German Chancellor Merz says French President Macron have agreed on far-reaching reform of European automotive policy, reports Handelsblatt

Franco-German agreement on automotive policy matters because the two capitals have historically pulled in opposite directions on the file: Germany toward protecting its combustion-engine manufacturers and softening fleet emissions targets, France toward state-backed industrial support and a tougher line on Chinese imports. When Paris and Berlin align in advance of formal proposals, EU-level outcomes tend to follow, since joint positions from the bloc's two largest economies have a strong track record of setting the Commission's agenda and narrowing the range of what gets tabled. The items typically in scope are the timeline of emissions rules and the treatment of synthetic fuels, tariff and trade-defence posture toward Chinese EVs, and conditions attached to state aid for domestic production. The immediate follow-ons are whether the Commission confirms the substance, how the agreement splits between regulatory relief for incumbents and industrial-policy support, and whether other member states fall in behind it. Named sectors with direct exposure are the German OEM complex and its suppliers, with the distinction to draw being between relief that eases near-term compliance costs and measures that reshape trade exposure, which play out on different horizons.