Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have pledged to unveil the EU’s “road map to reforms” by June, following their meeting in Paris yesterday.
The German leader and French president met to reaffirm the Franco-German leadership at the heart of the EU, after prolonged coalition talks in Germany were only completed recently.
However, while Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron were forming the EU agenda, the remaining member-states hit back and vowed not give in to the Franco-German demands.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, delivered a sharp rebuke to the assumed obedience from the rest of the EU.
He said: “Of course the German government can meet the French government without us being there.
“But that doesn’t mean that we and other EU countries agree with everything the Germans and French agree on. We won’t just nod along to everything.”
A reporter on German broadcaster DW said that the other EU states were not happy at being reduced to just “rubber-stampers” of a Franco-German plan.
The ambitious reform plans from Mr Macron and the German Chancellor have already met widespread resistance across the EU, and even within Germany’s fragile coalition.
A range of other countries, including Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands, have cautioned against the far-reaching reforms, instead urging more modest goals.
Mr Macron has pushed for a eurozone budget and a European finance minister, but many German politicians are hesistant about this proposal.
During their meeting, the French president pressed Mrs Merkel on the reform plans, as concerns grow over Berlin’s commitment to the proposals.
Mr Macron said: “This is our task by June: on the eurozone, on migration policy, defense, trade, research, education and large areas that we have been able to set out.
“We will propose a clear, ambitious roadmap for this refoundation by June.”
However, Mrs Merkel herself told the press that France and Germany did “not always have the same opinions at first”.