Macron, Merkel eye common approaches to Trump, euro

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel need a little mutual support right now.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both limping in the polls, are looking for common approaches to US President Donald Trump and fixing the flaws in the euro currency.
The two need a little mutual support right now given their respective political shakiness at home as Macron visited on Sunday to take part in Germany's annual remembrance day for victims of war and dictatorship and then for talks with Merkel.
But ceremonial appearances and good words can't paper over persistent differences between their approaches to the European Union's economic issues.
For example, Germany and France have apparently struck a deal on a common budget for the EU countries that use the shared euro currency, something Macron has been pushing for. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told the dpa news agency that the deal was to be presented to European finance ministers today, and that he hoped it would find agreement.
But the size of the budget - mentioned by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as ?20 to ?25 billion - is far short of Macron's idea. The amount is only 0.2 per cent of the eurozone economy, far short of the several percentage points of gross domestic product originally mentioned by Macron. The compromise underscores German reluctance to sign off on anything seen as transferring taxpayer money from richer countries like Germany to more fiscally shaky ones such as Italy or Greece.
The two sides have also not agreed on a tax on digital companies such as Amazon and Google. The French and the European Commission have proposed imposing such a tax, but Scholz said the issue should be left with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Since the OECD includes the US, and such a tax would hit US tech companies, prospects for a deal there are less than clear.