Quote:
Originally posted by johnny:
quote:
Originally posted by Dreamer128:
Luckily, people do have the ability to change over time. France and Germany for example. Through out the course of history, they've been at each others throats. In fact, Two World wars were the result of their hatred for each other (with WWII being the aftermath of WWI). Now, they're each others closest allies. I'm not saying things are simple. But such changes are not impossible. Only improbably. Besides, we don't have to become 'One Europe' the work closely together. Everyone can keep their national identity.
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That's not quite true. Not France and Germany have become close allies, but Chirac and Schroeder, because they have mutual interrests, and more likely, they were driven into eachothers arms by the US. I'm pretty sure there's still a lot of anti German sentiments among the common people in France. But then again, anti German sentiments are not exceptional in Europe. [/QUOTE]German/French aggression was one of the most important reasons for the existence of the EU. After two world wars france was naturally nervous, so the solution was the European Coal and Steel Community. Steel being the most important ingredient for building an army, the argument was that if they both depended on the other for its supply, then war could never arise. And it seems to have worked. Of course Chirac and Shroeder were driven into each other by the US, but Chirac is a grizzled veteran of the European political scene and the same goes for Schroeder in a lesser sense and as such, it was never going to change their political opinions much.