Merkel and Macron got along so well in Paris that a 100-year-old woman thought they were married

Rick Noack

Foreign affairs reporter focusing on Europe and international security

November 12 at 7:28 AM

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have had their ups and downs. Each has been declared the new “leader of the free world” after President Barack Obama’s term ended. Both are in domestic trouble.

And, according to one elderly lady, they could very well be a couple.

“Mr. Macron, it’s not possible, a little good woman like me to shake hands with the president of the Republic. It’s fantastic,” the 100-year-old woman told Macron on the sidelines of a World War I commemorative event on Saturday. The excited lady then turned to Merkel, arguably the world’s most powerful woman.

“You are Madame Macron,” the smiling centenarian said to Merkel, 64, confusing her with Macron’s wife, Brigitte Macron, who is 65, according to France’s public broadcaster and Belgian television.

With an unmistakably German accent, an amused Merkel clarified twice in French: “I am the German chancellor.”

“It’s fantastic,” responded the diminutive woman, whose name was not reported by French news media. In video of the encounter in Rethondes, about 60 miles north of Paris, a relative is heard saying the woman would turn 101 on Monday.

Under different circumstances, mistaking a female world leader for the wife of her male counterpart would be yet another example of the persistence of gender stereotypes. But reactions to Saturday’s remarkable exchange were overwhelmingly positive. To a woman who was born toward the end of the first devastating world war and who was young when the Germans launched the second one, the Franco-German unity on display would have been completely unimaginable to her younger self.

More than 30 million people were killed during World War I. Only two decades later, 40 million more became victims of World War II, with half of them estimated to have been civilians. Postwar divisions impacted Franco-German relations early on, as more mass graves were discovered and trials uncovered the full horrors of Nazi occupation.

But during the second half of the 20th century, an understanding emerged between France and Germany that both nations were geographically and politically tied together. That sentiment later helped establish the European Union, a project originally designed to preserve peace in Europe but now a far more expansive economic and political endeavor.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Elysee Palace in Paris ahead of Armistice Day ceremonies. (Etienne Laurent/EPA-EFE)

As that union is now under unprecedented pressure from both the inside and outside, Macron and Merkel are seen as its most powerful protectors. On Sunday, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party caused a stir when it suggested that Merkel should have refrained from attending the show of postwar unity in Paris over the weekend because Germany did not win the war. Meanwhile, approval ratings for Macron are dropping, as populists on the left and right gain new momentum.

But both Macron and Merkel have struggled to confront those challengers. Merkel will step down from her party’s leadership in December to appease the party base, disgruntled with low poll ratings, with some expecting her resignation as German leader only months away. Macron’s ambitious plans to reform the E.U. have stalled amid Germany’s domestic woes and his own challenges at home.

In eastern and central Europe, strongmen like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have taken power and while they benefit from E.U. funding, they constantly rail against the union’s leadership. To them, Merkel, Macron and Brussels are synonymous for a fading liberal project that has allowed too many migrants into Europe and is now receding amid a popular backlash.

And then, of course, there is Brexit and a U.S. president who did not seem particularly moved by the show of unity that was on display over the weekend.

President Trump with Macron and Merkel during ceremonies at the Arc de Triomphe on Nov. 11 in Paris. (Francois Mori/Pool/AP)

An optimistic interpretation of Saturday’s rare moment of unity, standing beside a witness of two world wars, would be that the experience of those conflicts paved the way for a political project that has been powerful enough to withstand mounting polarization, at least so far.

It’s unclear if the Merkel-Macron alliance will survive intact or how long it can last. As Merkel and Macron held hands this weekend, some sensed not only unity but also melancholy, with Merkel facing an uncertain future in German politics.

The “old demons,” Macron later said, referring to nationalism and conflict, could easily come “back to wreak chaos and death.” With the memory of two world wars slowly fading and most witnesses already dead, Macron’s supporters say, conflicts might become more likely once again.

In the case of the 100-year-old lady at least, optimism prevailed on Saturday.

“I’ll be here next year,” she said, addressing Macron.

“Me, too,” Macron responded.

Read more:

Why Trump’s explosive claim that Macron wants a European military ‘to protect itself from the U.S.’ is so misleading

Macron’s Pyrrhic victory over Trump

Macron denounces nationalism as a ‘betrayal of patriotism’ in rebuke to Trump at WWI remembrance

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