Until now, Italian, French and British attitudes toward the European Union have been completely distinct and predictable.

The Italians have been unconditional, enthusiastic supporters of the integration process -- the more the better. The French have reveled in their privileged position at the EU's heart, and have been determined to hang on to their privileges, starting with the benefits they derive from the Common Agricultural Policy. The British, meanwhile, have always been the classic reluctant member -- always late, always unwillingly dragged along in the wake of the front-runners, but seldom offering alternative proposals. Today, however, these stereotypes are breaking down.

In Italy, the rightwing coalition government led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has taken a lurch away from Italy's traditional enthusiasm for Europe, inciting Renato Ruggiero, its pro-European foreign minister, to resign. In France, two prominent Socialists recently published proposals calling for a rethink of traditional French attitudes toward the European Union, including a rethink of the farm policy. In Britain, the government may be poised to propose the creation of a United Nations-type Security Council for Europe that would ride above the existing Brussels institutions and that would be headed (no surprise) by Britain, France and Germany.