This crisis of confidence may appear to result from different personalities and political convictions between Germany's and France's respective leaders.Since the days of former German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and former French President Charles de Gaulle, Germany and France have generally been run by politicians who placed more value on unity than their differences. The axis between former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former French President Valéry d'Estaing axis proved to be just as resilient as the partnership between their successors, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand.
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Mistrust shapes the relationship between Paris and Berlin, on issues ranging from future European bank regulation to the joint aerospace and defense group EADS and the future architecture of Europe. Hollande suspects that Berlin is using budget consolidation as an excuse to gain European dominance. Merkel notes with unease that Hollande is joining forces with Rome and Madrid to form a joint axis against Germany.
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In recent months, impatience with Germany has grown to open displeasure at the Elysée Palace. Hollande believes that the crisis can only be solved if Europe introduces shared liability for debts. His staff is constantly introducing new proposals that tend to differ in name only: euro bonds, euro bills, a debt repayment fund.
The French are also annoyed that Berlin is incessantly calling for strict budget controls while the continent slips into recession. Paris is critical of what it calls Germany's obsession with austerity, and it believes that cutting spending in a sagging economy is the wrong approach. "A fundamental discussion of this austerity policy is in the air throughout Europe," say officials at the Elysée.
Hollande accuses the Germans of having double standards. He argues that they are demanding a lot of other Europeans while unilaterally pursuing national interests, as was the case with aircraft maker EADS. The German-French group wanted to merge with the British defense contractor BAE, which would have created the world's largest aerospace company, but it would also have jeopardized jobs in Bavaria.
Hollande's supporters complain that Merkel vetoed the deal without explanation and without agreeing to new negotiations. They argue that by intervening, Merkel, who is always calling for more competitiveness and less government, is actually preventing the European defense industry from becoming more competitive.
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Hollande is a novice in the business of governing, Berlin officials say disparagingly. Unlike his predecessor Sarkozy, he had not held any government posts before becoming president. This is why, from Germany's perspective, he is making mistakes that would never have happened to his predecessors, especially in European policy.
The Germans are particularly dismayed over Hollande's attempt to paint himself as the spokesman of the southern EU countries. It upsets them that the Frenchman is reviving old plans for a Mediterranean union on Europe's southern edge. In early October, Hollande met with the leaders of four other Southern European and five North African countries at a conference in Malta. Officials in Berlin complain that after having painstakingly disabused Sarkozy of the notion of a new southern axis, they now have to start all over again.
Merkel's confidants fear that Hollande is accelerating France's economic decline, to the detriment of all of Europe. Although the president pushed through the fiscal pact, they argue, he hasn't done much else to modernize his country.
"You don't get France's problems under control by raising taxes and lowering the retirement age," scoffs a German government official.
However, underlying factors also exist, independent of any personal equation.
