France and the Politics of European Economic and Monetary Union

Why did France, with its strong sense of national identity, want to give up the Franc for the Euro? Drawing on the author's experience as a British diplomat in Paris and on new archive evidence, this book explores how France's drive for European Economic and Monetary Union arose from the challenges posed by unstable global financial markets, the political demands of a rising urban middle class and the restoration of Germany's economic strength. It traces the unresolved Franco-German tensions over the design and political governance of European economic co-operation which led to crisis, and asks whether this ambitious European project can still become the force for modernisation and growth, and the shield against the extremes of globalisation and nationalism, that France's leaders hoped it would be.