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One who was present at discussions between the two explained: \u201cThey just don\u2019t seem to get on. And that\u2019s at the heart of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tensions, which are believed to have been simmering for a year, have not been helped by Germany\u2019s cumbersome coalition government, with Mr Scholz having to work closely with the Greens, led by Annalena Baerbock.<\/p>\n
Mujtaba Rahman, Europe managing director at Eurasia Group risk consultancy, explained: \u201cScholz and Macron are both confronting significant domestic challenges, their chemistry isn\u2019t great and the bilateral institutional and senior official links are also quite strained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has aggravated their ability to play nice together in the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mr Macron and Mr Scholz will meet several times this month, including at a summit in Spain this week.<\/p>\n
Another official suggested: \u201cThe two of them just need to sit down in a room together and hash [things] out,\u201d said one of the senior EU officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsent that, it\u2019s pointless for the rest of them trying to find consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n
A third added: \u201cNo it is not working and yes it is worrying,\u201d said another senior EU official.<\/p>\n
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Don’t miss… <\/strong> \u201cYou can\u2019t get things done if the two of them aren\u2019t seeing the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this week, David McAllister, the German MEP and a prominent figure in the German Christian Democrats, criticised both Mr SPD leader Mr Scholz and Mr Macron for what he described as their lack of communication when it came to key decisions on battle tanks and fighter jets, and a future trade deal with Latin America.<\/p>\n Commenting, former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, now a member of the Reform Party, told Express.co.uk: \u201cThe European Union project, as with the European Convention of Human Rights, was only ever conceived because France and Germany could not be trusted to be at peace with each other.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United Kingdom did not just liberate Europe, it has since acted as a stabilising force.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that we have left, it would appear the Franco-German axis, so important for European unity, is fraying.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Habib added: \u201cFrankly, the greater the fissures, the better.<\/p>\n “The EU is an anti-democratic supranational selfish bureaucratic body.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sooner it collapses, the better. Who\u2019d have thought Brexit would help destroy the EU?\u201d<\/p>\n
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