nytimes.com BERLIN — When it was originally signed in 1963, in the long wake of World War II and with the Cold War deepening, the Élysée Treatyserved to reconcile Germany and France and establish their relationship as “an indispensable stage on the way to a united Europe.”
On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Emmanuel Macron of France met in a German city symbolic to both — Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle in French — to renew that commitment for the 21st century, in a ceremony that nevertheless served as a reminder of the daunting array of challenges threatening Europe today.
The leaders and their countries, former enemies who lost millions in wars last century, form the staunchly pro-Europe core of the Continent. But with Ms. Merkel already on a glide path out of powerand Mr. Macron severely weakened by popular protests at home, their simultaneous decline is threatening to leave a crater at the center of Europe’s decades-old project of unity.
Internal and external forces continue to raise the prospect of a fracturing of the European Union. Britain is scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29. The Trump administration is threatening tariffs and questioning Washington’s commitment to NATO. Populist governments in Hungary and Poland are challenging fundamental principles of liberal democracy and the rule of law, and Italy is challenging traditional liberal values.
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