Germany

French presence

• French Consulates General: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Saarbrucken, Stuttgart
• French community in Germany: In 2022, 116,000 French expatriates were on the consular register in Germany.
• German community in France: 87,700 residents

Visits

• Participation of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in the Berlin Global Dialogue and meeting with Mr Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany (2 October 2024).
• Visit by Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, to Berlin, to meet his counterpart, Ms Annalena Baerbock (2 October 2024).
• Visit by Mr Benjamin Haddad, Minister Delegate for Europe, to Berlin for a meeting with his German counterpart, Ms Anna Lührmann (26 September 2024).
• State visit by Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, at the invitation of Mr Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President of Germany (26 to 28 May 2024).
• Weimar Triangle Summit in Weimar, with Mr Stéphane Séjourné, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and his German and Polish counterparts, Ms Annalena Baerbock and Mr Radosław Sikorski (22 May 2024).
• Visit by Ms Manuela Schwesig, President of the Bundesrat, at the invitation of Mr Gérard Larcher, President of the Senate, and joint participation in the 8 May commemorations (7 and 8 May 2024).
• Visit by Mr Robert Habeck, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, to Paris (8 April 2024).
• Visit by President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron to Berlin to meet with Mr Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany (15 March 2024).
• Visit by Ms Anna Lührmann, Deputy Minister for European Affairs and Climate Action, to Paris, to meet with Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Europe (11 March 2024).
• Visit by Mr Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany, to Paris, to attend the conference in support of Ukraine organized by Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic (26 February 2024).
• Visit by Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for Europe, to Berlin, to meet with his German counterpart, Ms Anna Lührmann, and to Munich, to attend the Munich Security Conference (16-18 February 2024).
• Weimar Triangle Summit in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, with Mr Stéphane Séjourné, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and his German and Polish counterparts, Ms Annalena Baerbock and Mr Radosław Sikorski (12 February 2024).
• Visit by Mr Gabriel Attal, Prime Minister, to Berlin, for a meeting with Mr Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany (5 February 2024).
• Speech by Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, in Berlin, at the Bundestag, paying tribute to Mr Wolfgang Schäuble, former President of the Bundestag and former Minister of Finance (22 January 2024).
• Visit by Mr Stéphane Séjourné, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, to Berlin, to meet his counterpart, Ms Annalena Baerbock (14 January 2024).

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Under the Élysée Treaty, Germany designates a plenipotentiary for Franco-German cultural and educational relations. This post is held on a rotating basis by the leader of a Land designated by the Federal Chancellor for four years, upon a proposal from the Conference of German Minister-Presidents. This position has been held by the Minister-President of the Sarre, Ms Anke Rehlinger, since 1 January 2023.

Our particularly intense cultural and scientific cooperation draws on a strong network of institutions, including:

• the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO), which, since 1963, has made it possible for 9.5 million young people from France and Germany to participate in more than 382,000 exchange programmes;
• the Franco-German University (FGU), which was created in 1997 and is made up of a network of French and German higher education establishments that offered, in 2024, 196 integrated programmes leading to binational diplomas, to 6,100 students;
• ARTE, a French-German cultural television channel with a European focus, founded in 1991; ARTE is also an online platform that offers a variety of audiovisual content, now accessible in 6 languages (French, German, English, Polish, Spanish and Italian );
• The Franco-German Cultural Council (HCCFA/DFKR), which was created in 1988, informs the decisions of the two governments on major bilateral and European cultural matters;

The French cultural, educational, scientific and technical cooperation network in Germany is diverse:

• 1 Institut Français of Germany, with 11 satellites in addition to Berlin;
• 5 specialized offices in Berlin (books, cinema, theatre and dance, music and fine art);
• 11 binational structures (Franco-German cultural centres and satellites);
• 1 historical research centre (French Institute of History in Germany, in Frankfurt);
• 1 Embassy Science and Technology Service (SST), in Berlin;
• 1 French Research Institute Abroad (IFRE);
• 15 schools accredited by the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE) and three Franco-German high schools in Freiburg, Saarbrücken and Hamburg, as well as those in France, in Buc and Strasbourg.

This cooperation took shape, in the framework of the Treaty of Aachen, in the creation of four Franco-German cultural institutes (in Rio de Janeiro, Palermo, Erbil and Bishkek) and the co-location of five French and German institutes (Cordoba, Atlanta, Glasgow, Minsk and Ramallah).

Other cooperation

Various cross-border cooperation forums exist between France and Germany, in particular the Cross-Border Cooperation Committee (CCT) and the Upper Rhine institutions (the Upper Rhine Conference and the Upper Rhine Intergovernmental Commission), with the last two also including Switzerland.

The creation of the CCT on 22 January 2020, under the Treaty of Aachen, has strengthened cross-border cooperation. The Committee has a joint secretariat in Kehl (Baden-Württemberg, Germany), which addresses cross-border irritants. For example, it issues recommendations to the Franco-German Council of Ministers on various subjects, including support for cross-border education, issues related to French and German environmental car stickers, tax issues for cross-border workers, development and improvement of cross-border rail connections and a cross-border impact assessment of new French and German laws, among other things.

The CCT brings together all stakeholders concerned by cross-border affairs: the national governments, through ambassadors for border issues, ministries and the Prefecture of the Grand-Est region, national parliaments, the Länder (Sarre, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg), regional authorities (French Grand-Est region, the European Community of Alsace, the département of Moselle and the Eurometropole of Strasbourg) as well as the five eurodistricts.

The CCT meets in principle twice a year, with at least one of those meetings being held under the presidency of the ministers responsible for European affairs. The first meeting of the CCT for 2024 took place on 16 April in Strasbourg, under the presidency of Florian Hassler, State Secretary of Baden-Württemberg and Josiane Chevalier, Prefect of the Grand-Est region