In the French heartland, the franc lives on

Tucked away in the hills of Provence, the tiny village of Collobrières is turning back the clock - in terms of money at least.

Recently merchants in this remote little town have begun accepting Francs once again. France officially switched over to the Euro in 2002, a move that should have spelled an end to the Franc. But many were unhappy with the switch, feeling that the official exchange rate that was set and merchants tendency to round prices up to the nearest Euro amount made things more expensive and left them with less money in their pockets.

A peculiarity of the French is that they also tend not to be fans of banks, meaning that many citizens - particularly ones out in the countryside - kept their savings at home. So even years after the official switch, people still had caches of Francs tucked away in closets and under mattresses.

The merchants of Collobrières were inspired by the experience of another village that began accepting Francs and decided to follow suit. Some say that they have seen an increase in their business since they started taking the old currency.

The Collobrières story though could be a symptom of growing unhappiness with the idea of the European Union. Francs featured people and scenes from France's rich history - the Euros that replaced them (in an attempt to be all-inclusive to all European nations) did not put images of people on them, only abstracts of buildings and bridges instead. Some say the abstract nature of the Euro coins reflects the ill-defined nature of the union itself.

The European Union tried to adopt a constitution that would help to define the duties and responsibilities of the Union's government, but it failed to be ratified. They reworked the agreement and repackaged it as the Lisbon Treaty. But last month voters in Ireland rejected their nation's ratification of the treaty, a move that could likely doom Lisbon. One problem these agreements face is that all 27 EU members must ratify them. Keep in mind that when the 13 American colonies set out to adopt the Constitution, they agreed that it would go into force when nine of the 13 colonies ratified it. Trying to get 27 independent states to agree to anything is an uphill struggle to say the least, meaning its hard to see how any kind of comprehensive agreement will ever be adopted by the EU.

And until that happens the EU remains a super bureaucracy with few actual powers. French President Nicolas Sarkozy takes over the rotating EU presidency this month and is promising to reinvigorate both the position and the EU itself. People in towns like Collobrières though seem like they will be hard to win over.