EU: Conflicting visions at core of euro zone crisis

Since the inception of the euro, France and Germany have pursued divergent visions of European economic and monetary union. In two decades, the French have become a little more German, the Germans a little more French. But the gulf remains.

With the fate of the 17-nation single currency at stake at a summit this week, 20 years almost to the day since the Maastricht summit at which European leaders agreed to merge their monies, the same battles are still being fought out.

Between sovereignty and federalism; between "stability" and growth; between more solidarity and stricter discipline; between a directorate of big states and a more democratic organization for the continent; and between a tightly-knit "core Europe" and a broader but looser union.
The outcome of Friday's 27-nation European Union summit may determine the course of the world's largest trading bloc.

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