France and Germany seal bilateral deal with global ambitions

[FarCenter]

Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have unveiled a new 10-year plan, including 80 projects designed to improve Franco-German cooperation. The goal is also to better promote European ideas globally.

The French and German governments on Thursday published a joint document detailing plans for a decade of closer bilateral cooperation, designed to have a international effect.

The "Franco-German Agenda 2020" outlines plans for everything from joint ministerial sessions, to combined political and economic policy-making, education initiatives, language learning programs, and even simplified Franco-German marriage regulations.

"I think this is a chance to do something bilaterally, but also with a close relationship to our international endeavors," said Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Thursday.

"We need new ideas; we need to approach business differently; we need sustainable national budgets and financial policies. And I really believe that all these new challenges must be brought into European discussions by Germany and France."

Traditionally France and Germany have been the "engine room" of the European Union. The primary function of the EU when it was first conceived after World War II was as a peacekeeping tool to promote close ties between the two neighbors after centuries of bloodshed.

"This leadership is not meant to damage anybody else," Sarkozy said of the new Franco-German claim that "without us, nothing can work."

"We just want to ensure that a politically strong Europe exists. And for that, Germany and France must cooperate."

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