The 15 priority projects of the Franco-German couple. The list

(B2) To “implement the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle”, the French and Germans have targeted “15 priority projects, which will be monitored by the Franco-German Council of Ministers”. Here is the list: nice, but not really very exciting...

1. Increased cooperation within the security Council of the United Nations, on the occasion of Germany's two-year mandate, in particular through the "twinning" of the two presidencies of the Security Council (France in March and Germany in April 2019, in 2020 i.e. in May/ June or in June/July).
2. creation of four cultural institutes integrated Franco-German institutes (Rio, Palermo, Erbil, Bishkek) and co-location of five French and German institutes (Cordoba, Atlanta, Glasgow, Minsk, Ramallah).
3. Creation of a Franco-German digital platform for audiovisual content and information.
4. Expansion of mobility programmes, for example within the framework of the Franco-German Youth Office, in particular for young people with special needs, trainees and apprentices, and setting of quantifiable objectives.
5. Establishment of a Common Citizens' Fund intended to support joint projects by civil society actors, in particular citizens' initiatives and town twinnings.
6. Establishment of a cross-border cooperation committee responsible for defining a common strategy for the choice of priority projects, monitoring the difficulties encountered in the border territories and making proposals with a view to remedying them.
7. Joint implementation of a regional project relating to the conversion of the area near the Fessenheim nuclear power plant in the context of its closure, through a Franco-German business and innovation park, projects in the field of cross-border mobility, energy transition and innovation.
8. Improvement of cross-border rail links, for example: Colmar-Fribourg, by rebuilding the bridge crossing the Rhine according to the results of the ongoing feasibility study, but also link between Strasbourg and Frankfurt airport, Strasbourg-Palatinate link, connection between Saarbrücken and Paris.
9. Strengthening high-level bilateral cooperation on energy and climate, including on national energy and climate plans. This should make it possible to share hypotheses on the evolution of the electricity mix, to study the possibility of establishing a joint Franco-German plan in national strategies, and to create incentives in order to facilitate the achievement of national objectives in terms of energetic transition.
10. Creation of a Franco-German research and innovation network (“virtual center”) for artificial intelligence, based on the existing structures of the two countries.
11. Cooperation in the space sector following three priority axes: promotion of a common strategy for a more innovative Europe within the new space economy; cooperation to increase the competitiveness of the space industry, in particular within an optimized industrial framework; consolidation of Europe's autonomous access to space through investment in research and development, industrial rationalization and preference for European launchers.
12. Promotion of guidelines at the international level on the ethics of new technologies and common values ​​in the digital sphere and the digital society.
13. Creation of a group of experts in the social field, including the social partners, on the “future of work”.
14. Cooperation within the European Union in the field of financial services and markets, in order to achieve a high-quality regulatory framework, particularly on sustainable finance.

(NGV, in Aachen)