(Paris) – French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will sign a new treaty on January 22 to further strengthen Franco-German cooperation in the run-up to next year´s EU elections, Macron´s office said.
The two leaders, both of whom have been weakened domestically, will meet in the French border town of Aix-la-Chapelle to ink an accord “which will strengthen the already close ties between Germany and France,” the French presidency said.
Merkel´s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the eurozone´s two biggest economies “want to move ahead to ensure the security and wellbeing of citizens as well as a strong, sovereign and democratic Europe.”
The treaty will cover joint projects in the areas of defence, climate change and security as well as the sensitive issue of “economic and social convergence,” the French presidency statement said.