- Title: Macron arrives in Berlin for first foreign visit
- Date: 15th May 2017
- Summary: SPECTATORS WITH EU FLAGS WAITING BEHIND FENCE
- Embargoed: 29th May 2017 17:29
- Keywords: military honours election EU Macron Merkel France
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0036GY7LTZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Berlin on Monday (May 15) for his first foreign visit after his inauguration on Sunday (May 14). Ahead of the visit Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would welcome Macron with an open mind at a meeting she hoped would reinvigorate the Franco-German relationship what she called the 'troubled European project that it underpins'.
Macron comes to Berlin with ambitions to press ahead with European integration - a mission that has unnerved some German conservatives who worry Berlin will be asked to pay for struggling states that resist reforms, but Merkel chose to accentuate the positive ahead of her meeting with the 39-year-old former investment banker who beat Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front on May 7 after a long campaign exposed deep splits over France's role in Europe.
Merkel and Macron want to kick-start ties with an alliance some German media have dubbed "Merkron", stressing that the EU is resilient despite Britain's vote to leave and a spate of financial and migration crises that have boosted the far-right across the bloc. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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