Introduction

In 1984 Presidents Kohl and Mitterand provided one of those images that capture decades of rhetoric and history. Attending the annual commemorative service in Verdun, remembering the terrible battle that took place there in 1916, the two politicians held hands. They may have been close to arm's length when they did so, translating any sense of personal intimacy into one of state rapport, and it may have been stage-managed rather than an act of impulse, but the symbolism of that gesture was revelatory. The fact that the image has since been embraced by the first gay French TV channel as an advertising icon cannot diminish its enduring power. The gesture and its location remain significant. But what does it symbolise for the EU? The pursuit of peace is one answer to this question. But what kind of ‘peace’? And might it form a plausible value that influences actions and decisions of the EU to any significant degree?

On the face of it, the relationship between peace and European integration might be viewed simply as negative in character. In other words, peace is the absence of war between or within states. It is less a statement of value and more a statement of fact. It represents a sense of inter-state stability ‘as a balance of forces’. Little in the way of ethical demand results for the EU except to commit Member States to avoid military engagement with each other. Mitterand and Kohl's gesture certainly reinforces such an assurance.