German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed a desire for calm during a Thursday night meeting in Brussels, after the differences that appeared in public between Paris and Berlin.

"Cooperation between Germany and France, as well as between the chancellor and the president, is intense and fruitful," the German chancellor said at the end of the first day of a European summit that led to a joint roadmap to try to reduce energy prices.

In response to a question about the dispute with the French president, who doubled his criticism Thursday and warned Germany against isolation, Schulz said that he meets Macron "constantly" and has set a date for an upcoming meeting with him on Wednesday in Paris.

But this meeting will be held next week in place of the French-German cabinet, which was postponed due to differences on a number of issues.

Schulz stressed that he "in no way felt isolated" during the long and arduous talks on the energy issue.

Macron and Schulz were at great odds when they arrived Thursday at the European Union meeting and held a private meeting that lasted half an hour, without advisers, before they met the other leaders of the bloc's countries.

In statements to reporters, the French president expressed his satisfaction that this meeting "allowed to clarify many things" in order to "get Germany's approval" on the final text, stressing that France played its "role" by creating "unity between positions."

"We do not always adopt the same positions, and this is normal," he added, trying to downplay the differences that the French side talked about before and during the summit.
Source: AFP