On 26 September 1992, five days after the narrow victory of the ‘yes’ supporters in the French referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Maastricht, German cartoonist Jürgen von Tomeï illustrates the efforts made by French President François Mitterrand (on the left) and Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl (on the right) to keep the ‘Maastricht’ edifice from collapsing. The harsh criticism of the Treaty by British Prime Minister John Major (depicted holding a hammer) and the Danish refusal to ratify the text have severely weakened the construction.