Germany – Jean-Yves Le Drian to attend German Council of Ministers meeting (Berlin, 27 March 2019)
Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian will be in Berlin tomorrow at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel to attend the weekly meeting of German federal government ministers.
His trip is in line with the Aachen treaty signed on January 22, under which every three months, on an alternating basis, a government member from one of the two countries attends a Council of Ministers meeting in the other nation. While in Berlin, the minister will also meet with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.
Mr. Le Drian will bring up France’s priorities for the next European Strategic Agenda. In the aftermath of the German Chancellor’s visit to Paris and the visit by the president of the European Commission during Xi Jinping’s state visit, he will underscore the need for the European Union to have a united, cohesive strategy in its dialogue with China, ahead of the EU-China summit on April 9.
With the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly having held its first meeting in Paris yesterday, the minister will review the prospects for heightened cooperation offered by the Aachen treaty.
He will present the goals of his trip to New York as part of the French presidency of the UN Security Council in March 2019, which will be followed by the German presidency in April. Mr. Le Drian will specifically bring up the fight against terrorism and against trafficking in Africa and the Sahel, and the importance of supporting peacekeeping operations in Africa.