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COMPIEGNE: One hundred years after the guns of World War One fell silent, the leaders of France and Germany held hands and rested their heads against one another in a poignant ceremony to mark the signing of the Armistice peace agreement.
President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel inspected troops from a joint Franco-German Brigade before unveiling a plaque paying tribute to the reconciliation and renewed friendship between the foes of two world wars.
More than three million French and German troops were among an estimated 10 million soldiers who died in the Great War of 1914-1918. Much of the heaviest fighting was in trenches in northern France and Belgium.
A German delegation signed the Armistice before sunrise on Nov 11, 1918, in a private train belonging to the commander of French forces, Ferdinand Foch, parked on rail track running through the Compiegne Forest. Hours later, at 11am, the war ended.
In a powerful show of unity, Macron and Merkel sat inside the reconstructed teak-lined rail wagon in which the peace charter was signed and looked through a book of remembrance.
After each signed the book, they held hands a second time.
The last time French and German delegations had sat in the same place was when Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler forced the surrender of French authorities after invading in 1940.
Since World War Two, France and Germany have driven tighter European cooperation and the European Union has become the world’s largest trading bloc.
Macron, 40, an ardent defender of a closer Europe, has turned to Merkel to help him forge deeper economic integration within the EU’s single currency bloc, as well as more collaboration on matters such as defence and immigration.
For years, Merkel, 64, had waited for a French leader with Macron’s zest for Europe. But the fragility of her governing coalition and her own weakened leadership, as well as misgivings over aspects of Macron’s vision for renewal, have meant she has not moved as quickly as Macron would have liked.
This past week, the French leader has toured sites that once lay along the western front, from the battlefields of Verdun in the east to the imposing Thiepval memorial overlooking the Somme valley.
There, he and British Prime Minister Theresa May together laid a wreath on Friday.
Along the way, he has warned of the rising threat to Europe posed by a resurgence in nationalism. “Nationalism is rising across Europe, the nationalism that demands the closing of frontiers, which preaches rejection of the other,” he said in a radio interview on Tuesday. “It is playing on fears, everywhere. Europe is increasingly fractured.
Macron, Trump in show of unity after Europe defence row
French President Emmanuel Macron sought to defuse a row with US counterpart Donald Trump earlier on Saturday, hailing the “great solidarity” between their countries after Trump blasted his proposals for a European army.
The two leaders held talks at the presidential palace in Paris ahead of World War 1 commemorations taking place in the shadow of a new nationalist surge worldwide.
Their body language was less warm than during Trump’s last trip to Paris in July 2017 and Macron’s visit to the White House in April, underscoring a general cooling in relations which were further strained by a late-night tweet by Trump on defence.
Macron attempted to smoothe over the divisions, saying he shared Trump’s view on the need for Europe to boost defence spending. “We need a much better burden-sharing within Nato,” he said.
Defending his call during the week for a European army, he said: “It is unfair to have European security being assured by the US.”
Trump, who maintained an aloof bearing on arrival at the Elysee Palace but was visibly more relaxed after the talks, described himself and Macron as “very good friends”. “We want a strong Europe. It’s very important to us to have a strong Europe,” he said.
Trump’s visit, which kickstarted two days of events marking the centenary of the end of World War 1 on Sunday, had looked set to be tumultuous after he fired off a tweet on arrival in Paris late Friday berating Macron’s calls for a European army.
“President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the US, China and Russia,” the US president tweeted, referring to remarks made by Macron three days earlier.
“Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidizes greatly!,” he added.
Trump appeared particularly irked by the French leader’s referral to the US alongside China and Russia as national security threats.
In a French radio interview on Tuesday, Macron had referred to Trump’s plans to pull the US out of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty and said a joint European Union force was needed to end Europe’s reliance on US military might.
“We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States,” he said after listing various threats including cyberattacks.
Trump and his wife Melania, who had lunch with Macron and his wife Brigitte, later cancelled a planned visit to an American military cemetery northeast of Paris due to bad weather.
“The President and First Lady’s trip to Ainse-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial has been canceled due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather,” a White House statement said.
Instead, Trump sent his Chief of Staff General John Kelly and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joe Dunford in his place to the site, which lies 80 kilometres northeast of Paris.
Some saw Trump’s no-show in Belleau Wood as a sign of disrespect to US soldiers who fought and died in the trenches.
More than 7,000 were killed or wounded in the June 1918 battle at Bellau Wood and the cemetery contains the graves of 2,289 war dead.
The WWI commemorations come at a watershed moment for the liberal post-war order, with anti-immigration populists at the helm in the US and Brazil, sharing power in Italy, and making strong gains in Germany, where Merkel has announced her resignation in 2021.
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018
