French, German leaders meet amid rift over energy, economy

By SYLVIE CORBET and GEIR MOULSON
The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thrashed it out for three hours in Paris in hopes of bridging gaps between the two neighbors and key EU allies on energy, defense and the economy. Macron and Scholz had a working lunch at the Elysee presidential palace Wednesday. Scholz tweeted that “it was a very good and important meeting today on European energy supply, rising prices and joint defense projects.” Initially, a French-German joint Cabinet meeting was scheduled that day, but it has been postponed for January, both Paris and Berlin arguing they needed more time to reach consensus on some bilateral issues.