True believers in the Franco-German special relationship have a theory about why those two countries, above all others, should lead the way in Europe. In Paris and Berlin they like to argue that it is not the similarities between Germany and France that make them so dynamic a duo, it is their differences. Germany is Europe's leading industrial power, France its leading farming producer; Germany is mainly Protestant, France largely Catholic; Germany wants a European federation, France believes in the nation; Germany straddles eastern and western Europe, France is both northern and southern; Germany is yin, France is yang. You get the picture. Together, the pair encompass Europe's diversity. If these two countries form a common view, the rest of Europe can fall happily into line, confident that all conceivable interests have been taken into account.
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