Out with the European Union! In with the Franco-German Union? That was the gist of a series of articles in the Thursday edition of Le Monde claiming that France and Germany are "studying a project of unity."

The newspaper said that Paris and Berlin were emboldened by their collective opposition to the war in Iraq and were fearful of losing influence once the European Union admits 10 new members next May.

"If a Europe of 25 fails, what will be left for France?" Le Monde quoted Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French prime minister, as saying in reference to the enlarged European Union. His answer, according to the paper, was the "the Franco-German rapprochement."

Le Monde said that Pascal Lamy of France, the trade commissioner at the European Commission, would like to see a "bund," or alliance, that would allow France and Germany to fuse their militaries and diplomatic corps and to share France's seat at the United Nations Security Council.

The paper quoted Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister, as saying that a rapprochement with Germany was the "only gamble that we cannot lose."

The articles relied almost entirely on the views of French officials, although at one point a German academic was quoted as saying that the German defense and foreign ministries could have problems with the idea.

Le Monde pointed out - and analysts in Brussels agreed - that talk of a Franco-German union is partly a negotiating tactic to influence deadlocked discussions on the final text of the European Constitution.

France, Germany and several other countries are trying to push through the draft constitution with only minor changes but are meeting strong resistance from countries like Spain and Poland, which object to a revamped voting system. Britain and some Eastern European newcomers to the EU are also resisting moves to extend cooperation into areas like defense, taxation and foreign policy.

By threatening to focus more closely on their own union, France and Germany are sending a message to the newcomers about what they see as their core role as the original founders of the European Union.

The Italian government, which is mediating the talks, hopes to have an agreement on the constitution before Christmas. All 15 members of the EU and the 10 countries joining in May must agree on the final text.

Bill Drozdiak, the head of the Transatlantic Center of the German Marshall Fund, a nonprofit research organization in Brussels, said that the idea of a France-German alliance had been periodically proposed in the postwar years.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Drozdiak said. "It always founders on the fundamentals."

France and Germany share some diplomatic posts, have regular exchanges within their ministries and occasionally have joint cabinet meetings. But they have trouble agreeing on certain issues, among them France's nuclear program.

At a European Union summit meeting in October, President Jacques Chirac of France sat in for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany, who traveled back to Berlin to vote on important legislation.

Armed with new evidence that diversity is good for business, the EC said that all but three of the EU's 15 members had ignored a four-month-old deadline to comply with a law that aims to stop racial discrimination in areas such as pay and access to jobs and education.

It cited a report prepared for the commission showing that firms were benefiting from promoting diversity of race, sex and age.

Copyright © 2003 the International Herald Tribune