During a visit to Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron has called for Germany and France to dig deeper as allies in the face of multiple challenges for Europe.
Macron has long called for a more integrated eurozone and urged pro-EU forces to take policy steps to fend off anti-immigrant, nationalist parties on the rise in the bloc.
In an address to the lower house of parliament in Berlin, Macron said the onus was on France and Germany to pursue those efforts.
"We will have to share, pool together our decision-making, our policies on foreign affairs, migration and development, an increasing part of our budgets and even fiscal resources, build a common defense strategy," Macron told the Bundestag.
At a joint press conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed the importance of friendship between Berlin and Paris at a moment when Europe "stands at a crossroads."
November 18 is a national day of mourning in Germany to show solidarity with those left behind after their loved ones were killed in World War I, and to remember all victims of war.
