‘All is well … mission accomplished! I hope it will hold firm!!’ On 14 December 1989, French cartoonist Tignous (Bernard Verlhac) paints an ironic picture of the fears of French President François Mitterrand that a future reunified Germany will turn away from the European integration process, instead embracing a policy of rapprochement with the USSR and Eastern Europe. Mitterrand is obliged to accept the German unification process, but sees it as playing a secondary role to European unification and the strengthening of the Community institutions. Shortly after the Strasbourg European Council in December 1989, Tignous depicts France’s attempts to make sure that reunification takes place within the framework of European integration. The imposing German Chancellor Kohl, oversized compared with his European partners, is shackled to a ball and chain in the colours of the European Community, with hopes that it will hold firm.