New French prime minister to meet with German chancellor in Berlin

France's Gabriel Attal will make his first visit to Berlin as prime minister on Monday for talks set to focus on international hotspots and improving French-German ties.
Attal, who is France's youngest-ever prime minister at age 34 and the first who is openly gay, will be welcomed in the evening with military honours by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the chancellery.
The political high-flyer had served as French government spokesman and education minister. He was appointed last month by President Emmanuel Macron as the successor to the previous prime minister, Élisabeth Borne.
The relationship between Paris and Berlin has long been seen as the driving force of European policymaking. Frictions began to emerge in 2022, after Angela Merkel left the German political scene, although Macron and Scholz have recently made efforts to improve cooperation.
It was only in December that Germany and France finally agreed on a joint proposal to reform the EU's debt and deficit rules, after long being at loggerheads.
Late last year France and Germany also overcame a months-long impasse on the proposed reforms to the EU's electricity market.
In January, Macron delivered a eulogy to the late German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble at a memorial service in the German parliament.
Much of the speech was given in German - a gesture that was well-received in Berlin.
By appointing Attal, Macron was seen as trying to jump-start his presidency ahead of European Parliament elections in June. Approval for Macron's centrists has slid as support for Marine Le Pen's far right has grown.