Macron to give speech as Germany marks 35 years since reunification

French President Emmanuel Macron is to join celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of Germany's unification in October.

Macron is set to deliver a speech in the western German state of Saarland on October 3, a national holiday known as German Unity Day.

"This will undoubtedly be one of the most European of German Unity Days we have ever had," said Anke Rehlinger, the premier of Saarland.

She is also president of the Bundesrat, or upper house of parliament, which represents Germany's 16 federal states.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will be among 900 invited guests from politics, business, religion and society listening to Macron's speech, which he will deliver at the Saarbrücken Congress Hall.

The French president will be the first foreign head of state to speak at the event in more than 20 years, Rehlinger said.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Germany reunified in 1990, after more than four decades of division during the Cold War.