The Franco-German initiative, agreed between French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 18, has beaten Ursula von der Leyen to the punch. The European Commission president had announced to unveil her proposal for the Recovery Fund (RF) in the first days of May, but then postponed the presentation to the end of the month with the aim of reaching a pre-emptive compromise between the member states of the European Union (EU). The Franco-German initiative will significantly bind the Commission’s strategy. However, the scope of Merkel and Macron is so positively disruptive that it apparently pushes the possible institutional friction between the two most important EU countries and one of the main EU institutions to the background. In fact, this friction, which is part of the recurring contrast between intergovernmental and ‘EU community’ approaches, could have an impact on the approval and implementation of the RF.

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