Germany's Scholz says following riots in France 'with concern'

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday he was following riots in France "with concern", a day after President Emmanuel Macron postponed a state visit to his country over the violence.

France is a "friendly neighboring country" and Paris and Berlin together "make sure that the European Union, which is so important to our common future, works well", Scholz told broadcaster ARD in an interview.

"That is why we are of course looking at (the riots) with concern, and I very much hope, and I am certainly convinced, that the French president will find ways to ensure that this situation improves quickly."

The German president's office announced on Saturday that Macron was postponing the scheduled visit he had been due to start on Sunday, over violence across France triggered by the police killing of a teenager.

Asked about the potential for the violence to destabilize France and Europe, Scholz responded: "I don't expect France to become unstable."

"I very much understand the French president's decision to be in the country now. I would have done the same," he added.

The three-day state visit had been seen as an opportunity to reinvigorate the relationship between the two EU giants, with Macron scheduled to cross the breadth of Germany from west to east.

It would have marked the first state visit to Germany by a French president since 2000, when Jacques Chirac travelled to Berlin.

AFP