German Chancellor Merkel has met with French President Macron in what could be her final working visit to France. The key topics of their discussion were Afghanistan, climate and European cooperation.
“We will continue to work closely together over the coming months‚" Macron said after announcing the topics of the discussion.
On Afghanistan, Macron and Merkel said they would discuss how to extract remaining European citizens and Afghans who are under threat, and how to support neighboring nations hosting Afghan refugees.
“We will of course also have to consider what the end of the NATO deployment in Afghanistan means for us and our future missions in connection with the fight against terrorism, and what lessons we draw from its unsuccessful end, if you look at the aims we had imagined,” Merkel said.
Macron pushed for greater European “autonomy” regarding the world’s crises, citing the “fight against terrorism” in Libya and in Africa's Sahel region.
Earlier, according to the Interfax-Ukraine publication, Macron said that he planned to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Belarus as well.
"Iin particular, we will discuss the situation in Ukraine and Belarus, our Eastern neighbors" Macron said before the negotiations.
In turn, Merkel said that she intends to discuss with the French leader the possibility of success within the Normandy format.