マクロン仏大統領、独国賓訪問 欧州議会選で「民主主義守る」

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】フランスのエマニュエル・マクロン大統領は２６日、ドイツへの３日間の国賓訪問を開始し、６月の欧州議会選でナショナリズムから民主主義を守ろうと訴えた。（写真は、ベルリンのカイ・ワグナー市長の案内で、ブランデンブルク門を訪れたフランスのエマニュエル・マクロン大統領夫妻）
　ドイツへの仏大統領の国賓訪問は約四半世紀ぶり。欧州連合（ＥＵ）の２大国間関係の歴史的重要性を強調し、欧州議会選に向けて結束を示す。
　マクロン氏は最初の訪問地ベルリンで、フランクワルター・シュタインマイヤー大統領と共に民主主義関連の行事に出席。仏独両国における「権威主義への誘惑の高まり」に警告を発し、欧州議会選が民主主義を守るための「闘いであることをわれわれは忘れがちだ」と語った。
　また新型コロナウイルスの世界的流行やロシアによるウクライナ侵攻が起きているここ数年の間に、欧州でナショナリスト政党が政権を握っていたら「歴史は同じではなかっただろう」と指摘した。
　２週間後に控える欧州議会選の「状況は前回選挙の時とは異なっている。この間に多くのことが起きている」と指摘し、「ヨーロッパを守る政党への投票」を呼び掛けた。
　シュタインマイヤー氏は 「欧州には民主主義者の同盟が必要だ」と応じた。
　欧州議会選をめぐる世論調査によると、フランスでマクロン氏が率いる中道派の与党連合と、ドイツで中道左派のオラフ・ショルツ首相が率いる３党連立政権は共に極右勢力の後塵（こうじん）を拝している。
　またマクロン氏は先月、外交政策に関する基調演説で、ロシアによるウクライナ侵攻以降の世界情勢について「欧州は消滅の危機に直面している。（回避できるかは）われわれの選択に懸かっている」と警告した。
　シュタインマイヤー氏も２６日夜の国賓夕食会でロシアの脅威について言及し、「われわれは共に侵略者から身を守り、内外の攻撃に対してより強靱（きょうじん）な社会を築くために学び直さなければならない」と述べた。
　両国間の関係はすべてが順調なわけではない。ドイツ政府関係者からは、マクロン氏の芝居がかった外交スタイルへの不安も聞こえてくる。
　最近ではウクライナへの派兵について、マクロン氏が可能性を否定しなかったことに対し、ショルツ氏はドイツにそのような計画はないと異例の反論を行った。またマクロン氏は安全保障面で、米国に依存しない欧州の戦略的自立を主張しているが、ドイツはその熱意を共有していない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/05/27-18:16）

Emmanuel Macron began Sunday the first state visit to Germany by a French president in a quarter-century, bringing a plea to defend democracy against nationalism at coming European Parliament elections.
Macron made his first stop a democracy festival in Berlin, where he warned of a form of fascination for authoritarianism which is growing in the two major EU nations.
We forget too often that it's a fight to protect democracy, Macron said, accompanied by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
If nationalist parties had been in power in Europe in recent years, history would not have been the same, he said, pointing to decisions on the coronavirus pandemic or Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Steinmeier said: We need an alliance of democrats in Europe.
Macron has rightly pointed out that the conditions today before the European elections are different from the previous election, a lot has happened, he added.
- 'Europe is mortal' -
The trip comes two weeks ahead of European Union elections in which polls are indicating a major potential embarrassment for Macron, with his centrist coalition trailing behind the far right.
It could even struggle to reach a third-place finish.
In Germany too, all three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition are polling behind the far-right AfD in surveys, despite a series of scandals embroiling the anti-immigration party.
At a press conference, Macron said he would work to unmask France's far-right National Rally (RN), saying that nothing in their rhetoric holds water.
Unlike many, I'm not getting used to the idea that the National Rally is just another party. And so when it's at the top of the surveys, I see this party and its ideas as a threat to Europe, he said.
In a keynote address on foreign policy last month, Macron warned about the threats to Europe in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Our Europe, today, is mortal and it can die, he said. It can die, and this depends only on our choices.
Ramping up his warning in Berlin, Macron urged Europeans to go vote for the party that we back and a party that defends Europe.
Hosting a state banquet later Sunday for Macron, Steinmeier also referred to the threat posed by Russia.
Together we must learn again to better protect ourselves against aggressors, and to make our societies more resilient against attacks from within and without, he said.
After the talks with Steinmeier, Macron is due to bring his message to Dresden in the former East German state of Saxony, where the AfD has a strong support base.
On Tuesday, Macron will visit the western German city of Munster and later Meseberg, outside Berlin, for talks with Scholz and a joint Franco-German cabinet meeting.
- German caution -
Beyond making joint appeals for the European elections, Macron's three-day visit will seek to emphasise the historic importance of the postwar relationship between the key EU states.
France next month commemorates 80 years since the D-Day landings that marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany's World War II occupation.
But all has not been smooth in a relationship often seen as the engine of the EU, and German officials are said to be uneasy at times about Macron's perceived theatrical style of foreign policy.
Macron's refusal to rule out sending troops to Ukraine sparked an unusually acidic response from Scholz that Germany had no such plans. Germany also does not share Macron's enthusiasm for a European strategic autonomy less dependent on the United States.
But Macron sought to dismiss talk about discord, saying that coordination with Germany had been key over the years.
He cited agreements on sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine and action to spur European economic growth and innovation after the Covid pandemic.
The Franco-German relationship is about disagreeing and trying to find ways of compromise, said Helene Miard-Delacroix, specialist in German history at the Sorbonne university in Paris.
While Macron is a frequent visitor to Berlin, the trip is the first state visit in 24 years, since a trip by Jacques Chirac in 2000, and the sixth since the first postwar state visit by Charles de Gaulle in 1962.