France and Germany stifle their spats to celebrate a 60-year friendship

Beneaththe crystal chandeliers of the Elysée Palace on January 22nd 1963, the leaders of France and Germany signed a treaty to cement their friendship. On January 22nd this year, 60 years after Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer met, the two countries’ current leaders will renew their predecessors’ vows.Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, as well as scores of their ministers and parliamentarians, will gather in Paris for a day of festivities and meetings designed to mark the resilience and richness of this cross-border tie, which has no real equivalent elsewhere within the European Union. The day will begin, symbolically, at the Sorbonne, where in 2017 a freshly elected Mr Macron first laid out his vision for a more sovereign Europe. Both leaders will speak, ahead of a joint cabinet meeting, and doubtless find a common language to talk about Europe over the coming decade.