Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s François Hollande hold their first-ever meeting today, aiming to bridge differences on European economic policy as Greece’s woes threaten to tear apart the eurozone.
The German Chancellor hosts Mr Hollande for talks in Berlin just hours after his inauguration as President, a sign of the urgency of the task at hand as the European debt crisis returns with a vengeance after a brief respite.
But while Ms Merkel and Mr Hollande’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy formed such a close crisis-fighting team they were dubbed “Merkozy”, the new pair leading Europe has vastly different ideas on the best way out of the turmoil.
Both sides have stuck to the diplomatic niceties before the meeting.
Ms Merkel said Mr Hollande would be welcomed “with open arms” for the evening summit and used her weekly podcast to say she sought stable relations with Paris.
Meanwhile, Pierre Moscovici, a close Hollande aide, said he was sure the two neighbours could find compromises on the issues dividing them, adding that Franco-German ties should “transcend political differences”.
Nevertheless, the two are on a collision course over the German-inspired EU fiscal pact that aims to reduce the deficit mountains in several member states and prevent the current debt crisis from happening again.
Mr Hollande has called for this to be reconsidered, with measures promoting growth to be added to the text or even a separate “growth pact” to be agreed.
Ms Merkel insisted almost daily last week that the pact, signed by 25 of the 27 EU countries and already ratified in some, must stay as it is.
The two are also likely to clash over eurobonds – pooling eurozone members’ debt – which Mr Hollande sees as a possible partial crisis cure but to which Ms Merkel is implacably opposed, fearing a bigger bill for EU paymaster Germany.
The role of the European Central Bank could also spark tensions. Mr Hollande wants to see the Frankfurt-based institution do more in the crisis. Ms Merkel is fiercely attached to the ECB’s independence.Differences over these concrete issues reveal a broader division of opinion on how to tackle the crisis.
Broadly speaking, Mr Hollande wants to shift the focus of the battle against the crisis back onto growth while Ms Merkel wants to stick to austerity and ensure any growth-enhancing moves do not increase the debt pile.
And the two do not see eye-to-eye on Afghanistan either, with Mr Hollande seeking an early withdrawal of French troops and Ms Merkel pointedly telling Germany’s Parliament that international forces must stay the course until 2014.
Both have their own domestic reasons for appearing not to give ground.
Mr Hollande faces legislative elections in June and Ms Merkel is still recovering from her party’s latest electoral debacle, in Germany’s largest state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday.
Despite their policy differences, however, many analysts have pointed out that their styles and personalities may gel better than those of Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy.
Both prefer to take decisions only after long deliberation, say insiders.
Moreover, Mr Hollande, who has set himself up as “President Normal” to contrast with Mr Sarkozy who was dubbed the “bling bling” President, may get on better with the famously down-to-earth Ms Merkel.
“Hollande and Merkel are more similar than their squabbles of recent months suggest. Both are sober, reflective, pragmatic and unpretentious,” commented the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.
And Ms Merkel’s spokesman was eager to play down expectations for the talks, saying it would be more of a “getting-to-know-you” gathering than a major decision-making summit.
“They might not embrace as warmly as she did with Sarkozy, but Hollande is a pro-European social democrat and as such, I think both sides will be prepared to compromise,” said political scientist Gerd Langguth from Bonn University.
But comments by socialist party spokes-man Benoit Hamon suggest the untried Mr Hollande’s desire to make his mark on the world stage may yet cause Franco-German differences to burst out today.