Core Franco-German Union considered

Paris and Berlin are considering plans to create a core union, which would keep the two countries strong in an enlarged European Union.

This 'Union of France and Germany' would mean the two countries would merge their foreign and defence policies and co-operate on education and economy.

Although the idea has been mooted for many years, the initiative of a Franco-German union has been urged recently in private conversations by Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French Prime Minister, and Do...