Kohl and Chirac bid to end talk of growing divisions

Date: 26/10/1995

By Jacki Davis

GERMAN Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac have moved to quash speculation about a growing rift between their two governments.

In a display of solidarity, the two men, speaking after a working dinner in Bonn yesterday (25 October), insisted that they were in full agreement that both countries would qualify to join a single European currency within the Maastricht timetable.

“I have not the slightest doubt that the determination of the president and the government and France's strength will ensure that France will achieve the criteria,” said Kohl.

He added: “We are in absolute agreement that the criteria must not be called into question.”

Chirac, whose government's determination to stick to the tough policies needed for France to qualify for economic and monetary union has been called into question since he took office in May, said: “We will both jointly be ready to achieve the schedule in the monetary area which we have set ourselves and agreed on.”

Yesterday's working dinner came amid growing fears in Bonn that the Franco-German alliance, which has provided the impetus for past moves towards closer European integration, is cracking.

Yesterday's meeting between the two leaders was expected to be the first in a series of high level meetings between officials from both countries in the weeks before the December summit of EU leaders in Madrid.