FRANCE ASSUMES EU PRESIDENCY
PanARMENIAN.Net
01.07.2008 12:30 GMT+04:00
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France seized the reins of the European
Union last night, pledging to turn the EU’s crisis of confidence into
an opportunity to make the unloved union more popular with almost
half a billion Europeans.
Sarkozy went on national television to outline his intentions,
portraying himself as Europe’s guardian in a time of anxiety
and confusion. "We must not be afraid of the word protection," he
declared. "We have to reflect on how to turn Europe into a means of
protecting Europeans in their everyday lives."
He said there had been mistakes in the way the union had developed. "We
have to profoundly change our way of building Europe."
During France’s presidency of the union Sarkozy hopes to reverse
Europe’s current mood of gloom by delivering ambitious and popular
policies to combat climate change, cushion consumers against
soaring food and fuel prices, and take tough action against illegal
immigration. He also intends to announce formation of the Mediterranean
Union.
Senior French officials conceded that they were inheriting the
EU presidency at a difficult juncture, its confidence battered by
Ireland’s rejection last month of the Lisbon treaty, the blueprint
for streamlining the way the union will operate and take decisions
in the future.
The Irish no vote has cast a cloud over the French presidency, but
is also concentrating minds and forcing EU leaders to question where
they are going wrong.
With the EU mired in confusion, Sarkozy is relishing the chance to
restore France to the European leadership role it forfeited under
the latter years of Jacques Chirac. He is sparing no expense in the
endeavor, budgeting almost â~B¬200m (£158m) to fund the six-month
presidency, vastly outspending his predecessors.
Apart from seeking to salvage the Lisbon treaty by coaxing the Irish
government into staging a high-risk second referendum, Paris has laid
down four priority policies for the EU – climate change, immigration,
food and farming, and defense. "These are the issues of urgency,"
said the prime minister, Francois Fillon.
The EU has spent the past 15 months refining the world’s most ambitious
global warming package – aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a
minimum of 20% by 2020. But national leaders need to cut a deal at a
summit in December to meet a deadline of next spring for the measures
to become European law. If they fail the EU will be unable to lead
the campaign for more radical action at international negotiations
next year.
The EU’s credibility is at stake, said the French energy and
environment ministry. "Europe will not be able to demand global
distribution of the effort among all the countries if it is not
capable of organizing it among the 27." But east European countries
are resisting, the Germans are pleading for special treatment, and
there are deepening doubts about biofuels.
Sarkozy’s "immigration pact", creating a European system of controlled
legal immigration and facilitating the deportation of illegal migrants,
has already been watered down after running into opposition in Spain
and elsewhere. It has better chances of prompt acceptance and should
be finalized at an EU summit in October.
The crisis wrought by spiraling food and fuel prices looks likely to
stymie any meaningful reform of the EU’s perennially contested Common
Agricultural Policy.
French ministers are calling for action to shore up industries
especially vulnerable to oil price rises, such as the transport and
fishing sectors. Sarkozy also wants to cut VAT on fuel. He is opposed
by Germany, Britain and the European commission.
Paris has also singled out European defense as a priority. It wants
to establish a 60,000-strong EU rapid intervention force and "update"
Europe’s security strategy, and hopes to gain support for a "permanent
European planning capacity" or small EU operational headquarters
in Brussels. This is opposed by the EU’s other main military power,
Britain.
Neutral Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon treaty is also likely to
mute the defense ambitions, as voters there appear allergic to any
talk of a European military.
Sarkozy is to launch his attempt at a political fix to the Irish
quandary next week by traveling to Dublin. If the Irish no vote dents
Sarkozy’s EU presidency his biggest prize would be the climate change
accord in December. If there is no agreement, or a rotten compromise,
that would be his biggest failure, exposing the mismatch between EU
rhetoric and reality.
An opinion poll last week showed that 33% of French people viewed the
EU as a source of fear, while only 30% saw it as a source of hope,
The Guardian reports.
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