‘German expansionism. Are you the little new boy? Ya: 1.92m’. On 6 October 1982, French cartoonist Roland Moisan paints an ironic picture of the first meeting between French President François Mitterrand (on the left) and new German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (on the right). This is the start of a new era in Franco-German relations and on the European stage. The boy leaving the school playground is former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, while US President Ronald Reagan is depicted as school supervisor.