In the beginning there was the fall of the Berlin Wall. It slammed the German question back on to the international agenda. The prospect of a reunified Germany filled many neighbours, including France, with concern. President Fran?ois Mitterrand saw one way to prevent German hegemony over Europe: the D-Mark, that hallmark of German strength, had to be absorbed into a single European currency. In early 1990, it soon became obvious that France’s approval of the reunification of Germany would depend on this being fulfilled.
最初是柏林墻的倒塌。它讓德國問題重新回到國際議程上。德國重新統一的前景,讓包括法國在內的許多鄰國感到不安。法國總統弗朗索瓦?密特朗(Fran?ois Mitterrand)發現了一個阻止德國掌控歐洲的方法:象征德國實力的德國馬克,必須被某種歐洲單一貨幣吸收。上世紀90年代初期,情況很快變得明顯:法國同意德國重新統一的前提將是實現這一點。