France must kiss and make up with Germany

I thought this news article was pretty cool because it talked about German and French relations--which we leared earlier this semester has a history that goes back for more than 1000 years.....


France must kiss and make up with Germany
By Dominique Moïsi

Published: February 5 2008 18:19 | Last updated: February 5 2008 18:19

In less than five months, the French presidency of the European Union will begin. Legitimately proud of its success in helping Europe transcend its institutional blockage through a “simplified” EU treaty, Paris is keen to impress on the world that France is back, through a combination of energy and imagination. Yet one element for the success of France’s European strategy seems to be missing. It is a close, trusting and positive relationship with Germany. Without it, France jeopardises its chances of a successful presidency of the EU.

Officially, the French president and the German chancellor are the best of friends. You see them kissing and hugging on the television screens of both countries. Yet the reality is different. Sources close to the leaders say that Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are incapable of coming closer together.

If one looks at historical precedents, Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer were united by a common Catholic faith and a dedication to reconciliation. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and Helmut Schmidt had a common language – English – and were united by a common vision of modernity. François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl took longer to adjust to each other. At first the French “Florentine” president ex­pressed disdain for his “provincial” German counterpart. It was only when Mr Kohl became the historic figure of German unification that Mitterrand started to treat him as an equal. Mr Kohl never took Jacques Chirac seriously, while Mr Chirac and Gerhard Schröder found a common language – against the war in Iraq – only at the end of their mandates.

The belief in France and Germany when Mr Sarkozy came to power was that the new French president and Ms Merkel would get along well, in spite of their different backgrounds and styles. Their ideological closeness was seen as a guarantee that they would surmount their character differences in the name of Europe. This was wishful thinking. The relationship between Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel has deteriorated, or at best not improved, since Mr Sarkozy came to power in May 2007. This is due to a combination of personality, an unwillingness or inability to consider the other’s historical and political sensitivities and the absence of a “European reflex” in the light of resurgent nationalism in Europe.

In terms of personalities, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor from east Germany can only look on with bewilderment at the unpresidential behaviour of her French counterpart and his constant attempts to steal the limelight. But there are policy differences as well. Of course, the agreement on the European treaty or the new division of power at EADS can be seen as proof of a working relationship. But there is also the dispute over the independence of the European Central Bank and Mr Sarkozy’s repeated attacks on its president, Jean-Claude Trichet. These attacks were considered in Berlin as deliberate aggression or, worse, as proof of ignorance of what the ECB’s independence meant for a country that had renounced its precious currency, the mark, in the name of Europe less than 10 years ago. There are also the demonstrations of economic patriotism and “liberal Colbertism” by Mr Sarkozy and advisers at the Elysée Palace.

Even more revealing is the tension surrounding the French vision of a Mediterranean Union. The idea is based on an undeniable necessity. Who can oppose such a rapprochement between the two shores of a sea that should unite and not divide its inhabitants? There are common challenges, from ecology to energy security, from the need to fight terrorism to the imper­ative to co-ordinate immigration flows.

But by selecting a purely geographical definition of the project – excluding non-Mediterranean powers such as Germany and Great Britain – France has encouraged the suspicions of its European partners and the Federal Republic in particular. Is Mr Sarkozy’s ambition for a Mediterranean Union purely national, based on France’s desire to transcend a post-colonial legacy with countries such as Algeria, or is it to find an answer to Turkey’s desire to enter the EU by giving it an alternative? The French project has not been presented in a “European” manner, which would have emphasised the complementarity between the Mediterranean Union and the EU’s role in the Middle East.

Paris has less than five months in which to build a closer relationship with Berlin. What is at stake is no less than the chance for France to regain its place in Europe and the world.