between France and Germany on one side and the UK on the other (beyond the euro, Schengen, the opt-outs, the rebate, the permanent anti-Brussels propaganda from both media and politicians) is not that France and Germany are any less selfish or self-interested, it is that they have usually forced themselves to find an agreement that is EU-compatible in the end.

I'll readily admit that Chirac and Schröder have strained that, and Sarkozy made it worse, but both governments stil ltend to work on that basis. Note for instance how Sarkozy's attempt to do the Mediterranean Union thing ended up being folded into a EU process.

For France and Germany, the EU is a fundamental political process; for the UK it's still seen politically  as a zero-sum optional game, and a largely trade-centered effort otherwise.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes