Paris and Berlin compromise on reform of the electricity market

When Emmanuel Macron EUEUEUEUand Olaf Scholz met for a couple of days of talks along with their top ministers in Hamburg earlier this month, the French president and the German chancellor tried to present a united front. They munched (fish sandwiches) with their wives and took a tour of Hamburg harbour. The two-day meeting was meant to reset the most important bilateral relationship within the , one that had become increasingly troubled owing to a host of acrimonious disagreements on defence, budget rules and energy policies.The visit seemed to go well. The tandem even made progress on perhaps the most tricky dossier, a reform of the electricity market that is meant to ease the burden of price spikes for European households and businesses and to bolster Europe’s competitiveness against America and China. Yet behind the scenes France and Germany continued to argue. That went on until the very day of a meeting of energy ministers on October 17th. And even though they managed to strike a compromise, there is plenty of bad blood. Paris sees the deal as a French victory; the Germans insist that their views largely prevailed.