France and Germany put energy dispute on the back burner during state visit as far-right threat emerges over European Parliament elections

The postponed state visit to Germany gave French President Emmanuel Macron a chance to demonstrate his pro-European credentials a week before the upcoming European Parliament elections and to showcase his unchanged but as of yet largely unrealized ambitions to lead on many issues in the union together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. About a year after delaying the first official state visit by a French president in over two decades, Macron took advantage of the invitation of the ceremonial head of state of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to finally tour the largest and most important country neighboring France from east to west.

In mid-2023, when Macron’s trip was originally planned, the energy price crisis was still dominating political agendas across Europe. The divide between the EU’s two largest economies over the EU’s future energy architecture, especially regarding the use – and financing – of nuclear energy, then became glaringly obvious. Germany has just closed its last remaining reactors, while France has been pushing for a Europe-wide revival of the technology, arguing that it is essential to achieving climate neutrality.

A year later, Europe’s energy price hike has ended and the nuclear debate has calmed down for the time being, allowing both governments to largely sideline issues of energy and climate policy. “Several obstacles have been overcome to find common ground on energy policy,” Yann Wernert, a Franco-German policy analyst at the EU think tank Jacques Delors Center (JDC), told Clean Energy Wire. A few days before Macron’s visit, the EU Council, composed of member state governments, adopted packages of reforms of the common electricity market and gas and hydrogen trade. However, “the mood on this matter is still tense,” Wernert argued.

Various energy policies continue to test the ability of the two countries, dubbed the EU’s “engine”, to decide on common energy infrastructure and cross-border electricity and hydrogen networks. Germany wants to expand it significantly to trade in renewable energy, while France is betting on greater autarchy with its reactor fleet – even if this has proven to be a bold ambition given the operational challenges of nuclear power itself, including unplanned outages and Russia’s involvement in a European nuclear reactor energy infrastructure. “This is likely to reappear in Europe in the coming years,” he added.

For now, however, the French president can hope to strengthen the EU’s key axis between Paris and Berlin with his visit as a symbol of European unity amid the rise of nationalist forces in the continent’s two largest economies. In a speech to young Europeans in the eastern state of Saxony’s capital, Dresden, Macron stressed that the former communist region now lies at the heart of Europe, but warned that the EU “could die” if its members do not take the right steps to keep it together . He had already given the same warning to French students in Paris a few weeks earlier, specifying that before security policy and industrial renewal, the energy sector needed “the most fundamental transformation in the future”, adding a hint about Germany’s former excessive dependence on Russia.

French and German leaders hope to quell the far-right threat by making the Green Deal a growth engine

In the case of Saxony, the French president chose the stronghold of the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Like France’s Rassemblement National (RN), the AfD fundamentally rejects deeper European integration and hopes for a sharp shift to the right in the European Parliament elections, which could slow down progress in key policy areas, especially with regard to EU energy and climate legislation. Green Land. Although the AfD does not enjoy the same level of nationwide support as party leader Marine Le Pen’s RN, and has suffered a series of scandals in recent months that even led to a break with the RN in the European Parliament, it is the strongest party in polls in Saxony and two other eastern German countries, which will go to vote in September. With the next federal elections in Germany in 2025 and the French presidential elections in 2027, both Macron’s and Chancellor Scholz’s parties have overtaken the far right in most polls ahead of the EU vote and are under pressure to present a compelling vision for the rest of their terms of office to suppress the rise of populists.

So far, however, the populist threat has caused both leaders to hold back on decisive action, especially regarding economic transformation. Fueled by farmers’ protests in early 2024 – including in Germany after cutting fossil fuel subsidies and in France – Macron’s camp “does not want to emphasize its climate policy program so much this time,” said JDC analyst Wernert. This is despite the fact that the majority of citizens in his country – like their German neighbors – support more effective climate action. However, the president is afraid of the growing influence of the Supervisory Board and the possible takeover of its seats through a vote of no confidence in parliament before the planned end of his term. “There is widespread fear of protests by new farmers and the RN is happy to incite them even further,” Wernert said.