Treaty of Aachen

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Aachen City Hall, where the contract was signed

The treaty on Franco-German cooperation and integration ( French: Traité sur la coopération et l'intégration franco-allemandes ), referred to as the Treaty of Aachen or Aachen Treaty (French: Traité d'Aix-la-Chapelle ), is bilateral Agreement between the EU states Germany and France . It was signed on January 22nd, 2019 by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron in the coronation hall of Aachen City Hall .

History and signature

Emmanuel Macron first made the proposal for a new edition of the Élysée Treaty from 1963 on September 26, 2017 in his speech at the Sorbonne . At the 55th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty, both Macron and Angela Merkel again spoke out in favor of deepening cooperation in business, society, politics and technology.

For the signing of the new contract by President Macron and Chancellor Merkel on January 22, 2019 , the 56th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty, the coronation hall of the historic Aachen City Hall was chosen, as Aachen as the main residence of Charlemagne represents the common history.

In addition to Macron and Angela Merkel, other high-ranking politicians took part in the ceremony. a. Klaus Johannis , President of Romania , who will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019 , the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker , the President of the European Council Donald Tusk and the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet .

content

The Treaty of Aachen consists of a total of 28 articles. The six main sections of the treaty are headed: 1. European affairs , 2. Peace, security and development , 3. Culture, education, research and mobility , 4. Regional and cross-border cooperation , 5. Sustainable development, climate, environment and economic affairs , 6. Organization .

The aim of the treaty is, among other things, to strengthen cultural diversity (§9) and to align the security interests of both states. The Goethe-Institut and the Institut français plan of the Treaty of Aachen common cultural institutes based Erbil ( Iraq ), Bishkek ( Kyrgyzstan ), Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ) and Palermo to open.

In addition, cooperation in defense policy between the two states, including mutual aid in crisis situations, is being intensified.

Other points are the creation of a Franco-German digital platform for audiovisual content and information and the improvement of cross-border rail connections (Article 16).

criticism

The original document of the Élysée Treaty in the Élysée Palace, last page with the signatures

The Treaty of Aachen also sparked criticism and aroused some populist fantasies. The former President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus described the treaty as a "secret treaty on the de facto merger of France and Germany", which pursued the goal of ruling Europe as a "Franco-Germany"; he puts this in the tradition of the politics of Hitler and Napoleon. He also feared that a new “superstate” would emerge in a “parallel integration project” with the EU.

In France, Marine Le Pen , chairwoman of the right-wing extremist Rassemblement Nationals , claimed that the treaty represented a betrayal of French interests. For example, the new cooperation treaty provided for the strengthening of so-called euro districts in the border area of ​​France. This is tantamount to patronizing Alsace. The national-populist politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan made similar statements, complaining about the alleged secret negotiation and claiming that the treaty would lead to a division of the French UN Security Council seat. The chairman of the left-wing party La France insoumise , Jean-Luc Mélenchon , criticized that the planned economic council would pave the way for Macron to cut further benefits and wages. In addition, a “hunt for the unemployed” will be carried out.

In Germany, the leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter , assumed that cooperation would be on the back burner. The disarmament policy spokeswoman Sevim Dagdelen of the parliamentary group Die Linken sees the treaty as a general attack on the arms export guidelines and speaks out in particular against the export of war technology to Saudi Arabia , which she believes is made possible by the treaty. She also criticizes the fact that these consequences are hardly reported in the media.

Classification in the European Union

The Benelux countries (1958), the Visegrád Group (1991), the Eurozone (1999), the Central European Defense Cooperation (2010) and the southern EU states (2016) are also cooperating between individual EU states .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WORLD: Merkel and Macron: New friendship treaty in Aachen . January 8, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed January 20, 2019]).
  2. ^ Franco-German friendship: The new Élysée contract is due to come this year. Retrieved January 20, 2019 .
  3. ^ Treaty of Aachen: Merkel and Macron seal friendship pact . In: Spiegel Online . January 22, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 22, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Treaty signed by Aachen , on Tagesschau.de of January 22, 2019
  5. ↑ Aachen Treaty: Establishment of Franco-German cultural institutes , goethe.de, January 2019. Access date: January 23, 2019.
  6. ↑ Section: What are the most important points of the Aachen Treaty? , focus.de, January 2019. Access date: January 24, 2019.
  7. ^ Treaty of Aachen: New Franco-German Agenda , bundesfinanzministerium.de, January 2019. Access date: February 5, 2019.
  8. ↑ Czech ex-president speaks of a "secret treaty" . In: Spiegel Online . January 22, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed January 23, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Mood campaign against the Aachen Treaty . In: tagesschau.de . January 21, 2019 ( tagesschau.de [accessed January 24, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Slate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, la stratégie de l'intox , January 30, 2019, accessed on February 4 (French)
  11. ↑ Section: Criticism also from the left . In: ntv.de . January 21, 2019 ( n-tv.de [accessed January 25, 2019]).
  12. ↑ Hofreiter: Agreement is cooperation on the back burner . In: WELT Online . January 22, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed January 23, 2019]).
  13. ^ No to the Aachen rearmament treaty . In: Telepolis (Heise) Online . January 21, 2019 ( heise.de [accessed January 23, 2019]).