Paris and Berlin seek to manage differences

'Subsidy race'

EU members have said this measure will create unfair competition among businesses in the EU and could trigger a "subsidy race "among countries, fueling European inflation, Zhao said. Macron has even warned that Germany's subsidy plans could threaten the EU's single market, and he has called on Berlin not to undermine European unity in its energy policy. France and Germany are also at odds over whether to cap gas prices.

Moreover, since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out there has been a growing rift between France and Germany in the defense sector. For instance, Germany said it would buy 35 US-made F-35 fighter jets, which could upset France, which was seeking a joint project to build a European combat aircraft, Zhao said.

Zhao Yongsheng, director of the French Economic Studies Center at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said France regards itself as a strategist, and how the EU should develop, such as pushing forward EU integration, has been proposed by France, which has long played a leading role in terms of politics and diplomacy.

Germany has long acted more like an economic locomotive. However, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has broken that balance. In response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany has made significant changes in its defense policy, including raising its defense spending to more than 2 percent of its GDP. Berlin also wants to inject 100 billion euros into the country's armed forces.

These moves could worry France, and their leading roles in the EU may also face changes, Zhao Yongsheng said.

However, the two countries still have more common interests than differences. In next month's cabinet meeting, he said, he expects the two countries will work together to face challenges, including on the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as how to respond to the US Inflation Reduction Act that they consider a threat to the EU's economy.

France and Germany are key engines that are very important for the EU's healthy development, Zhao Junjie said, and if tensions between them continue it will put the EU's development at risk.

However, both sides are rational enough to realize the importance of working together with each other, and have decided to sit down to find some common ground, he said, and they will push European integration forward in twists and turns.