French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday hailed a “convergence of views” with the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after their first meeting as leaders in Paris. 

Addressing Scholz as "dear Olaf" and with the informal "tu" pronoun in French, Macron said he had seen "a convergence of views, a desire to have our countries work together, and a firm and determined belief in Europe, which I knew already, which we will need in the months and years ahead".

Scholz’s trip to meet Macron in Paris was his first foreign visit since becoming Germany's chancellor on Wednesday, when he ended 16 years of conservative rule under Angela Merkel. His three-party coalition has pledged to further strengthen European integration. 

Arriving at the Élysée presidential palace, the new chancellor was greeted with a fist-bump by Macron, who then accompanied him up the steps, patting him on the back. 

At a joint news conference following their meeting, the more reserved Scholz said the two leaders discussed how to work together to make Europe stronger. 

The German leader said his country shared a joint commitment with France to strengthening Europe's "strategic sovereignty" and working together on major challenges confronting the European Union. “We have to cooperate” on migration and border security, said Scholz, noting that Germany and France had “clear positions” on the issues. 

The two leaders held their first meeting in Paris amid rising tensions in eastern Europe, including a migration crisis on the Belarus-Poland border and a Russian troop build-up on its border with Ukraine.

Scholz called for new four-way talks with Moscow to de-escalate tensions along Ukraine's border, while also making it clear that rules must be respected by everyone. 

"We will launch further activities to make sure that Ukraine has a good perspective," said Scholz. "We have a good basis that needs to be revived – for example the talks in the Normandy format," he added, referring to discussions between Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine meant to help solve the crisis.  

Skirting questions on nuclear energy 

But Scholz and Macron remained at odds over some key issues, including Germany's gas imports from Russia and relationships with other big political and economic competitors including China. 

Macron wants to build new nuclear reactors in France, while Germany’s plans to phase them out are well established. 

Scholz, a centrist Social Democrat, heads a disparate new coalition of ecologist Greens and business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP). The new coalition agreement makes no mention of the issue, however, which Paris believes leaves room for compromise. 

Asked at Friday's news conference about differences between Germany and France over whether nuclear power should be labelled sustainable, which France wants, Scholz skirted the question. 

"It is very clear that each country pursues its own strategy to fight man-made climate change. What unites us is that we recognise that responsibility and are ambitious," he said. 

"Germany has decided that it will bank on an expansion of renewable energy." 

Cautious comments on budgets 

Scholz also gave a cautious answer when asked if he was prepared to rethink EU budget rules that restrict the deficits that governments are allowed to run in normal economic times, something that Macron has proposed. 

Germany has historically been a fiscally conservative country and in favour of EU members trying to balance their books.  

"We are talking about maintaining this growth which has been spurred by the recovery fund," Scholz said, referring to a historic rescue fund agreed by the EU last year to help stave off a Covid-related recession. 

"We need to at the same time work on the solidity of our finances. There is not a contradiction," he said. 

A Europe 'that is powerful' 

The meeting came a day after Macron laid out an ambitious agenda for a "Europe that is powerful in the world" during France's turn as the rotating president of the 27-member Council of the European Union during the first half of next year. 

Scholz is scheduled to continue on to Brussels for talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, as well as European Council President Charles Michel ahead of a bloc summit next week. 

The European response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, growing calls for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic and the Russian troop build-up near Ukraine are set to dominate those discussions. 

Scholz already warned Moscow on Thursday of "consequences" for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a Russian project to deliver natural gas to Germany and a major source of friction with many partners. 

As Western powers threaten punishing new sanctions against Moscow, the project could soon play a central role. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)