Macron keeps hand in German coalition talks in Europe Vision Bid

Bloomberg

French President Emmanuel Macron is keeping his hand in Chancellor Angel Merkel’s efforts to form a new German coalition. His Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is spending Wednesday in Berlin, meeting with key players in Merkel’s coalition talks. Le Maire is seeing both Christian Lindner, the head of the Free Democratic Party, and Cem Ozdemir, of the Greens — parties Merkel needs to form a new government. Le Maire will also meet Wolfgang Schaeuble, now head of the Bundestag, and Finance Minister Peter Altmaier.
The visit is a reminder of how much France’s six-month-old government has at stake in how the jostling for power in Berlin plays out. Macron has consistently pressed for more euro-area integration to bolster the region’s growth potential, while Lindner, who’s party is set to be Merkel’s coalition partner outside her own group, has repeatedly warned against moving toward a system of great financial transfers to other European countries.
“Macron has begun by reforming the French economy so that he can then move up a gear to reform European institutions,” said Philippe Waechter, chief economist at Natixis Asset Management in Paris. “The German coalition agreement will determine what can be done at the European level.”