Franco-German cross-border cooperation – Visit by Amélie de Montchalin to the Moselle and Saar regions (5 June 2020)

Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of State for European Affairs attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, will travel to the French-German border and to Germany as part of her first visit abroad since the ending of the lockdown.

During her visit, the minister of state will underscore the importance of cross-border cooperation and will pay tribute to the work of those who make it a reality, especially at the local level. She will visit the crossing point between Petite-Rosselle (Moselle) and Grossrosseln (Saarland), as well as the friendship bridge between the town of Grossbliederstroff in the Moselle and the town of Kleinblittersdorf in Saarland.

In Saarbrücken, Amélie de Montchalin will meet with Tobias Hans, Minister President of Saarland. She will thank him for Saarland’s solidarity at the height of the health crisis. Indeed, Saarland, and in particular Saarbrücken Clinic, received French Covid-19 patients from the Grand Est region. The minister of state will visit Saarbrücken Clinic to meet with staff, notably in the presence of Jean Rottner, President of the Grand Est Region, and Christophe Arend, President of the Office of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly.

This trip is in line with the goal of strengthening Franco-German cross-border cooperation, one of the priorities of the Aachen treaty. That treaty played a pivotal role in the health crisis, especially in regard to the Cross-Border Cooperation Committee established on January 22, which held a videoconference on April 23 attended by elected officials and the two secretaries-general for Franco-German cooperation, Amélie de Montchalin and her German counterpart, Michael Roth. The next committee meeting is scheduled for June 10 to continue the coordination effort currently under way.