But throughout the springtime of that year, Foreign Secretary Granville tried negotiating with French Prime Minister Jules Ferry to reach an agreement before the conference date. While Ferry and Granville managed to come on agreement on a British evacuation timetable, the issue of finances and control over the Public Debt Commission let negotiations fall through. At the same time, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was introducing the idea of Franco-German collaboration, which Ferry used to go on the offensive on the opening day of the conference, blocking any British proposals.