Paris and Berlin seek deal to strengthen protections in the EU’s Industrial Accelerator Act and soften the combustion engine ban.

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz are trying to jump-start the Franco-German engine one final time.

After joint ministerial meetings in Germany last week, the leaders of the European Union’s two biggest economies have tasked their governments with striking a grand bargain that they say would strengthen Europe’s industrial defenses and revive the bloc’s automotive industry — key priorities for the two countries.