Foreign minister Dominique de Villepin [who is a man] was quoted by Le Monde speaking explicitly about "Franco-German union" and to have called the further deepening of ties between the countries "the one historic challenge we cannot lose". Le Monde gave most of its first three pages to reports on the proposed union, noting that it was an idea whose time might have come. Pascal Lamy, one of France's EU commissioners, spoke enthusiastically of the idea in Le Monde. He said it could start with the unification of France and Germany's diplomatic services and the sharing of France's permanent seat on the United Nations security council... ...The leaking of his remarks to a Paris think-tank was designed to underline French determination not to be sidelined by American power and its inevitable loss of influence when the EU expands from 15 to 25 members in May.