Frankreichs 'Rückkehr nach Europa'[en][fr] 

The authors claim that foreign and security policy is of vital importance to today's Europe, which faces increasingly specific threats from beyond its borders. Insisting that US power is waning, they suggest that a common EU approach is vital for the external security of European countries.

The authors claim that promoting such diplomatic unity would be an ideal way for France to reassert itself at the centre of European politics - an area in which it has considerable assets. Moreover, despite the decline in French performance, it appears to Chopin and Perret that Europe needs French engagement if the Union is to overcome its current crisis. In order to do so, they suggest that France follows three main approaches over the coming years. 

Firstly, it needs to dispel the ambiguities that have surrounded French European policy for decades. Secondly, it needs to accept the reality of the alternative geopolitical visions adopted by its European partners. Thirdly, it needs to grasp that closer relations with the UK are of paramount importance if there is to be a common EU foreign and defence policy.

In other words, the authors claim that due to its history, geography, and diplomatic and strategic characteristics, France has a role to play in strengthening Europe's security, but needs to adjust its European policy to the reality of today's EU and the changing international situation in order to do so - addressing in particular its relations with the Russia and the US.

The authors conclude by suggesting that a new strategic consensus proposed by Germany, France and the UK "would allow France to 'return to Europe', while at the same time giving the European Union a definite purpose" - by going beyond diplomatic and military initiatives and calling for increased co-operation in the fields of energy policy, climate change and development aid.