DAVOS, Switzerland — Hey, Donald Trump! Europe's back.

That was the clear message from Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron in their double act at the global elite shindig in the Swiss Alps. They didn't take to the Davos stage at the same time on Wednesday, but they might as well have.

They obviously wanted to make this occasion count, to use the Davos stage to show off Europe's strengths at a time of international turmoil. The Brits may have lost it and voted for Brexit, the Americans really lost it and chose Trump, but Europe is on the up, politically and economically. The Old Continent offers both stability (that's the Merkel part of the double act) and a desire to make bold new moves (step forward, Monsieur Macron).

Merkel was up first. Fresh from her political near-death experience, and with the Social Democrats (almost) safely in hand as her coalition partner, the veteran chancellor spent far less time discussing her recent difficulties back home than she did talking about compromising with fellow EU leaders on reforms to the bloc.

"Germany is a country committed to finding multilateral solutions. Unilateral action and protectionism are not the answer" — Angela Merkel

"We need to be patient," she said, presenting her pitch for how the world should be run. That may be an old-school and boring approach, but it sums up Merkel and Merkelism to a tee — and in her view, and telling, represents a better bet than being unpredictable in one's decision-making. The dig at U.S. President Donald Trump, who is due in Davos on Thursday, was missed by no one.

"For people from outside, it is a cultural experience to see how we find solutions in Europe,” Merkel said. “It takes a while" to sit down and find a compromise with 27 other leaders, she added, but she's being doing it for long enough to advocate “the laborious but rewarding attempt to act multilaterally.”

"Germany is a country committed to finding multilateral solutions. Unilateral action and protectionism are not the answer," she said, bluntly criticizing Trump's approach to trade and taxation. "Let us not shut ourselves off from the world. Let us keep pace with the best in the world and prepare ourselves to withstand the crises of the future."

Merkel warmed the crowd up nicely for the younger, more energetic Macron to seduce, charm and reassure.

A short time later, the French president was on stage and he echoed Merkel's calls for multilateralism and deeper integration. "We work very closely in that direction," Macron said of Merkel's speech.

"Europe has a responsibility and a role to play towards China and the U.S.," he said. "If we want to avoid fragmentation in the world, we need a stronger Europe," he said, adding that "France is back at the core of Europe because we will never have any French successes without European success."

Europe's on the up

Upbeat and self-confident Europeans have claimed center stage at this year's WEF meeting in Davos, claiming that their way of dealing with crises works (eventually).

Growth has returned to Europe after years of stagnating or outright shrinking economies. The political crises that plagued EU leaders seem over (for now), as the populists — of the sort that Davos people tend to dislike — were defeated in France and the Netherlands. Greece, the eurozone's problem child for years, has its sights set on a return to the markets later this year. Even Germany, which saw its main parties suffer in last fall's election, is on course for another centrist coalition.

The contrast with Brexit Britain and Trump's America makes Europe look and feel good. Brexit gave the EU "courage," Merkel said.

That optimism has brought many European leaders to Davos. Even European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker planned to go, for the first time in more than two decades, before cancelling because of a stomach bug.

Merkel skipped Davos last year, too. But she was back this time, ready to fill the void in global leadership that emerged when Trump moved into the White House.

Her speech — a laundry list of three major EU policy reform projects: regulating the data economy, strengthening capital markets and and banking union projects, and a common EU foreign policy — played to the chancellor's strength of being reassuring, not exciting.

She doesn't seem to mind that Macron is much more energetic. "He brought yet another fresh impetus to European integration," she said of the president.

He thanked Merkel by contradicting her — in method, not in substance. "We need more ambition in order to have a more sovereign and united Europe," Macron said, urging a multispeed Europe rather than Merkel's patient plan to drag all EU countries along with her.

"If some people are ready to be more ambitious ... let's move," said Macron. "Those who don't want to move forward should not be able to block the more ambitious people in the room."

Macron woos big money

Macron, a former investment banker, was more blunt than Merkel in his attempt to lure investors to his country. He promised to attract fresh money by "realigning France to Germany and Northern Europe" in terms of productivity and competitiveness.

France should become "a model in the fight against climate change," he said, announcing, to great applause, that "we will close all our coal-fired power stations by 2021."

“Data is the raw material of the 21st century" — Angela Merkel

Sticking with the energy theme, he made a rather obvious joke about the heavy snow and Trump. "Fortunately, you didn’t invite anybody who is skeptical of global warming this year," he quipped.

And although Macron spoke for a long time — as is his way — he was cheered to the rafters at the end, including by excitable Belgian and Spanish royals.

Unlike Macron, Merkel has yet to officially start another term in office, as she waits on the Social Democratic Party's leadership to convince the party faithful to rejoin the government. But there were hints of her domestic plans.

“Data is the raw material of the 21st century,” she said, before warning of the “disruptive changes of technology” that could leave people behind.

That sounded not only like a common project she can work on with Macron, it also sounded like she was reaching out to the SPD to find something they can work on together in the coming years.