Are Merkel and Macron's projects revolutionary?
Germany and France have agreed on joint armament projects, plans for a more comprehensive EU defence policy, and measures to reform the Eurozone. Columnists from Eastern and Western Europe take a sceptical view of Merkel and Macron's projects.
Old rifts may be reopened
Merkel and Macron's plans for closer military cooperation are a source of concern for Deutsche Welle's Romanian service:
“Germany backs the idea of a European defence decoupled from the US and of a multi-speed Europe. … The consequences of such policies could be fatal because they will create new rifts between the East and the West and deepen the divides that were engendered by communism and never fully overcome. … The difficult but honest path of a political and moral New Deal with Eastern Europe and of rebooting transatlantic relations despite the antipathy many Western Europeans feel towards Trump would have been far preferable. But that would have required hard work and unpopular self-criticism. And who wants to take that upon themselves?”
Where will Sweden be in the new Europe?
Sweden could also be pushed to sidelines by the close French-German ties, Göteborgs-Posten fears:
“The obvious consequence of any probable Franco-German initiative is a two-speed EU in which the countries outside the Eurozone play second fiddle. Sweden has long been able to prevent such a development with Britain's support. Now its only option is to ally itself with the Visegrád states in the East, like Poland and Hungary. True, these countries that also resist supranationality, nevertheless in value terms they are far more removed from Sweden. ... Does Sweden's government have a strategy to counter Macron's vision of a United States of Europe?”