Solidifying Irrelevance - The relatively

Solidifying Irrelevance - The relatively conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine talks about the summit between Germany and France - AKA the "Axis of Weasel", according to some:

The events in Versailles, planned to be largely ceremonial in nature, took on deeper significance when Schröder and Chirac issued a joint statement against military action against Iraq without the backing of the UN. It prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to comment acidly that he could see the “old Europe“ in the attitude of Germany and France.
During the Versailles ceremonies, Schröder and Chirac also listed numerous areas of deepening cooperation, to the point of allowing their citizens to have dual Franco-German nationality. They pledged to cooperate more closely in policy areas as diverse as the family, military and foreign affairs. They also said they wanted to align their respective national positions in international organizations. The statement came as France chairs the UN Security Council; Germany will take over for the first time next month.

All well and good - after a couple hundred years of Franco German warfare, it's good to see them TRYING to get along.

But while their systems are still dominated by the social-democrat/Green coalitions that led them to their current state - economic stagnation and thrall to the bureaucratic EU - it's all window-dressing.

Posted by Mitch at January 25, 2003 08:01 AM