Today's Date:

EU BUDGET/EU PROGRESS

THE MINISTER – An agreement is possible provided Britain does her work as the presidency and doesn't just defend her national interests. 20 countries have already made efforts, including France, who has agreed to pay an additional gross contribution of €11 billion for 2007/2013. Britain hasn't made a comparable effort. All her partners and the Commission consider that the key element is the rebate on her normal contribution granted to her since 1984, which has become unjustified. At the last Council of Ministers, all the other countries voiced their irritation since, a month from the end of the British presidency, it isn’t normal for no headway to have been made on this.

THE MINISTER – It's important, and time is running out, not only for reaching an agreement on the budget, but also for implementing concrete projects addressing Europeans' expectations so as to show them that the EU is doing things. This is how we shall restore people's confidence in Europe. France has made proposals on research, industrial policy, energy, internal security and foreign policy, where Europe can act effectively even without a new treaty, as it's doing in the Balkans, for example.

FRANCE/GERMANY/EU

THE MINISTER – The Franco-German impetus is essential if Europe is to function effectively. When she came to Paris on Wednesday for her first foreign visit, the day after taking up her post as Chancellor, Mrs Merkel made this very clear to President Chirac.

SERVICES DIRECTIVE

THE MINISTER – The Commissioner in question is no longer in that post. The European Council decided unanimously to rewrite this draft directive. This task is under way and the European Parliament has already radically revised the draft. It will have to take account of the EU's social imperative. There's no question, for example, of a different labour law applying on French territory. That said, development of a single European services market is clearly in the interest of France, Europe's second-largest exporter of services./.