[WastingMyTime89]

> France, like any other western country, UK included, is heavily dependent on the USA for defence. France’s low opinion of NATO is part of a broader delusional weltanschauung which sees France as an economic and military superpower.

No, it definitely is not. France defense is entierely built around its hability to launch a nuclear strike. Officialy the doctrine hasn't changed much since the fifties. France maintains the mean to destroy an unspecified number (it was estimated to be at least ten in the fifties) of cities in any country of the world which makes invading France strategically unsound in terms of cost.

France is not the UK. It has little illusion regarding its overall projection power or economic importance. No one in France thinks France is a superpower. That doesn't mean the French view themselves as impotent or insignificant. France remains a modern economy and a regional power which is quite proud of its culture and heritage and thinks it can influence its neighbors and allies for the best in an union which is large enough to stand on its own and defend its own values in an increasingly multipolars world.

From a French point of view, the EU shouldn't have to align itself with the USA or China to exist safely. If that means making concessions to Germany and the northern countries when it comes to how the economy should work and accepting long negociations in Brussels to reach agreements then so be it. That's the price of being an union and it's better than the alternative.