The New Germany, Season 3 - Episode 2: Germany and France: A Marriage on the Rocks

Geschichte ist Gegenwart! Der History & Politics Podcast der Körber-Stiftung

  • Europe
  • Politics
  • International Affairs
  • International Understanding
  • History
  • 56 min.
  • 64. episode

Season 3, episode 2 of our six-part series The New Germany, with historian Katja Hoyer and journalist Oliver Moody, explores the once beating heart of the EU: the partnership between Germany and France. How can Franco-German relations find their way back to a functioning modus operandi? To what extent have the views of the respective heads of state influenced the partnership? And what mechanisms for reaching an agreement have proved effective in the past?

Guest: Rym Momtaz, journalist and Consultant Research Fellow for European Foreign Policy and Security (IISS)

What is the state of German democracy 100 years after the first crisis of the Weimar Republic? Is German democracy better able to deal with crises and problems today? What experiences and lessons has Germany learned under different chancellors? And how has German democracy dealt with extremism in society? Our popular special series returns for Season 3.

As hosts, historian Katja Hoyer and journalist Oliver Moody set out to find some answers. Together with their expert guests, they are looking into Germany's past and present to see what the future might hold for Europe's largest democracy.

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“I have always been struck by the difference in the way the French and the Germans talk about their relationship and the words that they ascribe to that relationship. The Germans talk about the ‘Franco-German-Engine’, right? It’s a very rational, mathematical, mechanical way of looking at it – an engine. Whereas the French, when they talk about it, they say „le couple franco-allemand“ – the franco-german couple. It’s a much more emotional, passionate way of looking at it.”

Rym Momtaz

Journalist and Consultant Research Fellow for European Foreign Policy and Security (IISS)

Artwork: Geschichte ist Gegenwart! Der History & Politics Podcast der Körber-Stiftung

Geschichte ist Gegenwart! Der History & Politics Podcast der Körber-Stiftung

Warum Geschichte immer Gegenwart ist, besprechen wir mit unseren Gästen im History & Politics Podcast. Wir zeigen, wie uns die Geschichte hilft, die Gegenwart besser zu verstehen.

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