n°28I quarterlyI January 2013 Live from the Labs | Spotlight 7 w “The notion that everything started with democracy activists they had met as co-prisoners in concentra- the Elysée Treaty tion camps. Through associations like the French Committee for Exchanges with the New Germany and BILD (International DR is part of the Liaison and Documentation Bureau), they published reviews q corine Defrance, De Gaulle myth.” and organized conferences to present their respective countries. historian at the IrIce lab.3 Town twinning also predated the Elysée Treaty, starting in 1950 with Montbéliard and the German city of Ludwigsburg, where close ties with the US and NATO, while France was more De Gaulle delivered his famous address to Germany’s youth on independent. Yet there was cooperation in certain areas, like September 9, 1962. armament or joint military exercise, and some highly symbolic initiatives were undertaken, such as the creation of the Franco- thetreaty was signed only a few months later.which German Brigade in 1989, bringing together nearly 5000 troops. specific areas of cooperation did it cover? A turning point came in 2003, when the two countries expressed C.D.:The treaty itself was a short document. The first section their opposition to the invasion of Iraq. As a result, France and established the principle of regular consultation in the form of Germany decided to hold special celebrations for the 40th bi-annual Franco-German summit meetings. Initially, these anniversary of the Elysée Treaty. The French and German involved heads of state and a few ministers, but they would later parliaments thus met for an extraordinary session in Versailles. include all levels of the two governments. Cooperation was The partners decided to establish the Elysée Fund, which limited to three areas: foreign policy, defense/security, and finances Franco-German cultural projects in other countries. education and youth. At first, the youth programs were the Starting in the 1970s, the two nations laid the foundations for only ones that produced visible results. The Franco-German the European Monetary System, initiated by Giscard d’Estaing Youth Office (OFAJ), founded at the first summit meeting in and Schmidt, and later the euro, which was promoted by July 1963, brought more than a million young people together Mitterrand and Kohl. In fact, it seems that Mitterrand made the in just five years. As of today, 8 million youths from all social common currency a condition for German reunification. backgrounds have benefited from these programs. How can the Franco-German relationship be defined what about other cooperative efforts? today? And what is the future of this cooperation within C.D.:The first decade proved a difficult one, but the era of Valéry the “europe of 27”? Giscard d’Estaing and Helmut Schmidt, immediately followed C.D.:There is now a real paradox. On the one hand, Franco- by the François Mitterrand-Helmut Kohl period, ushered in a German relations are at risk of being taken for granted. phase of close relations. This led to the substantial development The younger French generations who grew up with this of cooperation in the areas of education and culture, which were closecooperation see no reason to strengthen ties with Germany not included in the original treaty. The idea of a Franco-German rather than with Greece or Italy, for example. On the other television network, Arte, was proposed in 1986, and its first hand, the Franco-German powerhouse has never been broadcast was in 1992. Cooperation in higher education and more vital to Europe’s well-being. In these highly unstable research took off in 1988, with the development of integrated economic times, I can’t think of any other countries that could D I Franco-German degree programs, which now involve 180 play this role. b STEIN establishments and more than 5000 students on both sides of 01.Named after French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. ll U © AKG IMAGES/ the border. Joint research organizations like the Marc Bloch 02.UMIFRE (joint unit of French research institutes abroad) involving CNRS and the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Center2 in Berlin were also established. As for secondary educa- 03.Identités, relations internationales et civilisations de l’Europe (CNRS / Universités tion, the so-called “Abi-bac” classes were created in the early Paris-I and –IV). q the triumphant 1990s, to help students prepare for the final high-school exam 1962 visit togermany of President De baccalaureat/Abitur in both countries. Finally, European gaulle (left), here in classes, in which subjects like history and geography are taught Bonn with in the partner’s language, were created. chancelloradenauer (right). there seems to have been much less progress in areas like contactInformatIon: defense or international relations… IrIce, Paris. C.D.:Things got off to a slow start due to basic differences in how > corine.defrance@wanadoo.freCorine Defranc the countries operated. During the Cold War, the FRG had very
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