FRENCH POLICY ON EUROPE DURING THE MITTERRAND ERA

Francois Mitterrand's exit from the French political stage after two seven-year presidential terms also marks a clear hiatus in the country's policy towards Europe. In the following article, Gisela Mueller-Brandeck-Bocquet, a political scientist at the University of Munich, takes stock. She reaches the conclusion that Mitterrand, who initially lacked any major enthusiasm for the cause of European integration, changed his stance and subsequently worked actively towards an extension of European institutions after realising that this had in the meantime become an imperative prerequisite if France, like the other European states, intended exerting its influence in international politics. This tallies with the fact that he supported only intergovernmental cooperation and not a supranational union.