Analysis: EU alliances under strain

A series of top-level meetings among the leaders of Germany, France and Britain in the last week of January 2001 may give a clue to the direction of the Great Debate about Europe's future, which was launched at the EU summit in Nice in December 2000, including meeting between Tony Blair and Chancellor Schröder, Berlin, 29.1.01 and between the German Chancellor and President Chirac and Lionel Jospin in Strasbourg, 31.1.01. Many commentators suggest that maintaining the Franco-German alliance is key to further development in Europe.