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Article: France becomes Europa. (A Survey of France)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- November 23, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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READING of the French ambivalence over defence, some may nod knowingly. It confirms what they had long suspected-that the French are diehard nationalists who are committed not to the reality of European union, only to the rhetoric of it.
That suspicion has to face some awkward truths. The last great step down the road towards European union, the Single European Act of 1987, was negotiated under the Socialists but ratified by a right-wing parliament during the period of "cohabitation"; so, like France's economic reform, it carries the imprimatur of both right and left.
France remains consistently near the top of the "Eurobarometer" polls that the ...