Royal’s plan to unblock Europe

Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist Party’s leading candidate for the presidential elections next April, has finally outlined her views on the future direction of Europe.

Her seven-point plan presented to the media on 11 October fills a conspicuous vacuum since she came to Brussels in September only days after her centre-right rival Nicolas Sarkozy wowed a gathering of the EU’s great and good with his ideas for Europe. Royal ducked out of giving a press conference after meeting European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, fuelling accusations that she did not have a set of ideas about the EU to match Sarkozy’s vision.

Royal says the challenge is how to "unblock Europe" and end France’s isolation by dealing with what she calls citizens’ "mistrust" of Europe. Progress made by Europe goes "unrecognised or hidden", she says, while governments use Europe as a scapegoat for policies they do not want to take responsibility for. National egotisms are becoming stronger but no one has will or vision, she says.

Royal says that new methods for European construction are needed as the old approach of Jean Monnet of gradual steps through economic integration no longer works because it was done without being sufficiently transparent. In any case a Europe of 25 members is too diverse compared to the founding six states.

She says that previous attempts to change the approach have made a mistake by focusing on institutional reforms, although they are necessary for an enlarged EU to function, adding that the so-called constitution was misnamed. Instead, the focus should be on policies and a need to ensure people feel involved with the priority-setting process.

Not surprisingly, her focus is on making sure that Europe is not seen as lowering social protection. She calls for minimum social standards across the EU25 for salaries, working conditions, equality and other issues as well as ensuring that companies who relocate within the EU should be forced to repay any state aids they have received.

To boost research and innovation efforts, she wants spending on research and development to be exempt from calculations of public deficits under the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact.

She also wants changes in EU tax policy to encourage the use of renewable energy sources and a shift in the Common Agricultural Policy to reduce the environmental impact and devolve payments to the regional level.

The EU should also boost its role as a force for peace in the world by restoring aid to the Palestinian Authority and organising a conference on the Middle East peace process. There should also be an EU public prosecutor to deal with terrorism.

The contrasts between Royal’s approach and what Sarkozy outlined in Brussels in September and more fully in his speech in Berlin in February are clear. For example, she rejects his call for a mini-treaty which would only include the most important parts of the constitution, saying that it would not be accepted by citizens. Like Sarkozy she favours a new Convention to have a wide-ranging and democratic debate on the direction Europe needs to follow. But unlike Sarkozy who wants a Grand Convention only after 2009 when the mini-treaty had come into force, she wants the body to meet already under the French presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008.

The two visions are very true to the political backgrounds and philosophies of their authors. Sarkozy’s mini-treaty stresses the need for an EU foreign minister and a permanent president of the European Council, reflecting his own very presidential style of political leadership, while his call for an end to vetoes in justice and criminal matters chimes with his strong emphasis on security issues, especially illegal immigration and anti-terrorism efforts. Royal’s view, on the other hand, suggests her provincial power base as president of the Poitou-Charentes region with its emphasis on decentralisation and her primary allegiance to the Socialist Party and its members.

But what is most striking about Royal’s vision is that many of her proposals are ideas which have already been rejected at EU level or which would be very difficult to win support in the Council. Attempts to fix minimum social standards to prevent social dumping would not be accepted by many member states. As the current discussions on the working time directive show, a deal is emerging which would allow the UK to keep its opt-out rather forcing London to give it up. Similarly, renegotiating the terms of the Stability Pact to exempt spending on research and development would cost a French president an almost impossible amount of political capital.

Royal’s manifesto for Europe is designed to speak to Socialist Party members. As she has yet to win the party’s endorsement for the presidency, there is some political sense behind such an approach. But Sarkozy’s vision went down a storm in Brussels despite its strongly intergovernmental line. Until she produces something more visionary it is Sarkozy who is offering most as the future European leader.

Royal's seven-point plan

• Restore aid to Palestinian Authority, conference on Middle East, EU public prosecutor for terrorist offences

• Tax policy to promote renewables

• Exempt research and innovation spending from Stability and Growth Pact calculations

• Make agricultural policy more environmentally friendly and regionalise payments

• New funding for trans-European networks from taxes on transport

• More social protection: reclaim state aid from firms moving within EU, set minimum social standards

• Right for all young people in education or training to study in another EU country

Ségolène Royal, the French Socialist Party’s leading candidate for the presidential elections next April, has finally outlined her views on the future direction of Europe.

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