Amid much fanfare, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are about to sign a new treaty outlining a closer relationship between their two countries.
But the differences between the European Union's mightiest powers are at least as pronounced as they were when Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer signed their declaration of the two countries' friendship almost 56 years ago.
Macron and Merkel have scheduled the signing of the Aachen treaty for Jan. 22, the anniversary of de Gaulle and Adenauer's Elysee original. In both cases, the initiative came from the French; both times, part of the motivation was standing up to the U.