French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will meet German officials in Berlin this week to discuss the future of the euro zone and assess his own prospects of becoming the next chairman of the Eurogroup forum of finance ministers. French and German officials confirmed Le Maire would be in Berlin on Wednesday, when he will meet acting Finance Minister Peter Altmaier, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Le Maire is also due to see Christian Lindner, leader of the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), and Cem Oezdemir, co-leader of the Greens party. Both are in discussions with Merkel's conservatives on forming a coalition government. France's Emmanuel Macron has made euro zone reform a central goal of his five-year presidency. But any changes will require the support of Merkel and her new government, which is not expected to be in place before Christmas. Lindner has been critical of Macron's idea to create a budget for the euro zone.
"We want to follow up on the president's Sorbonne speech and exchange views on the future of the euro zone," a French finance ministry official said, referring to a speech by Macron in September when he laid out his vision for EU reform.