French to launch charm offensive with applicants to silence critics

Date: 12/04/01

By Simon Coss in Paris

TWO of France's most senior ministers are planning to visit all of the countries applying for Union membership in a bid to silence critics who say Paris lacks enthusiasm for EU enlargement.

European Affairs Minster Pierre Moscovici told French Parliamentarians that either he or his boss, Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine, would travel to all 13 of the applicant states before the end of the year.

Moscovici explained that the series of visits were being organised "in order to reinforce France's image" as a country in favour of enlargement. He added that Paris' views on enlargement had often been presented in what he called an "unjust manner".

Last year France came under heavy criticism during its six-month EU presidency for failing to make sufficient progress in the ongoing enlargement negotiations.

"There was a feeling that the French were happy to raise problems without being part of the solution," said one EU analyst.

Experts say French worries over the impact the arrival of new member states could have on the Union's Common Agricultural Policy and domestic bickering between Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and centre-right Prime Minster Jacques Chirac effectively hamstrung enlargement negotiations for most of the second half of last year.

Other analysts have suggested that in private many French politicians are concerned that enlargement will further dilute France's traditionally powerful influence over the way the EU operates.

Most of the countries applying to join the Union have stronger bilateral and trading links with Germany or other northern EU countries than they do with France, they point out.

"While the advantages of enlargement for Germany are obvious it's sometimes a bit harder to see what France would get out of it," said one expert.

Not surprisingly Moscovici's aides hotly dispute such claims.

They argue France's number-one priority during its presidency was to ensure governments signed the Treaty of Nice, which sets out many of the institutional reforms needed to ensure the Union does not grind to a halt after enlargement.

"The applicant states kept asking us to give them a date for when they could join, but until Nice was agreed we could not do that," said one aide to the French EU affairs minister.

She added that France was fully committed to the enlargement process and supported the view that certain applicant states could be ready to join the Union in 2003.

Moscovici's office says the precise timetable for the tour of the applicant states has not yet been finalised but officials confirmed that Poland and the Czech Republic will be the ministers' first two ports of call.

Two of France's most senior ministers are planning to visit all of the countries applying for Union membership in a bid to silence critics who say Paris lacks enthusiasm for EU enlargement.