This month's Franco-German summit in the German city of Mainz was, for all the warm words uttered by the two countries' leaders, short on specific plans for joint action. But the fundamental message was unmistakable - that the relationship that has been at the heart of European integration is back on track.
President Jacques Chirac declared that the Franco-German "motor" was running at full tilt and his prime minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, said that the glorious weather reflected the sunny mood of their meeting with the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroder.
These protestations of cordial relations, welcome as they may be to enthusiasts for the European project, serve to highlight the strains that have characterised relations between Berlin and Paris since Mr Schroder's centre-left government won power almost two years ago.
Nobody expected the Social Democratic chancellor to show the same interest in European affairs as his predecessor, Dr Helmut Kohl, whose friendship with the late President Francois Mitterrand was the most important of his political career. But few could have predicted the deep chill that would paralyse the Franco-German motor within weeks of Mr Schroeder's government gaining office.
One immediate source of discord was the former German finance minister, Oskar Lafontaine, who wanted to take a tough stand against big business and sought to boost domestic demand by increasing wages and cutting taxes for those on middle incomes. While Mr Schroder looked to Britain's Tony Blair for ideas about how to create a "new centre" in German politics, his finance minister felt drawn towards Mr Jospin's Socialist government in Paris.
The chancellor's flirtation with Mr Blair reached its climax last summer when the two leaders issued a joint paper advocating a leaner state and more business-friendly economic policies, allied with protection for the weaker members of society. The paper was unpopular among Mr Schroder's Social Democrats, and when the chancellor sought to unite the party around his leadership following Mr Lafontaine's abrupt departure from office, he began to distance himself from his friend in London.
Although the German government has introduced a number of pro-business economic reforms, including a dramatic overhaul of the tax system, Gerhard Schroder has signalled clearly that there is a limit to his enthusiasm for the Third Way. At a recent meeting of centre-left leaders in Berlin, from which Mr Blair was absent, Mr Jospin set the tone with his call for greater governmental controls on economic globalisation.
Membership of Economic and Monetary Union has drawn Berlin and Paris closer and both governments want to extend economic co-operation within the euro zone. The growing realisation that Britain is unlikely to adopt the euro within the next five years has accelerated the sidelining of Mr Blair and persuaded many German policy-makers that there is no alternative to the primacy of the Franco-German link.
The most dramatic shift in German thinking has come in the area of defence, as Mr Schroder's government edges away from the uncompromising loyalty to Washington shown by Dr Kohl.
This month's announcement that Berlin has agreed to co-operate with Paris on a spy satellite represents an important victory for French diplomacy that could present Britain with a harsh dilemma.
At present, Britain and the US share signals intelligence, but other EU member-states get information only if Washington sees fit to divulge it. Dr Kohl was reluctant to annoy the Americans by helping the French to create a European alternative, but German commanders complained during last year's Kosovo campaign that intelligence which could have affected the security of their soldiers was being withheld from them.
The Franco-German spy satellite could be an important step towards creating a European security and defence identity that is capable of taking military action without US support.
Such an identity would form a central part of the vision outlined by Germany's foreign minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, for a fully federal Europe with its own constitution, president and two-chamber parliament.
The French response to Mr Fischer's proposal has been mixed, but there is growing support in both Paris and Berlin for a two-speed EU that would allow a group of member states to forge ahead towards closer political integration.
Such ambitious plans will not be on the agenda during the forthcoming French EU presidency, but they will undoubtedly inform more modest decisions to be taken at the Nice summit in December. As Paris prepares to lead Europe towards the next stage of its political development, relations with its neighbour across the Rhine will - as so often in the past - play a crucial role in determining its success.
The growing realisation that Britain is unlikely to adopt the euro within the next five years has accelerated the sidelining of Tony Blair and persuaded many German policymakers that there is no alternative to the primacy of the Franco-German link.
