Franco-German Europe

The Franco-German relationship can lay a strong claim to be the principal bi lateral relationship within the European Union. To reason in terms of a Franco-German Europe makes no sense unless these two powerful states are identified as forming a core cluster, irrespective of precise legal arrangements. In the case of France and Germany, core Europe might refer both to the formal bilateral alliance between the two leading continental European EU states (the introductory section) or to the role of the Franco-German relationship in providing a form of leadership of the (differentiated) European integration project (the main body of this chapter). In their own right, France and Germany have staked a claim to leadership based on the fact that they were founder-members, repositories of historical memory and chief actors of the symbolism of post-war reconciliation (Hendriks and Morgan, 2001; Webber, 1999). The strongest confirmation of Franco-German leadership, however, is one where formal differentiated integration ought not to be necessary. Explicit calls for avant-garde action by France and Germany are, more often than not, signs of weakness, of an inability to co-steer the European ship. Somewhat paradoxically, the prospect of a core Europe can reveal a hollow core.