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[News] France and Europe: the keel. The French Presidency of the EU (2000 version) comes to an end

(Archives B2) It's over! France has left the European presidency which it began last July.

No one knows when she will find her; not before 2008 if we rely on the predictions of European mages. The various officials of the PFUE, the French presidency of the European Union, in Paris and Brussels therefore take the opportunity to breathe. However, the atmosphere in the diplomatic paneling is not one of optimism.

A more than respectable record

Certainly France has nothing to be ashamed of the work done. The balance sheet is more than honorable. The directive on exposure to mechanical vibrations or the “social agenda” will certainly not leave an indelible memory. But the strengthening of the rules on maritime safety, the prohibition of animal meal, tax harmonization, the creation of the European public limited company are not insignificant quantities. They required, on the part of French ministers and diplomats, a certain know-how and a brilliance that everyone agrees to recognize. Even the British! " Councils [of ministers] started on time observes, not without humour, a diplomat posted in Brussels.

A bitter, unfinished taste

In the end, however, the French presidency leaves a bitter, unfinished taste in people's minds. During the discussions on the reform of the institutions, which ended in Nice in December, the French lost a golden opportunity to launch a real debate on the future of Europe. The proposals of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Joschka Fischer, last May, did not make it possible to initiate this dialogue. All the contributions that followed — from Tony Blair, for the United Kingdom, from Guy Verhofstadt, for Belgium, from Romano Prodi, for the European Commission,...— were treated with contempt.

A certain French arrogance

This French morgue, largely derived from the “ENA” mould, no doubt explains the unkind comments made by several European partners against the French presidency. The real reason, of what must be qualified as a failure, is therefore to be sought at the highest level. " France has leaders who don't give a damn about Europe" remarks a wise observer of particularly severe European politics. She " is more preoccupied with his inner matters completes another. " Between the business of the town hall of Paris, the referendum and the inversion of the electoral calendar, " the duo Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin thus competed in navel-gazing and impotence.

A harsh statement

“Beyond the milk quotas, the Franco-German stall or the position on the WTO, there is no European vision, no strategy, no desire to conduct subtle diplomacy. " Short ! France's European encephalogram remained hopelessly flat.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Published in France-Soir, January 2001. NB: An observation mainly centered on the internal balance sheet of the presidency.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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