Macron and Merz are giving it another go: the revival of bilateral cooperation

Yesterday in Brühl, as part of the 26th Franco-German Ministerial Council and the parallel Franco-German Defence and Security Council, Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron pledged to revitalise cooperation between Berlin and Paris in the field of defence and to deepen coordination in the area of nuclear deterrence, seeking to put the failure of the SCAF – the project to develop a sixth-generation multi-role fighter – behind them.

“Cooperation between Germany and France is essential at a time when Russia is threatening our security,” said the German Chancellor during the joint press conference with the French President, announcing that Berlin “will take part this year in a nuclear exercise with the French armed forces” as part of the “advanced deterrence” strategy outlined by Macron in March. Merz emphasised that the initiative, in which German conventional forces will take part, complements – rather than replaces – NATO’s nuclear deterrent. Macron clarified that advanced deterrence “under no circumstances involves co-financing of the French nuclear programme”: Paris will continue to finance its own arsenal independently. The aim is to “improve security on the European continent” and create greater strategic ambiguity for potential adversaries, he added.

Yesterday, the two leaders also presented a new defence work plan, which Merz described as “concrete, realistic and targeted”. Germany and France intend to develop a European standard for the ‘combat cloud’, based on an open and modular architecture that enables interoperability between fighter jets, drones and effectors: this is an attempt to preserve the digital and data-sharing component that was one of the central elements of the SCAF. As Macron said, “if France and Germany do not reach an agreement, Europe will not move forward”.