Macron in Berlin

It is no surprise that Emmanuel Macron’s first official visit after his inauguration as French president is to Berlin. The Franco-german alliance has been the mainstay of the European Union for decades, even if many in Paris have recently felt neglected by their powerful neighbour.

Brexit has changed the dynamic. The imminent departure of the UK has focused attention on the flaws in the EU project and its potential for collapse. Angela Merkel is determined to keep the show on the road and in Mr Macron has an enthusiastic pro-european hailed by Brussels as the saviour of the union.

But the French leader faces several imminent challenges if he is to pursue the economic policies he has promised. He needs strong representation in parliament for his La République En Marche party at elections next month. This will be difficult enough to do almost from scratch.

But he also needs German help to ease the eurozone’s fiscal rules, which may be even harder to achieve since Mrs Merkel is facing elections herself later this year. Her early reaction to Mr Macron’s victory was cautious: if France wants help then it needs to modernise many of its economic practices and not expect to be given an easy ride by looser spending controls.

The chancellor has indicated that she wants to see France reform more along German lines. But this might lose Mr Macron support early in his presidency. Today’s meeting in Berlin will doubtless be portrayed as the revival of FrancoGerman commitment to Europe and mutual co-operation. But what Mr Macron really wants to find out is how far Germany is prepared to go to underpin the tottering EU.