Today's Date:

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THE PRESIDENT : We’re going to give a positive review of our achievements and affirm new ambitions. This will actually be done, inter alia, at a symbolic Council of French and German Ministers, in Paris, during which a joint declaration, which builds on the Franco-German Treaty, will be adopted. Roadmaps will be given to the German and French ministers concerned, with the obligation to get results. We have decided to establish, in both countries, the post of secretary-general for cooperation, with two deputies, a French one in Berlin and a German one in Paris. They will have to give the necessary boost to our cooperation and thus ensure better coordination of policies. We also want our parliaments to work more closely together so that we can harmonize our national legislation where it affects the lives of our fellow citizens.

And then 22 January is going to become France and Germany Day in all French and German schools. Finally, there’s the issue of language-learning which remains a major weakness. The French find it hard to learn German and the Germans have got out of the habit of speaking French. To resolve this problem and facilitate exchanges in Europe without being subjected to a sort of supremacy of English, all European children must, from the earliest age, learn two foreign European languages.

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THE PRESIDENT We are reconciled. We must now be a driving force for Europe.

THE PRESIDENT – Today there are three presidencies in Europe: those of the Council, Commission and Parliament. They each have their responsibilities. To take decisions and supervise in the case of the Council, and to initiate and implement EU regulations and legislation in that of the Commission. The Franco-German proposal is designed to give each of these presidencies, particularly those of the Council and the Commission, the ability to cope better with the management of the growing number of increasingly complex problems arising as a result of the enlargement. As for the European Parliament, it sees its role strengthened since it will elect the Commission president.

THE PRESIDENT – We don't want to change the balance between the European Council and the Commission. The election of the Commission president by the European Parliament, with what I hope will be more authority over the commissioners, will both make the President more accountable and give him/her a greater ability to take action.

We want too to strengthen the European Council's presidency which has been weakened to the extent that it changes every six months. Getting the president of the Council elected by a qualified majority vote of all the heads of State and government for either a single term of five years or a once-renewable one of two and a half years will provide the incumbent with stability and a long-term mandate. Moreover the president will work full-time and so be unable to combine EU duties with those of an active head of State or government, if that were the case when he/she were elected.

THE PRESIDENT – Europe will exist in the multipolar world only if it has a security and defence policy, which presupposes it also having a foreign policy. That's not likely to clash with France's since, fundamentally, France's interests are totally consistent with those of Europe. Be it on Iraq, the Middle East, Africa, development or globalization, I'm virtually certain that France's position is clearly a majority one.

THE PRESIDENT There's no contradiction. The idea of a pioneer group, which I developed in my address to the Bundestag, allows a number of countries and this is even more true in a community of twenty-five than in one of fifteen to go faster and further on the foreign policy front or in other spheres. Look at the euro, it isn't the currency of all the Fifteen, Schengen doesn't include all the Fifteen. The pioneer group will bring together all those ready to do more. All those who decide to go in this direction must be able to do so if they have the wherewithal and will.

What are Germany and France's objectives in Europe?

THE PRESIDENT – Our objectives which are, I think, shared by all our partners, are first of all to place the European project on new foundations. It is very important to give Europe a Constitution as I was the first member of the European Council to propose three years ago. A Constitution which restates and takes on board the common values, particularly those defined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and which says who does what and what everyone's responsibilities are.

Our second objective is to make a success of the enlargement. In spring 2004, there are going to be ten more of us, providing the States concerned ratify the treaty. The enlargement isn't finished. As the founding fathers wanted, Europe is destined to bring together all the European countries, with a clear objective: to entrench democracy, eliminate war and facilitate economic and social progress.

The third objective is to create a European Security and Defence Union, since there can be no great entity, as history shows, without a defence, or even intervention capability, to protect the values which, increasingly, are being recognized as universal.

And the final objective, the essential objective, is obviously to strengthen Europe as an area of progress, freedom, security and justice for all its citizens.

These are the objectives which must be served by more accountable and more effective institutions. The existing institutions are good, but they require constant adaptation to the actual circumstances prevailing at the time. Hence the Franco-German contribution to the Convention chaired by M. Giscard d'Estaing.

THE PRESIDENT – Our different sensibilities haven't disappeared, but everyone has realized that if we wanted to move forward, we had to agree to take account of what each other thinks. That's an essential key to resolving today's problems, not only of Europe, but of the world. (...)./.