French pretensions

From a paper entitled "Fortress Europa: European Defense and the Future of the North Atlantic Alliance" by Robert Wilkie, a paper at the U.S. War College Quarterly site.

Next to Britain, France is the only other European nation with the potential and the inclination to project its armed forces abroad.  This potential is coupled with a historic vision of France as a great power, plus a defense industry that is among the world's most prolific and advanced.  Every French government since Charles de Gaulle established the Fifth Republic in 1958 --- and subsequently took his country out of NATO's integrated military command --- has attempted to maintain a semblance of France's former status by goading the United States and publicly questioning Washington's leadership of the Western world.

France has always been the strongest proponent of European integration as a counterweight to American political and economic strength.   The remarkable rapprochement between de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer after World War II was in part the result of the French leader's desire to create a Franco- German alliance that would serve as the European answer to the coalition of les anglo saxons in Washington and London.

In spite of their pretensions, the French never denied the importance of the transatlantic partnership to Western security.   During major crises ranging from Berlin, Cuba, and the Euromissile debate of the 1980s, France stood with the United States.   Rhetorically, President Jacques Chirac promoted the European defense capability as a chance to preserve the Atlantic Alliance and ensure that Washington remained tied to the future of the continent.   But there should also be no mistake: France views the creation of an independent European security force as the capstone on its drive to see the EU, with France at its heart, as a world power to be given the same deference afforded the United States.  

France's strategic perspective is a reflection of the rabid anti-Americanism among Europe’s chattering classes.   Ironically, as the European Union continues to expand, the sheer number of members may well dilute France’s influence on the continent as more centers of power emerge.   Should France hold the prospect of EU membership over the heads of NATO’s newest partners in exchange for acquiescing in Paris’s drive for a diminished American role in Europe, the self-indulgent transparency of such a play would be difficult for even for the French to sustain.

Hence, I suppose the French-authored EU constitution the French are urging on member EU countries.

My favorite quote:
“France cannot accept a politically unipolar world or the unilateralism of a single hyperpower.” -- Hubert Vedrine, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1998