On 22 January 1963, France’s President, the General de Gaulle, and Germany’s Chancellor, Dr Konrad Adenauer, signed in Paris the Elysee Treaty on cooperation between the two countries that marked the beginning of an era of friendship and cooperation between Germany and France after more than a century of tensions and wars, which led to the 20th century’s two world wars that involved so many countries and provoked millions of casualties. It took the great leadership of both Heads of State and Government to create the conditions of the reconciliation and cooperation 18 years after the end of the war.
56 years later, on the 22 January 2019, a new treaty will be signed by France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, in Aachen in Germany. The representatives of the European Union institutions will also be present. While the first treaty was about reconciliation, the new one focuses on convergence, on bringing closer our socio-economic models and on joint positions in the international fora, in the context of the European integration.
In addition to the treaty between the two Governments, an agreement will be signed between the Bundestag, the German parliament, and the Assemblée Nationale, the French parliament, creating a 100 members strong French-German Parliamentary Assembly.
In a volatile international and European context, France and Germany recall, in the solemn form of a treaty between our two States, their shared commitment to values as the rule of law and multilateralism as well as their joint responsibility to build a sovereign and united Europe.