EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday (4 February) are set to unveil their own economic and political strategy document, the "Franco-German Agenda 2020," in an attempt to put some substance in the widely advertised but not always smoothly working partnership between the EU's two major economies. The plan, including 80 separate measures, ranges from economic and fiscal initiatives to common school books and simpler rules for Franco-German marriages. It is set to be published at the end of a joint ministerial council meeting of the two countries, chaired by both Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel in the Elysee palace.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday (4 February) are set to unveil their own economic and political strategy document, the "Franco-German Agenda 2020," in an attempt to put some substance in the widely advertised but not always smoothly working partnership between the EU's two major economies.
The plan, including 80 separate measures, ranges from economic and fiscal initiatives to common school books and simpler rules for Franco-German marriages. It is set to be published at the end of a joint ministerial council meeting of the two countries, chaired by both Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel in the Elysee palace.
REUTERS - France and Germany called for an urgent solution on Thursday to the funding crisis surrounding the A400M troop plane, Europe's biggest military project, as Airbus resumed talks with government buyers. The 20 billion euro project is four years late and 11.2 billion euros over budget, threatening up to 10,000 jobs. EADS unit Airbus is appealing to a group of seven NATO nations for billions of euros in extra support to start full production of the plane, which first flew in December, but governments are reluctant to let taxpayers foot the whole bill. "Everything must be done to reach a solution. It is a decisive project which must be resolved very quickly," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after a Franco-German summit.
REUTERS - France and Germany called for an urgent solution on Thursday to the funding crisis surrounding the A400M troop plane, Europe's biggest military project, as Airbus resumed talks with government buyers. The 20 billion euro project is four years late and 11.2 billion euros over budget, threatening up to 10,000 jobs.
EADS unit Airbus is appealing to a group of seven NATO nations for billions of euros in extra support to start full production of the plane, which first flew in December, but governments are reluctant to let taxpayers foot the whole bill.
"Everything must be done to reach a solution. It is a decisive project which must be resolved very quickly," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after a Franco-German summit.
the widely advertised but not always smoothly working partnership between the EU's two major economies.
Remember: French and Germany basically never agree on anything to start with - that's why the relationship matters: by forcing themsleves to find compromises, they find solutions that are usually palatable to others, thus their ability to prevail with such compromises.
It's only when the French-German spread of opinion is not wide enough that this does not work... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Didn't Germany and France have the rotating presidency in the last few years already? En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
