German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to discuss creating a European capital markets union. The one-hour talk took place on the sidelines of the G7 finance ministers meeting.
Klingbeil said he and French Finance Minister Roland Lescure now intend to push the project that has been planned for decades. Both sides agreed that German-French cooperation is key to strengthening Europe.
The minister stressed that a unified capital market is needed to compete better with the United States and China. He also called for more European patriotism to defend interests in trade conflicts.
Already in February Klingbeil had formed a group of frontrunners in the so-called E6 format with colleagues from France, Italy, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. The six countries aim to advance the unification of their financial markets together.