October 13, 2016 
Author: Adina Șerban
Abistract: This paper analyses the Franco-German relationship in the context of the refugee crisis and aims to asses if the two countries cooperate to reach a joint or common position regarding the proper ways for managing the refugee crisis and to determine the extent to which we can speak about a Franco-German common agenda for addressing the current refugee crisis. The methodology is based on qualitative methods, namely on content analysis, interpretative analysis and interpretative case study. Therefore, this research analyse a series of documents issued by various European institutions on the topic of the refugee crisis and especally the discourses of the German Chancellor and the French President regarding the current refugee crisis, during the period between April 23, 2015 and April 7, 2016. This analysis is undertaken in the light of three analysis dimensions: the discursive dimension, the bilateral interactions dimension and the designing of a common agenda dimension. The results of the research demonstrated that the refugee crisis has created the context of an enhanced Franco-German cooperation on migration and also leaded to a growing convergence of visions and designing of a common Franco-German agenda to address the refugee crisis. This study has a great relevance because it represents the starting point for a more comprehensive research regarding the existence of a Franco-German engine in the context of the refugee crisis.
Key words: Franco-German relationship, bilateral cooperation, refugee crisis, European Union, leadership in the EU.