EUROPE

Summer 2008

by Jean-Pierre Jouyet

From immigration to defence, from social to environmental issues, there are high expectations throughout the EU for France’s stint in the chair. Its Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet previews the presidency agenda

France’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union begins on July 1, and we, in the French government, are fully aware that expectations are high. Holding the presidency offers an opportunity to re-launch Europe − and that is a task that carries a heavy responsibility. At a practical level, this will involve offering the Union’s citizens a vision of a Europe that is both reassuring and responsible.
Europeans need a Union that addresses social and environmental issues, and also a Europe that is committed to stability, transparency and financial regulation. We also need a Europe that will uphold the principle of reciprocity by being open to business and investment. And that means new energetic policies based on expertise and knowledge which don’t give up any of the Union’s founding principles − and we need to start with agricultural policy.

The Lisbon treaty will enable us to give shape to a set of demanding policy objectives. It is a blueprint for action. It offers us the prospect of a way out of the institutional and political deadlock that followed the French and Dutch referenda in 2005 and a way to leave behind the last 15 years of doubt and institutional debate. It is very significant that, for the first time, this political agreement embraces all the 27 member states of the enlarged European Union. The distinction between new and old members has now lost any significance. The 27 countries are now ready to face the challenges of the 21st century together.

A top priority of the French presidency is therefore to prepare the implementation of the Lisbon treaty which everyone now hopes will come into effect on next January, by when it should have been formally ratified by all member states. The French Presidency will thus need to begin organising the creation of the permanent Presidency of the European Council − an institution that will answer the question so famously asked by Henry Kissinger about the phone number that could be used to call Europe. This will involve working together with our Czech and Swedish friends, building around a programme for a triple presidency − to be announced in May in Prague.

Europe is facing many challenges. The French Presidency, by the voice of Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the Republic has set priorities for Europe to address those challenges. They include a common approach to migration, climate change, energy policy, and defence and security issues. These are areas where quite a lot is being expected of Europe.

We are living through a time of change in Europe’s demographic make-up, and this means that all of the EU’s member states must jointly manage migration issues. Because of the challenges that are now arising from mass migration − and set against the backdrop of integration and dialogue with our southern partners − a European pact on immigration and asylum will be proposed. This pact will involve agreeing a comprehensive approach with migrants’ countries of origin, and should facilitate better policy co-ordination amongst member states. To ensure that the Schengen area − which now includes most EU countries − continues to be characterised by both liberty and security, close attention will also have to be paid to controlling our external borders. To safeguard the cohesiveness of the EU, it is necessary to build common standards for things like the criteria for issuing visas. National practices will need to be converged in the field of asylum laws, even though there are different cultures and sensitivities among the member states. And clearly it is only responsible to demand that Europe should organise the whole process of legal immigration on the basis of the economic and social conditions that prevail within the Union. So to ensure a fully-balanced approach, Europe must think in terms of widening its development aid efforts, for example by facilitating fund transfers in migrants’ countries of origin and by providing aid to poorer countries in new areas like health, education and governance.

In March 2007, Europe set itself the ambitious goal of taking the global lead in the fight against climate change. The French presidency will stick to that objective. The recently proposed energy-climate package which, it is hoped will secure EU-wide political agreement under France’s presidency, will help towards achieving this. It is also essential to promote a new and more sustainable type of economic growth in Europe. And here the goal should be to focus on sustainable development combined with more ecologically-friendly agriculture and with industry which is more sensitive to the needs of the environment. This is going to be a major source of activity for Europe's economy, so those who take the lead today will be among the most competitive tomorrow.

Another vital issue that Europe must address is energy policy and its various components. First, we need to bring about a managed liberalisation of the energy market so as to provide appropriate interconnections between European countries. Energy infrastructures need to be accessible to a number of different operators and the consumer must be allowed to benefit from more competitive prices. Along with Germany, Austria and four other partners, France has put forward proposals that could offer an escape route from the apparent impasse that this debate has thus far ended up in. Market liberalisation cannot take place without there first being a strategic vision of energy supply policy in the EU. That is why our Prime Minister, François Fillon, has asked the former managing director of the International Energy Agency (IAE) to look into this whole question. We also need to set clear objectives regarding more diversified energy sources, while at the same time facing up to the nuclear energy issue. Europe needs an energy strategy that will protect Europe's interests − all this is not just a matter of sovereignty, independence and competitiveness, but for some companies it is even one of survival.

Finally, defence and security policy needs to be seriously addressed, in conjunction with NATO, in order to further improve Europe’s defence capabilities. A key aspect of improving Europe's security and defence capacity will surely involve equipping the Union with military tools commensurate with Europe’s economic and commercial strength. In particular, this means that better use has to be made of Europe’s operational capability − our armed forces need to be mobilised more effectively and the European Defence Agency needs to be re-launched.

Under the French presidency a “health check” will be carried out on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as it is planned by the European agenda. The ground will also be prepared for reform of the CAP, after 2013.

Last of all, we must do what we can to reinforce the various components of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, now that its main priorities have again be confirmed by the European Council in March of this year. That means we will try to promote small and medium-sized business through the European Small Business Administration, climate change, ''flexi-security'' and more support for research and innovation. France will be paying particular attention to promoting the Lisbon strategy’s social dimension. The social agenda must be put into the context of those practical areas where an EU-level response is widely expected: the mobility of workers inside the internal market, the fight against all forms of discrimination, the promotion both of equal opportunities and social cohesion and an enlarged and upgraded ERASMUS student exchange programme, to establish a “right for mobility” for young Europeans.

France’s presidency offers my country an opportunity to help create a more effective Europe, a Europe that is closer to the everyday concerns of its citizens. It is an opportunity that has to be seized. Now is no longer a time for introspection, but a time for action. We shall be fully mobilised and ready to move on every front in the service of all of Europeans.