Macron’s Broken Relationship With Scholz Hurts Ukraine

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

Emmanuel Macron’s relationship with Olaf Scholz is broken. People close to the two leaders have told us that Macron thinks the German chancellor lacks courage and can’t think beyond the short term. In Berlin, the French leader is seen as a monarch-like figure, strong on grand visions but poor on delivering over the longer term. The problem is that this fractious relationship is having a spillover effect on Europe’s security and even support for Ukraine at a critical time: Ukrainian officials are concerned Russian forces may break through their defenses by the summer if allies don’t increase supplies of ammunition. At a high-level meeting Macron hosted Monday in Paris he said he wanted to dispel doubts over Kyiv’s ability to resist. It didn’t take long for that unity to fracture.