‘Franco-German axis. 1982: Tonton’s dream...1990: a rude awakening.’ On 3 October 1990, the day of German unification, French cartoonist Ferdinand Guiraud paints an ironic picture of the changing power relationship within the Franco-German duo. In 1982, French President François Mitterrand (referred to as ‘Tonton’) considers himself to be the driving force of the Paris–Bonn tandem, but the situation is reversed in 1990 with German unification, which sees Germany (represented by Chancellor Helmut Kohl) taking the place of France and crushing it with the full weight of its political, economic and financial force.