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Future of Europe

Article by Catherine Colonna, Minister Delegate for European Affairs, published in the Financial Times newspaper

Paris, September 23, 2005

The need for reform is at the heart of the political debate in Europe and therefore of popular votes, as we saw in last Sunday’s election in Germany. But we should be wary of hasty interpretations of the results. Just as the French, when they rejected the European constitution, were not voting against Europe, why should some see the result of the German elections as a vote against reform, since the two main parties’ leaders agree reform is necessary? The choice therefore is not about whether to reform or not. The debate is about our governments’ ability to reform effectively, demonstrating leadership while listening to their people. This is what next month’s European Union informal summit will be about.

Let’s not invent a false quarrel between so-called modernists and supposed supporters of the status quo. We know what the challenge is: to combine economic competitiveness with social solidarity. For this, every EU member state has to reform and there must also be action at the EU level.

Member states bear the primary responsibility for reform. France has launched a series of significant economic and social reforms in five essential areas: on pensions, to maintain universal coverage given our ageing population; on healthcare, to ensure funding for a fair and efficient system; on the labour market, to encourage job creation and get the unemployed back into jobs; on taxes, to give a new impetus to the economy; and finally, on research and innovation, to make our industrial base better suited to globalisation. More resources will be available for research projects that companies consider promising.

These are the priorities of Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister.

Because there is no single model in Europe, we can learn a lot from each other, respecting national identities and meeting peoples’ expectations. It is only together that we Europeans will find the right answers, for two reasons: first, the EU alone has the critical mass to make the most of globalisation. The EU has unique assets: the size of its market, its population, its technology. What we need is to make the best of them so that, between the nation state and global competition, the EU level is not only relevant but indeed necessary. How do we achieve this?

We must increase our effort on research and innovation. We have together succeeded in building an aircraft industry (Airbus) and a satellite launcher (Ariane). We are a leader in energy technology of the future (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, or ITER). And we are developing a space-based communications network (Galileo). We need to go further. The EU budget proposal for 2007-13, made by the Luxembourg presidency in June and accepted by President Jacques Chirac, provided for a 33 per cent increase in research spending. We must organise a more effective economic governance: our reforms must be part of a comprehensive policy. This implies, for example, strengthening the eurogroup.

Second, the EU has strength and cohesion because it is underpinned by common values: rejection of discrimination, particularly against women; social protection; solidarity between generations and efficient public services. They are at the core of our democratic pact and explain why the new member states wanted to join. These common values call for high standards for all Europeans and greater solidarity between member states.

Let’s be clear: economic dynamism and social solidarity go hand in hand. Growth creates the wealth that makes our social ambitions possible. Social solidarity, especially in the fields of training, health and family support, enhances our long-term growth potential. Both are needed to meet the challenges of fast-growing economies such as China and India. This is why the EU directives on working time and on services matter: a race to the bottom in social standards would not only be unfair but also counterproductive.

We must also ensure solidarity between member states, so that everyone achieves high levels of economic development and social cohesion. On this point too, at June’s European Council, France, like the majority of her partners, was ready to pay her share of financing EU enlargement.

Tony Blair told the European parliament: “I believe in Europe as a political project. I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension. I would never accept a Europe that was simply an economic market.” We could not agree more. That has always been France’s ambition. Now is the time to realise it./.