Publication

This brief argues that the eurozone crisis has shown that the Franco-German relationship remains a vital driver of European governance. It also says that the election of François Hollande should be good news for the relation’s capacity to generate constructive compromise in Europe. This is because Hollande has been careful to formulate most of his proposals – boosting the lending capacity of the European Investment Bank (EIB), activating the EU budget – so that they are acceptable to Berlin.