Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty.

http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15809479,00.html

In the end, it was a filmmaker rather than a politician who best summed up the alliance. "There is a certain indifference between them," said Wim Wenders. "But that doesn't surprise me, after 50 years of marriage."

The German Wings of Desire director was attending a reception for cultural figureheads gathered in Berlin on Tuesday as part of a marathon of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Elysée treaty, the pact that sealed Franco-German friendship after the second world war.

To mark the golden anniversary, stamps and coins were issued, French flags flew alongside German ones, and radio stations played chansons.

The lavish commemorations culminated in a joint session of parliament in the Reichstag, the seat of the lower house, to which the entire 577-strong French parliament was invited. There followed a concert of French and German music at the Berlin Philharmonic, and a banquet.

While Europe may have its problems, this was a day to stress the positives, so politicians on both sides spent the day lauding each other's countries. There was no mention of what a feat it had been, with freezing temperatures and thick snow, to get hundreds of French MPs by train and plane to Berlin on time and without any hitches. "Europe clearly is working," quipped one German government adviser.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/22/germany-france-berlin-elysee-treaty/print

Unexpected news came during a radio interview yesterday and calls into further question Hollande's controversial 'tax and spend' policies

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-is-totally-bankrupt-french-

Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the next government to be unified on its EU policy, but her sister party is resorting to populism. Bavaria's Christian Social Union wants tougher provisions against deficit offenders and the ability to drive them out of the euro zone.

As the three general secretaries of the parties planning to form the next goverment in Berlin -- the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) -- offered a progress report on coalition talks, they had a singular goal. After all the news reports about bickering between the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the center-left SPD, they had hoped to demonstrate a bit of harmony between the parties, which are traditionally archrivals despite having governed together twice over the years.

it comes to the most important issues, there's a high degree of unity, CDU General Secretary Hermann Gröhe told reporters -- particularly when it comes to policies on the European Union. SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles agreed.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/csu-wants-to-kick-broke-countries-out-of-euro-zone-a-933680.html

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This could mean that the only country left in the Eurozone would be... Germany...