France will be represented by Olaf Scholz at the European Council

The French president will be in Mayotte this Thursday, five days after the deadly passage of Cyclone Chido. He will therefore be absent from the European Council which will take place in Brussels.

Emmanuel Macron is expected in Mayotte this Thursday, December 19, while the archipelago was devastated by the passage of Cyclone Chido last Saturday. Consequence: the Head of State will be absent from the European Council which will take place in Brussels on the same day. The Élysée indicated to Ouest-France that “German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will represent” Emmanuel Macron, so that France can vote.

The European Council brings together the leaders of the member countries of the European Union and it is quite rare that the French president does not go there. Nevertheless, the fact that the German chancellor represents him is an “established practice between France and Germany”, explains the Élysée. According to Euractiv, this is notably in line with the “Franco-German Aachen Agreement”.

There is also a precedent: in 2003, Jacques Chirac replaced German Chancellor Gehrard Schröder, the latter being retained in the Bundestag to defend a text, recalls Ouest-France.

This practice is, moreover, formalized in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which states in Article 235 that “in the event of a vote, each member of the European Council may receive a delegation from only one of the other members” .

Macron will participate in the EU-Balkans summit

This Thursday, the leaders of the European Union will talk in particular about the situation in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also invited to this meeting of the European Council.

In addition, heads of state and government of member countries will “examine the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East, including how the EU can best participate in de-escalation efforts, the ceasefire agreement -the fire between Israel and Lebanon, and the latest developments in Syria. There will also be discussions on the European Union in the world and on the political situations in Georgia and Moldova.

Although he will not participate in this European Council, Emmanuel Macron will nevertheless be present in Brussels this Wednesday evening for an EU-Western Balkans summit. It is also planned that on the sidelines of this summit, the leaders of the European Union and the Secretary General of NATO will meet Volodymyr Zelensky.