Is friendship through the stomach? Despite all sorts of delicacies, this doesn’t really work for Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron. There will be a new attempt on Friday.
Actually, says Olaf Scholz, it is completely different than many people think. At a press conference on Wednesday, the Chancellor was asked about Emmanuel Macron. The French head of state is coming to Berlin on Friday to revive the dormant “Weimar Triangle” discussion format together with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Scholz. So what about him and Macron? Scholz says: “Emmanuel Macron and I have a very good personal relationship. I would call it very friendly.”
Political observers, of course, see it somewhat differently. The general assessment is that the sober Hanseatic and the over-ambitious Frenchman have not yet found a connection with each other. There are always arguments about the content, but there was no affront. Not yet.
You can’t blame the two of them for not trying out each other every time they met. Not only love, but also a very good friendship can go through the stomach. And whenever Scholz and Macron got together, delicacies were served – until that day in Hamburg when the French President fought with a fish sandwich. The story of a complicated German-French relationship in five menu cards.
December 2021: Truffles and lamb at the Élysée Palace
Almost 48 hours after he swore his oath of office, the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz landed at Paris-Orly Airport. It is tradition that the first visit abroad is to France. The trip was probably worth it just for the appetizer: In the presidential palace, Macron has “calisson made from small vegetables with argan oil and truffles” served, reports the “Bild” newspaper. Afterwards there is leg of lamb and potatoes, followed by “milles-feuilles with Madagascar vanilla” for dessert.
When the Élysées staff clears the plates, they are still half full. Didn’t it taste good? Did you want to get it over with quickly?
It was a “friendly visit,” says Scholz afterwards, emphasizing his willingness to work together. The fact that he recently designed a European Corona development fund together with Chancellor Merkel as Finance Minister may have given him a boost of trust among the French. However, difficulties are already emerging: Russia is massing its troops on the border with Ukraine. Scholz doesn’t really want to comment on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Germany’s relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Scholz and Macron in front of the Élysée Palace
© David Silpa/UPI Photo/Imago Images
October 2022: Sea creatures and chocolate dessert in the “Salon des Portraits”
Apparently there are scheduling problems that mean that a joint meeting of the German and French governments has to be cancelled. But it is more likely that it was the many controversial topics that prevented a meeting in the magnificent Fontainebleau Palace. During this time, the Ukraine war exposed the differences between France and Germany. Scholz recently announced relief for the high energy costs in Germany without first coordinating this with European partners. There is also resentment among the French that joint armaments projects, such as the FCAS fighter aircraft system, are stalling.
A “working lunch” between Scholz and Macron does take place. It’s an attempt to smooth things over a bit. They eat in the company of their closest friends two seafood, fish fillet and a fine chocolate dessert in the “Salon des Portraits” in the Paris Presidential Palace. Afterwards there is a one-on-one discussion. After all: the planned two hours turned into more than three.
January 2023: Steak and red wine in the brasserie “La Rotonde”
60 years of the Élysée Treaty! On this anniversary of German-French friendship, the previously postponed joint cabinet meeting can be rescheduled. Macron invites the Chancellor to the bistro “La Rotonde” in the Montparnasse district of Paris in the evening. It’s not just any restaurant, it’s the president’s favorite restaurant. A gesture of solidarity in difficult times. Scholz and Macron have not yet provided common answers to major challenges.
At the beginning of the year, Macron caused anger in Berlin by going it alone: he surprisingly announced that he would deliver battle tanks to Ukraine. This was obviously not agreed upon with Scholz. The meal could therefore be seen as a kind of compensation. Regular guests in the historic brasserie included Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Simone de Beauvoir. Traditional French cuisine is served. It is not known exactly what Macron and Scholz ate there. Macron, however, is said to particularly appreciate steak and red wine.
Macron and Scholz in “La Rotonde”
© Steffen Kugler / DPA
June 2023: Asparagus, saddle of venison and rhubarb in the “cooking room”
It remains personal: For the first time, Scholz is receiving a head of state or government in Potsdam, his place of residence. During a walk, the Chancellor shows the Frenchman the center of the Brandenburg state capital. They sit down in the café of the Barberini Museum and walk across the – yes, that’s really what it’s called – “Friendship Island”.
Finally they stop at the “Kochzimmer”, the only one-star restaurant in the city. “New Prussian cuisine” is served here. The “Potsdamer Neusten Nachrichten” published the menu at the time: “Asparagus with dead nettles, broccoli stalks, almond milk and grapes, then egg yolk with morels, wild garlic, peas and coffee salt, then roasted Duroc pork belly with lettuce, turnips and spring leeks, fried saddle of venison with chanterelles, red turnips and gooseberries as well as a Comté cheese with apricot, yarrow and bitter almond, and for dessert rhubarb with ginger, white chocolate and Kaiser biscuit.” The meal took almost three hours – significantly longer than planned. “Together we are tackling the challenges of these days and our time,” tweeted Scholz in German and French.
Macron and Scholz in the “Kochzimmer” restaurant in Potsdam
© Michael Kappeler / DPA
October 2023: Fish rolls in Hamburg
The French and German cabinets meet together in Hamburg. An important sign – because domestic political difficulties recently prevented a symbolic meeting of German-French solidarity in July. At that time, Macron actually wanted to come to the first official state visit by a Frenchman in 23 years. And canceled. After a 17-year-old was killed during a traffic stop, there were violent riots in France. Macron decided that in such a situation it would be better not to leave the country.
So now two days in Hamburg with the entire entourage. At this point in time, a planned reform of the European electricity market is putting a strain on the relationship between Scholz and Macron. Germany is bothered by the fact that France is allowed to sell nuclear power to its economy on favorable terms following approval from Brussels.
This time the menu selection is rather poor. While walking with the wives Britta Ernst and Brigitte Macron through the Hamburg district of Blankenese, there was a Hamburg specialty at the snack stand: fish rolls with Elbaal and Bismarck herring – including raw onions, of course. Judging by the faces in the photos, the Macron couple will not be traveling to Hamburg again for this delicacy.
A few days after the meeting, Macron announced that the electricity market reform would be completed “by the end of the month.” Maybe that’s the real secret of this one couple franco-alemand: The simpler the food, the more successful the conversations?
Olaf Scholz (l.) with his wife Britta Ernst (r.), the Macron couple – and fish sandwiches.
© John Macdougall / AFP
And what’s on Friday?
Scholz and Macron will meet the Pole Donald Tusk on Friday in the so-called “Weimar Triangle”. Before that, however, the German and the Frenchman also get time together. More necessary than ever? The relationship may actually have reached a new low. At the end of February, at a Ukraine supporters’ conference, Macron made a rather blatant taunt against those who only wanted to deliver “sleeping bags and helmets” at the start of the Ukraine war. At the subsequent press conference there was a scandal: Macron did not rule out sending ground troops. Scholz contradicted this again and again in the following days. When Scholz, in defense of his “Taurus no”, suggested that France and Great Britain had soldiers on site, this caused anger in Paris and London.
What simple Berlin specialty could help? Pork knuckle with sauerkraut? Currywurst with fries? Or Mustafa’s vegetable kebab?