ABSTRACT
The British concentration on domestic affairs and hostility to Europe extends beyond John Major's government, which decided that British growth must prevail over European monetary cooperation. The new French government has, by contrast, renewed France's strong commitment to the European Community (EC), to the European Monetary Union, and to a common European security system. The prime minister, Edouard Balladur, by his statements and appointments has subtly constrained his "boss" Jacques Chirac, who is expected to run for president in 1995, and has been known to veer opportunistically from statements of shrill nationalism to proclamations of good Europeanism. Most of the European governments have been reluctant to increase the Strasbourg Parliament's powers and to change its makeup not only because they are the major beneficiaries of the "democratic deficit" but because both reforms would clearly turn the EC in a federal direction.
