Speaking in Frankfurt, where he opened the German city’s annual book fair alongside Merkel, Macron also stressed the importance of culture in the “redefining” of Europe.”There is no Europe without culture,” he told the audience, highlighting the crucial role language, educational exchanges and the arts have to play in combatting “the languor” gripping the continent.

Merkel for her part praised the “close friendship and solidarity” between the neighbours.

“History shows that in order to further develop Europe, we need impulses from Germany and France,” she said.

But she stayed vague on how far she backed her French counterpart’s plans for an overhaul of the European project.

In an earlier address to university students in the western German city, Macron reiterated his desire for deeper eurozone integration, including his more contentious calls for a common budget and finance minister.

“If we are ready for common policies on security, digital infrastructure, energy, migration, the fight against terrorism, then who can explain to me why we can’t have a common eurozone budget?” Macron said.

He added that he believed European leaders had “one year” to lay out their vision of the bloc’s future in the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament elections.

“I think we need to start the debate, we have a year to clarify and draw up a common roadmap.

“This is what I would like to come and do in Germany on several occasions and what I invite the chancellor to come to France and do as well,” Macron said.

Merkel has so far responded cautiously to Macron’s grand vision for a more closely integrated Europe, which he first outlined in a landmark speech last month at the Sorbonne university in Paris.

The issue of a common eurozone budget is especially controversial in Germany, the biggest EU economy, which fears it will lead to a pooling of national debt with Berlin picking up the tab for poorer member states.

In an interview set to appear in German media tomorrow, Merkel said again she needed more time to study his proposals and reiterated Germany’s stance on the debt issue.

“With me, there will be no pooling of national debt,” she told the RND regional media group.

Macron was in Germany to formally inaugurate the October 11-15 Frankfurt Book Fair, where more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries are expected and France is this year’s guest of honour.

French literary stars like novelist Michel Houellebecq and Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio will join peers like Margaret Atwood and Dan Brown to add glamour to the event.

The fair dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Gutenberg printing press was invented in nearby Mainz.

Merkel and Macron symbolically printed out the first page of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on a replica of the Gutenberg press today, after touring the French pavillon.