Paris and Berlin are pulling the plug on a key defense program in a decision likely to tarnish French President Emmanuel Macron’s legacy.
BERLIN — France and Germany have abandoned a plan to jointly build a next-generation fighter jet over deep industrial disagreements — a major blow to French President Emmanuel Macron's vision of closer European defense integration.
The collapse underscores the difficulty of getting European countries to cooperate on complex and expensive multinational programs, despite concerns about deterring Russia and about the reliability of the alliance with the United States.
"President [Emmanuel] Macron and the Federal Chancellor [Friedrich Merz] have come to the shared conclusion that the companies involved will not be able to come together to build a joint fighter jet. They acknowledge this reality," a German government official told POLITICO on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"Federal Chancellor Merz has therefore advised President Macron not to pursue the development of a joint fighter jet any further," the official added.
