Merkel to meet Macron in Paris on Friday: Elysee

Paris: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Paris on Friday to meet Emmanuel Macron, the French president's office said, with the two leaders expected to discuss their plans for reforming the European Union.
Merkel, who was re-elected by parliament on Wednesday for a fourth term, is expected in the afternoon for a "working session" with Macron, a statement said.
Macron, elected last May, has urged a major reform drive to reinvigorate the EU at a time of rising populist challenges, with proposals including a common eurozone finance minister and budget.
He sees it as crucial to secure the backing of Merkel as a heavyweight European leader and head of Europe's biggest economy.
Merkel's new left-right coalition says in its joint policy paper that it welcomes and generally supports the reform proposals of Macron and the European Commission, but stays vague on some of the details.
The coalition blueprint starts with the topic of Europe, with pledges to strengthen common EU foreign and defence policy as well as to reform the eurozone.
The plan supports the creation of a European Monetary Fund that could lend to countries in economic crisis, but pledges only to study some of Macron's other ideas, notably the common eurozone budget and finance minister.
Merkel has also said Berlin remains opposed to any mutualisation of debt in Europe, in which the debt loads of individual countries would be spread across the bloc.