Macron postpones planned visit to Germany amid France riots

French President Emmanuel Macron has postponed a state visit to Germany due to have begun Sunday, the German presidency announced, following four days of riots in France.

"French President Macron spoke today by telephone with German President (Frank-Walter) Steinmeier and informed him of the situation in his country," the German presidency said Saturday.

"President Macron asked for a postponement of his planned state visit to Germany," it added.

The Elysee said separately that Macron had expressed his wish to remain in France in the coming days, given the situation in France.

No new date has been agreed on for the postponed visit, a French source said.

Steinmeier "regrets the cancellation and has full understanding given the situation in our neighbouring country," his office said in the statement."

He hoped that "the violence on the streets will end as soon as possible and that social peace can be restored".

The state visit is seen as an opportunity to reinvigorate the relationship between the two EU giants, with Macron scheduled to cross the breadth of the country from west to east on his three-day visit.

The three-day trip would have marked the first state visit by a French president in Germany since 2000, when Jacques Chirac travelled to Berlin.

A French source noted however that both sides have "many opportunities to meet", and that a state visit is above all a way of celebrating Franco-German friendship, rather than a strictly political meeting.

As such, the timing for this visit was "not the most propitious".