It is a great photo: German Chancellor Angela Merkel with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris to transform November 11, the date of Germany’s 1918 defeat, into a “day of Franco-German reconciliation to build a shared future”.

When invited in 1998 by then French President Jacques Chirac to commemorate this date, then Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder declined. This time, the German Chancellor agreed to demonstrate that the Berlin-Paris relationship is in working order and that France and Germany, despite past difficulties, are partners again.