ABSTRACT
The driving idea of the European Union is that Germany is part of Europe and Europe is not run by Germany. In practice, this has meant that Europe, as an entity, depends on friendship, or at least cooperation, between France and Germany. This is because France is the only European power that can challenge Germany for hegemony on the continent. For the French left was never comfortable with the European idea, until the Francois Mitterrand period. By the time Mitterrand left the scene fourteen years later, Europe was the Socialists' major achievement. Mitterrand and Jacques Delors had two things in common: their Catholic backgrounds and their shared commitment to Europe. These were not typical characteristics of French leftists. There are many reasons for this but the most important is surely that Europe does not represent any of the collective purposes that are built into the Europeans' political imaginations.
