‘Franco-German cooperation … Don’t worry, the two of us will soon get you back on your feet.’ On 4 June 2005, German cartoonist Klaus Stuttmann illustrates the inability of the Franco-German duo to revive the European integration process. On 4 June, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder meet in Berlin for a crisis summit to reaffirm the driving role of the Franco-German tandem within the EU. But the two leaders are weakened, one by the French ‘no’ vote in the referendum on the constitutional treaty, the other by the German political crisis that is forcing him to call early federal legislative elections in September 2005.