From Chirac and Schroeder we have seen a rhetorical commitment for France and Germany to co-operate but when they have combined it has been to block reforms. They have not produced an actual agenda for advancing the union, unlike the days of Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand, when France and Germany really were driving Europe.

Julie Smith

Commitment France Germany

Related Quotes

Merkel knows EU integration had been driven by the decades-long relationship between Germany and France. But I think the view is shifting. I don't think that Merkel is prepared to wait for France to emerge from its political malaise.

— Andreas Maurer

Germany and France are united in their horror over the accident.

— Gerhard Schroeder

Whatever minor differences we have, this task can be taken on only by Germany and France together,

— Gerhard Schroeder

They have it wrong in asking if Schroeder favors Britain over France, or France over Britain. Schroeder favors Germany. That is what we all have to understand.

— Gerhard Schroeder

Countries like France and Germany just aren't ready for any further expansion of the EU from an economic point of view. The negotiations with Turkey basically have to be forgotten about for the next five or six years.

— Daniel Gros