ABSTRACT
That European integration has called into question prominent features of the French model has been a cross-cutting theme of many of the preceding chapters. In the 2000s, European integration weighs heavily on the conduct of domestic French politics. In this penultimate chapter, we investigate the paradoxical nature of France’s relationship to the European Union, a body which appears simultaneously as a powerful constraint on domestic public policy and a source of unrivalled opportunity for contemporary French governments to exercise influence on a wider world stage. In section 13.2, we provide a historical overview of France’s relationship with the European Union, as informed primarily by the experience of the five Presidents of the Fifth Republic. In section 13.3, we take stock of France’s relationship with the European Union in the early 2000s by focussing on a number of key themes. In section 13.4, we address the theme of the Europeanisation of the French polity.
