Recently there has been much talk, but little action, on renewing Franco-German relations.

This is largely due to the leaders of the two countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy are profoundly different in political style and nature. This is evident in their approach to developing Franco-German ties. Paris tends to see Berlin as being standoffish while German officials believe the French are playing at gesture politics.

Sarkozy’s suggestion last year, for example, to have a joint ministry was met with a certain amount of  eye-rolling in Berlin.

There have been several other well-documented differences along the way, not least concerning the best way to tackle the financial and economic crisis.

While it’ll never be a meeting of political minds, lately there have been efforts to work at the relationship. Sarkozy’s attendance at the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November followed by Merkel’s trip to the French capital two days later to commemorate Armistice were both hugely symbolic.

Next week, this symbolism is supposed to be backed up by something of substance. French Europe minister Pierre Lellouche and his German counterpart Werner Hoyer have submitted a letter to their political masters containing 16 guidelines and 40 concrete proposals to rejolt the bilateral ties, reports Le Monde. Sarkozy and Merkel are to pick the ones they want to run with and make them public at the next Franco-German council on 4 February.

The suggestions run from diplomacy to the economy to cooperation in science. According to Hoyer the Franco-German relationship “needs to put itself at Europe’s service” and here is Lellouche’s take on the situation in an interview with Le Figaro:

“The reality is that the friendship between our two countries is without equal in Europe or in the rest of the world. If there is no agreement between France and Germany, not a great deal happens in Europe. And when we reach agreement, we draw in everyone. Our two countries don’t have extra rights over others but they have, given history, a particular responsibility to serve Europe. At the beginning of this 21st century, their accord could allow Europe to exist with globalisation. It is not easy because our companies are often in competition and our two countries do not function in the same way. But what is essential is that a willingness exists at the highest level on both sides.”

The EU certainly needs some sort of a shot in the arm. Sidelined at the Copenhagen climate summit, unsure in its response to the economic crisis and only slowly realising that the long-heralded Lisbon Treaty is not a solution in itself but only provides some tools for better policy and external representation, the Union is urgently in need of some internal dynamism.

Some signals that France and Germany will get behind an ambitious plan for the EU’s next ten year economic strategy; will back the EU’s new foreign policy set-up (at the moment its chief diplomat is under fire for her response to the Haiti earthquake) and have further shared ideas for how to emerge from the economic crisis would be a start.