German and French finance ministries will set up a joint working group to make proposals for strengthening the eurozone, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said Monday after a meeting with new French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in Berlin.

“We have a wide, common understanding about the tasks that lie before us, ” Mr. Schäuble said. “And we agree that Germany and France share a joint responsibility…to be the motor of European integration.”

The working group will make proposals on issues such as fiscal convergence and the coordination of economic policies before French and German ministers meet in July, said Mr. Le Maire. That meeting was announced when France’s newly elected President Emmanuel Macron visited Berlin last week.

“We need a real coordination of economic policies,” Mr. Le Maire said. He said in fluent German that he was convinced the two countries would work well together for the benefit of both nations and of Europe.

The two countries would also study options for joint investments to boost growth and jobs in the eurozone, he said, returning to French.

Since the election of Mr. Macron, both countries have indicated they aim to reinvigorate the Franco-German engine and reform the European Union.

A week ago, Mr. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly pledged to strengthen the EU as they met in Berlin on Mr. Macron’s first full day in office. Ms. Merkel said she would even be open to EU treaty changes.

Mr. Schäuble and Mr. Le Maire later Monday will travel to Brussels for a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel Monday also receives new French .

Source: Dow Jones