No issue has divided Britain and France more since 1945 than Europe. For too long Europe has been hampered by cool relations between Paris and London.
The former French leader Charles de Gaulle famously said non to Britain joining the fledgling European Community in the 1960s. De Gaulle believed Britain would contaminate Europe as Washington's partner.
And as recently as when the Chiracs resided in the Elysee Palace, relations between Paris and London were not exactly cordial.
How times have changed. Presently on a state visit to Britain, the French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, an Anglophile, is determined to add Britain to the Franco-German axis in the EU. Sarkozy, pro-American, is willing to bring France closer to the military structures of Nato.
His speech to both Houses of Parliament praising Britain's wartime sacrifice for the liberation of France as well as British economic reforms over the past three decades was warmly received and appreciated in London as was his vision of an entente amicale in place of the old entente cordiale.
On a range of issues from Afghanistan, immigration, climate change, development and security, Britain and France share similar policies. For the past 50 years Europe has been about Paris, Berlin and reconciliation after the Second World War.
Recently it has had to cope with the aftermath of the Cold War. But now Europe must deal with a world that will see India, China and other nations become more assertive on the economic front.
Franco-British co-operation is a necessary condition, though not the only one, for Europe to make a difference on major international issues.
Europe is facing a situation where there will be different power centres and blocs and if it is to realise its potential it must speak with one voice. Sarkozy, whatever his shortcomings, understands this.
