Images from the night train that took them to Ukraine shows them laughing and dressed casually. Social media users made accusations about the trio, including that Macron had discreetly hidden a bag of white powder and Merz had a straw.
But the French newspaper Libération said "this is obviously not the case" and reported how images from agencies like the Associated Press and AFP showed the mysterious bag of white powder was simply a handkerchief rolled into a ball.
It had been placed on the table before Starmer and cameras had arrived in the cabin, where Macron and Merz were seated the paper said, while the straw "looked more like a stirrer or a toothpick, which the German chancellor would have crushed."