Macron and Merkel Meet, Pledging to Save European Unity
For her part, Ms. Merkel said last week that she had been ready in 2013 to contemplate a eurozone budget "with which to help countries who want to reform." "Here
we could add means to the funds we already have in order to temporarily help countries in this area," Ms. Merkel said at a business dinner in Düsseldorf.
By ALISON SMALEMAY 15, 2017
BERLIN — The new French president and the veteran German chancellor used their first engagement on Monday to declare their determination to salvage European unity now
that France has beaten back the immediate risk from radical populism, which threatened to undo the European Union itself.
If a French leader has the courage to speak of a common budget for the eurozone, then Germany should also have the courage "to think again about some firm positions in the currency
and be open to a Franco-German compromise in the currency union," Mr. Gabriel wrote in a paper published in Der Spiegel and said by his Foreign Ministry to be genuine.
Thomas Gomart wrote that A more balanced relationship between Germany
and France would help to put an end to Berlin’s reputation as a selfish European hegemon, reducing the anti-German sentiment that is rising across the Continent,
As has become tradition for a new leader in either France or Germany, the first trip abroad is to the other’s country,
and Chancellor Angela Merkel continued in the regal spirit of Emmanuel Macron’s inauguration as French president on Sunday, greeting her visitor with full military honors.
But each was scrupulously attentive to the other at what Ms. Merkel termed "a very critical moment for the European Union."
The chancellor did not rule out European Union treaty changes if that proved necessary to push medium-term overhauls.