Europe's precarious centre: Franco‐German co‐operation and the CFSP

Abstract

This article takes the pulse of the Franco‐German security relationship and analyses its implications for the future development of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). It starts with a brief historical overview of this relationship before discussing Europe's contemporary and future security challenges from the perspectives of Paris and Berlin. It evaluates Europe's ‘lessons‐learned’ from the war against Yugoslavia over Kosovo and concludes that in a more complex and wider Europe, the Franco‐German axis may be one important partnership among many, but certainly not the quintessential and fundamental driving force for further European integration as during past decades. Especially in the security and defence fields, an Anglo‐French‐German entente is likely to emerge which will be beneficial for the development of a European CFSP and European security in general.