The French National Assembly has approved the creation of a new Franco-German assembly that would see the two countries represented in a single parliament.
The future two-country assembly would be comprised of 50 French and 50 German deputies who will meet twice a year to discuss issues of cooperation, with the first meeting expected to occur on March 25th, Franceinfo reports.
While the plan was approved on Monday in France, the German Bundestag has yet to vote on the proposal which has been described as a way to “deepen cooperation” between both nations.
President of the French Socialist group Valérie Rabault greeted the news with enthusiasm, labelling it a “new step” in cooperation and relations between the two European powers.
Rabault argued that the first topics of debate in the first meeting should include investments in Germany and the amount of debt in France.
The new parliamentary assembly comes only months after French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel signed a “twinning” treaty to formalise areas of cooperation including economic and defence policies.
The treaty is set to also see the formation of so-called “Eurodistricts” along the Franco-German border that will see more in-depth cooperation between towns and cities that lie on the border.
While President Macron has seen a large degree of cooperation from Chancellor Merkel towards his stated goals of further European federalisation, the successor to Chancellor Merkel, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, rebuffed several of the French leader’s proposals this week.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, known in Germany by her initials AKK, said she did not agree that further centralisation of power in Brussels was the way forward but did advocate for further cooperation between European Union member states, and even called for a future joint European aircraft carrier.
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