Leadership Quote by Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Raffarin’s line is the diplomatic equivalent of a firm handshake: warm enough to signal partnership, tight enough to keep national interests on the table. The opening clause - “a very important relationship” - nods to the almost constitutional status of the Franco-German axis inside the EU. It’s a ritual affirmation: whatever today’s disagreement is, it won’t be allowed to metastasize into a European crisis.

Then comes the real work. “But that does not mean that we agree about everything” is a preemptive strike against the fantasy of a seamless European consensus. Raffarin is immunizing the relationship against the next headline about a policy split - on budgets, industrial strategy, energy, defense, or institutional reform. The subtext is that disagreement is not betrayal; it’s normal governance between two large states whose interests overlap but don’t merge.

The sharper move is the pivot to “universities or companies.” He drags the conversation down from summitry to markets and campuses, where rivalry is not only expected but healthy. That’s a very French way of reframing European integration: cooperation at the level of rules and shared direction, competition at the level of performance and prestige. It also reassures domestic audiences wary of German dominance: partnership doesn’t require surrender, and integration doesn’t mean French institutions must play second fiddle.

In a Europe that often sells itself with harmony slogans, Raffarin argues for a more durable story: the union holds not because it erases competition, but because it contains it.