Macron and Merkel renew their vows
But underlying relations are troubled

“GENTLEMEN, NEVER forget that for France there can be no other alternative but friendship with Germany.” Half a century after Charles de Gaulle uttered these words to his ministers, the relationship between France and Germany remains the most important in Europe: an emblem of peace and reconciliation, and the foundation stone of European integration.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “State of the nations”

From the January 19th 2019 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
France’s improbable adult baptism boom
A secular country returns to the church

Russia is raining hellfire on Ukraine
New attacks push its air defences to saturation point

Europe’s mayors are islands of liberalism in a sea of populists
City bosses are the functioning bits of increasingly dysfunctional polities
Poland’s election will cement or ruin its standing in Europe
Can Donald Tusk and Rafal Trzaskowski hold back the hard right?
Donald Trump dashes any hope that he will get tough with Russia
He has nothing but kind words for Vladimir Putin
American threats push Greenland closer to Denmark
The fear of invasion is undermining the anti-colonial movement