Testing times as France takes EU helm

Date: 29/06/2000

By Simon Taylor

France is taking over the presidency of the Union at a time when its members are in the middle of a soul-searching exercise about the bloc's future direction.

And where Paris might once have been expected to table a new set of grand schemes for the evolution of the Union, its ambitions have been cut down to size by the pragmatic challenges of the next six months - not least concluding the new EU treaty and advancing enlargement.

When Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer set out his dream of a European federation with a European government last month, the first voice of caution came surprisingly from Paris rather than London, whose reaction was predictable.

Fischer's French counterpart Hubert Vedrine warned that an abstract debate about the future of Europe risked jeopardising the timetable for reaching agreement on treaty reforms by December.

This does not mean, however, that France is no longer interested in deeper and faster European integration. French President Jacques Chirac stated clearly at last week's Feira summit that the prospect of expanding the Union to take in up to 13 new members strengthened the argument for the more flexible opportunities offered by 'enhanced cooperation'.

"If we do not want Europe to break down or be pulled down by a group of countries which are not able to pull us upwards, it needs an open number of countries to show us the way," he said.

France will clearly, therefore, be at the forefront of countries which want to make it easier to push ahead in new areas of integration over the next six months.

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has also declared that social policy will be a key priority for his country's presidency. But behind the rhetoric, there is little in the way of new initiatives he can put on the agenda.

Other EU governments have demonstrated that they are not interested in going any further down the road of harmonising social conditions. France's main job will therefore be to work within the parameters of the action plan draw up by Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou.

Where France's social sensitivities will make themselves felt is in its handling of the postal liberalisation dossier. French Post Minister Christian Pierret has already indicated that lowering the weight limit on the state-run post offices' monopoly to 50 grammes, as proposed by Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, would be unacceptable.

Fortunately for France, the UK is also opposed to the plan, while the Germans and the Dutch are ploughing ahead with their own deregulation schemes regardless of what happens at EU level, so a lack of progress on this dossier will attract less criticism.

One area where Paris stands a better chance of fulfilling its ambitions is its bid to strengthen the role of the soon-to-be Euro-12.

There is now widespread acceptance that better coordination within the euro zone is a worthwhile goal. The currency's recent weakness on the foreign exchange markets has boosted the belief that closer alignment of policies and better presentation would benefit the economic performance of the Union as a whole.

In the foreign affairs arena, France will play a crucial role in the Middle East peace process, which will reach its climax towards the end of the year when the final, most difficult issues in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are due to be settled. If the search for an acceptable solution fails, Paris will preside over the EU's decision to go ahead and recognise a Palestinian state whatever Tel Aviv may think.

Chirac has also announced plans for an Union summit with the leaders of former Yugoslavian republics in the autumn to try to move the reform process up a gear and reassert the EU's role in bringing peace and stability to the region.

But apart from the Intergovernmental Conference, the biggest challenge facing for the French presidency is enlargement.

The next six months will show if the applicants are right to suspect that the political will to admit new members is fading. France's readiness to make progress in the negotiations which have just begun on highly sensitive issues such as agriculture and the free movement of people ahead of crucial domestic elections will be a litmus test.

Article forms part of a survey on the French EU Presidency, July-December 2000.