French Buck Giving Powers to EU Like Germany Lost in 1945 Defeat

French President Francois Hollande is resisting Germany’s call to give up more sovereignty in steps toward the political union that German leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, say is key to putting the 17-nation currency bloc on sound footing.

Germany forfeited control of its destiny after losing World War II and it took decades before the victors allowed it to reunify in 1990, forming a 16-state federation. In France, where power has resided in a monarch or head of state for most of its history, defeat by Germany in 1871 and 1940 forged a desire to keep a tight grip on how much sovereignty it cedes. Those contrasting concepts of power are now making it harder for Merkel and Hollande to find a solution to Europe’s debt crisis.