France, Germany firm ties as pressure grows over Ukraine arms
French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Olaf Scholz arrive at the French university Sorbonne in Paris for the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Elysee Treaty that sealed the friendship between the two countries.
With pressure growing on Berlin to supply Ukraine with highly regarded German Leopard tanks, Scholz stopped short of any pledge, instead insisting all allies must work together.
But Macron, whose country is already sending light tanks to Ukraine, made clear "nothing is excluded" regarding the possible delivery of French-made Leclerc heavy tanks.
Germany has so far resisted Ukrainian pleas for the Leopard 2 tanks, with reports suggesting it would only agree if the United States followed suit with a similar move.
Scholz said at a joint news conference that the country had always in the past acted "in close coordination with our friends and allies".
"We fear that this war is going to last for a long time," he said. "We are only going to act in close coordination."
"The future, like the past, rests on cooperation between both our countries as the driving force of a united Europe," he said.
Macron also stressed that any effort to dispatch the hardware to help repel the Russian invasion should be decided and coordinated "collectively" with allies including Germany.
Macron said that "Germany and France, because they cleared the path to reconciliation, must become pioneers to relaunch Europe.
"We are two souls in the same body," he added.
