others — such as the US — for its defense.
US President Donald Trump has unsettled NATO allies by demanding member countries either pay more for defense or “protect themselves,” as he put it in a recent tweet.
However, ceremonial appearances and warm words offered ahead of a December summit on the euro can’t hide the persistent friction between the French and German approaches to the European Union’s economic issues.
Germany and France have apparently struck a deal on a common budget for the EU countries that use the shared euro currency, something Macron pushed for. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told the dpa news agency the proposal was to be presented to European finance ministers Monday.
The size of the budget — mentioned by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as 20 to 25 billion euros — is far short of Macron’s idea. The amount is only 0.2 percent of the eurozone economy, less than the several percentage points of gross domestic product originally mentioned by Macron.
The compromise underscores German reluctance to sign off on anything seen as transferring taxpayer money from richer countries like Germany to more fiscally shaky ones such as Italy or Greece.
The European summit in December is to take up limited proposals to strengthen the euro currency, such as upgrading the eurozone’s bailout fund and a long-term road map for introducing EU-level deposit insurance.
The two sides can’t agree on a tax on digital companies such as Amazon and Google. The French and the European Commission have proposed imposing such a tax, but Scholz said the issue should be left with the 36-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
A European army would be a long-term prospect. Macron was advocating that Europe do more for its own defense, putting him on the same page in many ways with Trump.
Macron, Merkel seek common approaches to Trump, euro
Macron, Merkel seek common approaches to Trump, euro
- Macron urged European government to seize more responsibility for their own fate, especially regarding defense
North Korea and China to resume passenger train service after six-year gap
- China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week
- The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation”
SEOUL/BEIJING: Tickets for the first passenger train in six years from Beijing to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, were sold out ahead of its March 12 departure, an official ticketing office in Beijing said on Tuesday.
The resumption of the rail service, suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, revives a critical transport link between the largely isolated North Korea and its primary economic ally.
Tickets for the journey — restricted to travelers holding business visas — were purchased by entrepreneurs, government officials and reporters, according to the Beijing ticketing office. Tickets were still available for the next service, scheduled for March 18.
NORTH KOREA STILL LARGELY CLOSED TO TOURISTS
China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week in both directions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday while Dandong-Pyongyang trains will run daily.
The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual well-being and friendship,” the notice said.
North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organizing trips to the country.
Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said. Tour organizers said on Monday that North Korea had canceled next month’s Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.
