Indeed, Europe’s shift from the modest customs union of the European Economic Community to the single market and common currency of today’s European Monetary Union was itself a fundamentally political move, one with strategic implications, of course. France wanted to tame German power by harnessing it to the European project, and Germany was prepared to sacrifice the Deutsche Mark for the sake of France’s acceptance of a united Germany, the nightmare of Europe’s recent past.
这一现象在整个欧洲战后时期都存在。事实上，欧洲从松散的关税同盟——欧洲经济共同体转变为单一市场，又转变为如今使用同一货币的欧洲货币联盟，其本身从根本而言就是一次政治运动，当然，这是一次具有战略影响的政治运动。法国希望用欧洲工程将德国套住，以此限制德国的实力，而德国做好了牺牲马克换取法国接受统一的德国的准备——德国的分裂是欧洲一场的恶梦。