Franco-German Relations Quotes

Our shared historical experiences led myself and Mitterrand to the decision that we must do everything to prevent further wars.

Germans tend to forget now that the euro was largely a Franco-German creation. No country has benefited more from the euro than Germany, both politically and economically. Therefore what has happened as a result of the introduction of the euro is largely Germany's its responsibility.

The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee.

I'm not a lukewarm European. I know that the German-French friendship is indispensable, no matter who the countries' leaders are.

As for the role of France and Germany: French politics is often more self-confident then German politics due to the catastrophe in the first half of the last century. If Berlin and Paris don't agree, then it is difficult to make progress in Europe.

It is well known that German intellectuals are reluctant to agree with French intellectuals and the French are reluctant to agree with the German.

Whatever happened during the French presidential campaign will leave no hard feelings. I perfectly understand why Angela Merkel supported Nicolas Sarkozy because of the action they have taken together, even though I have questioned its results, and because of their shared political sensibility.

Germany has solemnly recognized and guaranteed France her frontiers as determined after the Saar plebiscite... We thereby finally renounced all claims to Alsace-Lorraine, a land for which we have fought two great wars.

No, but the Germans have been to France twice in my lifetime.

German predominance is not all-encompassing. In foreign affairs and military matters, for instance, France and Britain still play a much bigger role. But across a large swathe of European policy, Germany has become much more than a first among equals.

Since 2005, when the French and the Dutch voted "no" on a constitution for Europe, nobody has developed a real project for the EU. And certainly not France. If there were ideas, they came from Wolfgang Schäuble or Joschka Fischer, and these German ideas were downright quashed by France. I want to put an end to that.

The partnerships between Schmidt and Giscard, Kohl and Mitterrand, and even between Chirac and Schroeder, have proved that political differences do not mean that we cannot work together.

The Franco-German tandem at the core of post-war European integration has become lopsided. Relations between Berlin and Paris are unusually poor, with some French politicians decrying the 'selfish intransigence' in the euro crisis of Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel.

I feel gratified at the signing of this Franco-German declaration, which, by solemnly recognizing the existing frontiers, puts an end to a long historical contest and opens the way to a collaboration which is made easier by the conviction that no difference which might endanger the peaceful basis of their relations now exists between the two countries.

I defy anyone - and I have said this to the Germans - to build a solid, articulated, and viable Europe without France's consent.