FILE PHOTO: German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz attends a media briefing during his visit to Beijing, China, January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Monday welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to stimulate debate about the future of the European project with an open letter published earlier this month.

“Our problem is that we have, from my point of view, 27 monologues - or 28 at this time,” Scholz said of debate on the future of the European Union.

“But we should have a real European debate and this is the real advantage you get from the proposals from Macron - that he is starting a European debate,” he added, speaking at a World Policy Forum conference in Berlin.