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The Franco-British relationship, with respect to Europe in a historical context, demonstrates that, despite the absence of any ongoing dialogue about the EU's project, there have been significant moments when the French and British have been more convergent than divergent. Moreover, despite how their approach to social and economic policy defines the polarization of policy preferences, they are both seeking, in the context of globalization and the Lisbon Strategy, to discover a socioeconomic formula for high growth, low unemployment and low inequality. The Franco-British dialogue over Europe therefore lies at the heart of the EU's current self-interrogation over the way forward.

Jolyon Howorth is Professor Jean Monnet of European policy at the University of Bath (the United Kingdom) and professor invited to the University of Yale (the United States). He is a Associated Researcher at Ifri and Author of (with Anand Menon) de The European Union and National Defence Policy (Londres, Routledge, 1997); L’Intégration européenne et la défense: l’ultime défi? (Paris, IES-UE, 2000); (with John T.S. Keeler) Defending Europe: The EU, NATO and the Quest for European Autonomy (Londres, Palgrave MacMillan, 2003).