On May 26, Emmanuel Macron undertook the first state visit to Germany by a French president in a quarter of a century, France 24 reported.
During his three-day, four-stop visit, Macron will seek to highlight the historic importance of post-war relations between the two key EU countries as next month France marks 80 years since the D-Day landings, which marked the beginning of the end of Germany's occupation in World War II.
But all is not smooth sailing in the bilateral relationship, which is often seen as the engine of the EU. Berlin has been surprised by Macron's refusal to rule out sending troops to Ukraine, and German officials are sometimes troubled by Macron's foreign policy style.
During a question-and-answer session on social media with young people earlier this month, Macron turned to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for help when asked if the Franco-German "couple" was still working.
"Hello, dear friends, long live Franco-German friendship!" Scholz said in French in a video on Macron's X channel. "Thank you, Olaf! I agree with you," Macron replied in German.
While Macron is a frequent visitor to Berlin, the trip will be the first official state visit in 24 years since Jacques Chirac's trip in 2000 and the sixth since Charles de Gaulle's first post-war state visit in 1962.
Macron's trip will begin talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
On May 28, he will travel to Dresden to give a speech about Europe at a European festival. Macron will visit the western German city of Münster and later be in Meseberg outside Berlin for talks with Scholz and a joint Franco-German cabinet meeting. /BGNES
