The Evolution of Franco-German Relations in 1949–2022: From the German Problem to the Franco-German Tandem and the Idea of the “Power of Europe”

Abstract

After the Second World War, the most important priority of French foreign policy in Europe was the solution of the German problem, in other words, the prevention of the revival of Germany as a revanchist state. At the same time, French diplomacy, influenced by the “power complex”, sought to ensure the leading role of its country in the Western European part of the continent. Hence Paris's course, first towards anti-German alliances and then, following the proclamation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, towards the formation of European defence structures with the participation of the FRG, to at least keep its possible rearmament under control. The accession of the Federal Republic of Germany into NATO in 1955 signalled the failure of this strategy. Charles de Gaulle, who came to power in 1958, tried to form a Franco-German alliance that would allow the creation of a “European Europe” independent of the United States. The failure of this policy, due to the pro-Atlantic stance of the Federal Republic, prompted his successors to take a more flexible position. On the one hand, the French created a tandem with their German partner in order to strengthen European integration, particularly in the field of defence (European Autonomous Defence); on the other hand, they strengthened France's relations with the USA and NATO. Yet the reunification of Germany on the basis of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 exacerbated the already existing problem of power disparity in the Franco-German tandem in favour of Germany, which is slowly developing its own sovereign interests However, since his election in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron, a staunch Europeanist, has been trying to use this tandem to promote the idea of a “European state” in the EU that can compete with the United States and China. However, the prospects for the implementation of this conception are very ambiguous.