Just over a year ago, the Franco-German couple renewed their 40-year marriage vows at elaborate ceremonies in Versailles and at the Elysee in Paris. United in their opposition to the war in Iraq and in their estrangement from the United States, France and Germany embraced each other with new ardour. Over the next 12 months Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, and Jacques Chirac, the French president, carefully co-ordinated their positions on all big international and European issues. At one European Union summit, Mr Schroder even invited the French president to stand in for him. But now a new year has dawned; and it appears that the old couple no longer have eyes only for each other. On February 18th Mr Schroder will host a summit in Berlin. The guests will be Mr Chirac, naturally, but also Britain's Tony Blair, Is the Franco-German duo about to become a triumvirate? And could these three set the agenda for an enlarged EU of 25 countries, in the way that France and Germany effectively ran the EU when it was a much smaller club?
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