Entre asymétrie et proximité : convergences et désaccords franco-italiens sur la voie vers Maastricht

Abstract

Even if, in the opinion of a diplomat at the Quai d'Orsay, «Maastricht was massively a Franco-German affair», this does not mean that other countries did not have a say. If without prior agreement between the two, the negotiations could not have progressed, the differences of approach between Paris and Bonn-Frankfurt (reflecting more or less the old dispute between «monetarists» and «economists») and the British opposition made it necessary to seek points of convergence with other delegations, in particular that of the third economic and demographic power of the Community, Italy. On the EMU front, however, the task was made difficult by the financial fragility of the public accounts and the unpredictability of the peninsula's leaders. In terms of institutional reform and political union, Rome's "community" vision traditionally contrasted with Paris' "intergovernmental" approach. While the French sometimes tended to desert the Italians during negotiations in order to align themselves with German positions, the Italians were quick to denounce any initiative giving the impression of «Franco-German collusion» and looked with suspicion at any advance in the field of European Defence likely to weaken their traditional link with NATO.