Welcome
The Commissioner for German-French Cooperation
Minister of State for Europe Dr Anna Lührmann is the Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation. She coordinates political relations with France and works to promote broad-based societal exchange between the two countries.
On the French side, this task has been carried out by Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of State for Europe at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, since February 2024.
On the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Élysée Treaty, on 22 January 2003, the two governments agreed to intensify their cooperation by holding a Franco-German Council of Ministers on a regular basis and by each appointing a commissioner for Franco-German cooperation. With the Treaty of Aachen, signed on 21 January 2019, this cooperation was expanded further, intensified and geared to the challenges of the coming decades.
Franco-German cooperation
The Commissioners are responsible for coordinating Franco-German cooperation at the governmental level. As envisaged in the Treaty of Aachen, the Commissioners monitor the multiannual agenda of projects adopted by the Franco-German Council of Ministers and report back to the Council. They inform the parliaments as to the overall progress made in the area of Franco-German cooperation.
A key focus of their work is engaging in regional and cross-border cooperation. They play their part in ensuring that Franco-German relations are deepened at municipal and local level, too, by attending meetings in the French regions and the German Länder and maintaining contact with those responsible locally.
The Commissioners, each of whom is assisted by a Deputy Commissioner from the Foreign Ministry of the other country, promote cooperation between the two countries within the framework and in the service of the European Union and work to strengthen ties between the respective civil societies.
