TOGETHER, France and Germany are the founding fathers of the European Union and the euro zone’s two biggest economies. But in the past few years, their economic divergence has driven them apart politically. GDP figures for the first quarter showed that France is back in recession—its third—whereas Germany has narrowly avoided one (see article). France is running a large trade deficit, Germany a huge surplus. French unemployment, at 10.6%, is at a 14-year high; Germany’s is close to a 23-year low.Not surprisingly, public opinion is now also drifting apart. A survey released by the Pew Research Centre on May 14th found French attitudes on a broad set of issues no longer in tune with those of Germans. In 2007, 68% of Germans and 62% of the French were favourable to the EU. Today the German figure has dropped to 60%, but the French one is in free fall: only 41% are now favourable, less even than in Eurosceptic Britain and ahead only of Greece and the Czech Republic.
Growing disillusion with Europe…
