Le Pen result will have ‘no lasting effect’ on EU-France relationship

Date: 08/05/02

By Simon Coss

NATIONALIST MEP Jean-Marie Le Pen's success in reaching the second round of France's dramatic presidential elections will not have a lasting effect on the country's relations with the EU, according to a leading political analyst.

Dominique Moisi, of the Institut Français des Relations, says the crucial aspect of Sunday's poll was the coming together of both the mainstream left`and right to deliver a landslide victory for Gaullist incumbent Jacques Chirac, who took a record 82 of the votes cast.

Moisi noted that Chirac's decision to appoint Jean-Pierre Raffarin, of the Liberal Democratic Party, as the country's interim prime minister ahead of next month's National Assembly elections sent a strong signal about France's continuing commitment to the EU.

'Raffarin comes from a party that is known for its pro-European views,' added Moisi.

While the likelihood of Le Pen's anti-EU National Front influencing the new government is remote, the outcome of the upcoming elections could have more of a bearing on the coherence of France's EU policy.

'The essential issue is to know whether there will be another cohabitation or not,' Moisi said, referring to the possibility that Chirac may once again find himself forced to share power with a socialist government. France's role in Europe was severely hampered during the past five years because of bickering between the centre-right president and Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

The shambolic summit of December 2000, which spawned the much-criticised Nice Treaty, underlined the damage that an unhappy cohabitation can inflict on the EU as a whole.

Latest opinion polls suggest that the socialists will win most votes in next month's polls - but that the right will gain most seats and win control of the National Assembly.

Despite Le Pen's poor 18 showing in last Sunday's poll, the National Front insists it will continue to campaign for a French withdrawal from what it calls the 'technocratic Europe of Brussels'.

The Front's EU affairs coordinator Michel Hubault told European Voice that Le Pen would take his anti-EU message into the forthcoming parliamentary polls and would continue to use his role as an MEP to try to make his views heard.

'Our priority is for France to be independent once again,' he said.

'Le Pen will continue to defend his ideas wherever he can - and that includes in Strasbourg,' added Hubault.

He was speaking as news emerged that a Belgian pensioner, said to have been a Le Pen supporter, was shot dead by police after killing his Moroccan neighbours on Monday.

• Jean-Pierre Raffarin's new cabinet was named yesterday as: Nicolas Sarkozy, interior and domestic security minister; Dominique de Villepin, foreign minister; Michèl Alliot-Marie, defence minister; Francis Mer, finance minister.

Nationalist MEP Jean-Marie Le Pen' success in reaching the second round of France's presidential elections will not have a lasting effect on the country's relations with the EU, according to leading political analyst Dominique Moisi.