(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, OCT 19 - Germany and France postponed a meeting set for next week between their governments until January as Berlin said that "more time" was necessary to find common ground on a slew of issues. The delay to the regular meeting hosted alternately by either cabinet exposed a growing rift between the two EU powers, and comes as Europe struggles to cope with an energy and cost-of-living crisis unleashed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit would not be drawn on the topics that the governments were unable to agree on. But he acknowledged that "there are a number of different issues that we are dealing with at the moment... on which we have not yet reached a unified position." Both sides therefore decided it was "sensible" to postpone the talks originally to be hosted by France to January.

Scholz will nevertheless hold bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the EU summit starting Thursday, Hebestreit said, adding that the pair may also meet next Wednesday in Paris. (ANSA-AFP).