Hollande and Merkel met in the German capital to mark the anniversary of the Elysee Treaty [Reuters]
France and Germany have marked 50 years since a
landmark treaty sealed their post-war reconciliation with a day of pomp,
symbolism and celebration while papering over their differences.French President Francois Hollande has travelled to the snowy German capital to join Chancellor Angela Merkel to fete the Elysee Treaty, inked in 1963, which heralded a new era of friendship between the former foes.
Eighteen years after the end of World War II, then French president Charles de Gaulle and West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer formalised on January 22 the cooperation that has since been a building block of European unity.
But the half-century milestone comes amid strains in the Franco-German partnership and as the European Union faces testing times over the eurozone debt crisis and euroscepticism in Britain.
France and Germany's foreign ministers jointly insisted in a German newspaper that Europe was "not the problem, but it must be the solution" and urged a modernisation of the "European reflex" of former generations.
"We want to counter the danger of an erosion within the EU," Laurent Fabius and Guido Westerwelle wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.
"The drift towards populism and nationalism has grown alarmingly in the course of the European debt crisis. We are making a stand with a German-French commitment to Europe," they added.
Beethoven and Camille Saint-Saens
Kicking off a hectic line-up of events, Merkel joined Hollande at the French embassy in Berlin for a meeting with figures from both countries' cultural scenes.
"I am a child of this friendship (between France and Germany)... my first car was a 2CV and I studied in Paris," German film director Wim Wenders said on arrival, referring to an old Citroen model.
"There's a certain indifference (today) but that doesn't surprise me after 50 years of marriage," he added.
"The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius was among French representatives.
Later a joint session of both countries' cabinets is due to take place, while about 400 French lawmakers will travel to Berlin to join their Bundestag counterparts for a debate in the Reichstag.
The day wraps up with a concert at the Berlin Philharmonic hall, including music by Beethoven and French composer Camille Saint-Saens.
Shortly after Hollande arrived in Berlin, he and Merkel sought to present a unified front during a televised debate with about 200 German and French youth, despite tensions from the euro crisis which has propelled Berlin into Europe's driving seat.
The two leaders have differed on the best approach for stemming the eurozone turbulence -- with Hollande pushing for fresh spending to bolster growth versus Merkel's pro-austerity mantra.
Even if the two have pulled off compromises, Germany, which has fared far better in the crisis than many of its partners, has expressed hopes the French economy will return to robust growth.
Hollande acknowledged during the youth debate that his country had a "problem of competitiveness", saying Germany - Europe's effective paymaster - had "made efforts" while France "has lost time".
On military matters too, Paris and Berlin have limited cooperation, as the current crisis in Mali and Germany's non-intervention in Libya in 2011, have shown, but Merkel sought to play down their different approaches.
"Step by step we will always weigh up, can we do that, or can't we ...," she said, insisting that Germany would not leave its partner, whose troops are fighting al Qaeda-linked rebels in the West African state, high and dry.
Germany has pledged two military transport planes and one million euros ($1.3 million) in humanitarian aid for Mali.
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