At the invitation of Luxembourg's Prime Minister and Minister of State, Xavier Bettel, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel, paid an official visit to Luxembourg on Thursday 12 January 2017.

The Chancellor was greeted with military honours by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel at Place Clairefontaine before being received in audience by HRH the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess at the Grand Ducal Palace.

In addition to a visit to MUDAM, Luxembourg's museum of modern art in Kirchberg, Prime Minister Bettel and Chancellor Merkel met at Robert Schuman's birthplace in Luxembourg-Clausen, a highly symbolic place full of history. In addition to bilateral relations, the talks focused on the major issues of European and international political news, including the future of the European Union and the refugee crisis.

Concerning the future of Europe, the PM Bettel explained that the views of Luxembourg and Germany are broadly consistent, in particular with regard to the protection of external borders, immigration and asylum policy and the strengthening of the internal Common Market.

PM Bettel believed that the European Union is at a turning point in its history and must direct its gaze towards the future by preparing for the challenges ahead. In order to remain competitive with its competitors, it will have to progress on new strategic axes, more precisely on one of digitisation, by establishing a common digital market: "We must be inspired by the idea of ​​pooling Robert Schuman's coal and steel markets and bring it up to date by creating an internal market 4.0", said PM Bettel, insisting that the European Union can not afford to miss the train of digitisation.

On the subject of bilateral relations, judged to be excellent by both Angela Merkel and Xavier Bettel, the two heads of government discussed ways of communication between the two countries and in particular a better interconnection between the Luxembourg and German rail networks.

Photos by Charles Caratini © SIP, tous droits réservés