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French Minister Calls for Reviving French-German Locomotive in EU
French Delegate-Minister for European Affairs Pierre Moscovici called for a revival of the French-German locomotive for pulling ahead European Union (EU) construction on Saturday, after relations between the two countries cooled down at the EU Nice summit last week.
In an interview with Radio France International, Moscovici said that French-German relations are "vital, central and indispensable" in EU construction.
"We should make the French-German couple live and live well. This is vital for our two nations and vital for Europe," he said.
France and Germany disputed at the Nice summit over the number of votes to be owned by them in the future EU Council of Ministers after enlargement of the union.
Germany had wished to have more votes, claiming that it has 22 million more population than France.
In the end, the two countries reached a compromise and agreed that the four big EU countries -- France, Germany, Britain and Italy -- each have 29 votes in the council of ministers.
French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will meet to talk about re- warming relations next month.
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