Countries like France and Germany just aren't ready for any further expansion of the EU from an economic point of view. The negotiations with Turkey basically have to be forgotten about for the next five or six years.

Germany had priced itself out of the market by the late-1990s. It is basically pricing itself back into the market.

If they let France (protect its industries) then other countries could just copy and paste, and if you multiply that by the 25 countries of the E.U. it doesn't look very pretty.

Within Europe, Germany wasn't exactly a leader for reform, nor a leader in anything, and that will just continue.

Merkel knows EU integration had been driven by the decades-long relationship between Germany and France. But I think the view is shifting. I don't think that Merkel is prepared to wait for France to emerge from its political malaise.

Germany and France are united in their horror over the accident.