HS Analysis | The EU’s power duo was overthrown: the other countries turned against Macron and Scholz in a rare way

Brussels

Germany and France have been the power duo of the European Union, countries that, despite their mutual differences, have always moved the Union forward.

Now the leaders of both countries, the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz and the President of France Emmanuel Macronare limping due to internal political difficulties.

Thursday’s EU summit showed that it is starting to erode the countries’ influence at the EU tables.

In both countries, the EU election result at the beginning of June caused a huge disappointment for the main party. Scholz’s Social Democrats got fewer votes than the far-right Alternative for Germany party. In France, the far-right National Coalition is the winner of the EU elections after receiving a third of the vote, prompting Macron to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Scholz and Macron did get their way in the EU nomination package, which they were negotiating with four other EU leaders, but the duo’s attempt to get changes to the EU leaders’ decision paper came to an embarrassing end. Other member countries, including Finland, rushed to cancel the company.

The EU leaders had already worked on the so-called in smaller groups before the meeting strategic agenda i.e. member countries’ goals for the future work program of the EU Commission. The decisions of the summits are characterized by a long behind-the-scenes preparation, because the meetings will turn into chaos if each country starts to blurt out texts only on the spot.

Surprisingly, however, it happened on Thursday that Scholz and Macron presented several changes to the text of the strategic agenda only in Brussels.

Other countries were extremely annoyed by this last-ditch effort. The changes driven by the duo were also not pleasing.

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“Let’s come with the jacket open with the intention of taking it or leaving it.”

Especially the tentacles of the countries protecting the internal market stood up from the duo’s driving, news media about the phrase seen by Politicoaccording to which member states “should re-evaluate competition rules and practices and allow mergers and acquisitions in key sectors to strengthen the EU’s resilience”.

This was interpreted to mean that Germany and France, the current generous distributors of state aid, want to make state aid a permanent practice. This does not apply to Finland, for example.

Other countries did not accept the changes and especially the German and French approach.

“We come with the coat open with the intention of taking it or leaving it,” describes one EU diplomat.

In the past, this might have been successful, but not anymore. Germany and France got through some minimal clarifications, but the other member states rejected, for example, the competition policy addition proposal.

“The friends of the internal market took a little profit here”, the Prime Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo (kok) comments on what happened after the meeting.

Especially Macron’s influence has weakened due to the election loss. He’s not exactly a lame duck, but almost. Some sort of loser aura is starting to surround him, and that’s never a good thing in politics.

Scholz’s weight has been eaten up by Germany’s hesitation in supporting Ukraine and the protection of Germany’s commercial interests in sanctions against Russia.

Some of the member states also considered the nomination package approved by the EU on Thursday to be poorly prepared, even though the names were finally approved.

It didn’t show a very good eye for the game from Macron and Scholz to leave the Prime Minister of Italy, the EU’s third largest economy Giorgia Meloni completely out of the negotiations, because especially Ursula von der Leyen the appointment to head the commission is not at all certain yet. He still needs the votes of the parliament.

Macron announced in the same open-jacket style this weekthat the next commissioner of France will be the same as now, influential Thierry Breton.

It doesn’t work, replied the chairman of the National Alliance Jordan Bardellaa possible future prime minister, who believes that the appointment of the commissioner belongs to the incoming government and not to the president.

Even a temporary weakening of the influence of France and Germany affects the dynamics of the EU. The importance of some other countries is increasing. Poland, with its newly appointed prime minister, is now on the rise Donald Tusk is a former president of the European Council.