France and the European Union - Report Example

France and the European Union Since 1950, political leaders of France have been obliged to drive European integration forward in a constant manner, and have added up many important initiatives to their names, not least of which the single currency of 2002, in spite of making failed attempts to leave European Union. But by the early 2000s, the resistance can be seen to this momentum, even outright opponent, had made themselves known within French politics and society. In the early years of the twenty-first century there can be seen a marked difference with the respect to France's commitment to the construction of Europe, due more to external events than to changes of government. French used twentieth-century phenomenon, in which it claims to be a monopoly of political, intellectual and moral leadership of European integration. In fact, by the 21st century political leadership of France seemed to be short in supply of European question, in difference with the demands from various sources - not necessarily aggregated or organized demands - for more, different Europe. The political system that France used to helped bring into being, the European Union poses challenges of many orders to all its member states; it is more than the sum of its parts. Where as France is concerned membership of the EU derives from a strong and invasive sense of imperative, or lack of alternative, that dates back to the Fourth Republic (1946-1958) and the foundations of what we know today as the EU. In fact, Parsons has demonstrated that in those years, the 'community' option for building Europe was not the only possible means of reaching France's primary foreign policy objective -national security via reconciliation with Germany - than more 'traditional' methods of European cooperation; but it had the most supporters, fewest opponents, and the best luck. Once France had embarked upon European community-building, the leaders of the Fifth Republic, de Gaulle included, turned France's European commitment into a virtue and a vehicle for its additional foreign policy objectives of rank and greatness, via defiant shows of national sovereignty and independence, and a constant balancing act between integration and autonomy; although De Gaulle, it must be said, set European integration on a new course: the sovereignty of the states and the Inter-governmental nature of the institutions was to be emphasized. French Relationship with European Union For many years it was more accurate to describe French relations with the European Union as a division of French foreign policy, this remains true to an imperative extent. In other terms, the French foundation for tying itself to the 1950s experiment in institution-building was borrowed from the vocabulary of international power relations, la construction European providing first and foremost a buffer between France and potential international aggression played out on its territory. Over time, the consequences of the commitment to ever closer union had the effect of creating its own domestic rationale. From de Gaulle to Chirac, via, crucially, Franois Mitterrand, Europe has taken on its own momentum, in the guise of processes of 'Europeanization', as an opportunity for domestic reform and a crutch for apparently ailing traditional ideologies (socialism, communism) - but against a backdrop where 'Europe' continues to have low salience in the French electorate. Since the early 1950s, France has embarked on a process of Europeanization, thereby accepting the unacceptable: the primacy of EU law, the entanglement of European and French organizational structures, and a new and reduced France as part of some larger entity. However, anti-international anarchy explanation for building Europe still holds for French decision-makers today, usually caricatured in the expression Europe puissance. France would cooperate with its European neighbours as a means of imposing French designs on the Cold War order, and of imparting a sense of national identity to the French. Though to a extensive extent he employed a language and operated in a conceptual world increasingly remote from us, his belief in the French capacity (destiny) to shape its international environment is still present in contemporary political discourse. His successors' compromises with French sovereignty and independence are a function of the changing world, and Gaullism lives on essentially as a national aspiration to influence the movement and direction of that change, a great capacity for transforming and reinventing itself, rather than as a rigid disposition to anti-Americanism. But these roots have bred tension between France and the United States. France's transatlantic relations are therefore open to considerable interpretation depending on which side of the Atlantic one is situated. Nevertheless, Gaullism's legacy of a desire for international clout explains why contemporary French policy towards the European Union still, on balance, prioritises Europe's function as an international actor that can guarantee a modicum of French presence on the world stage; it is why France is never hesitant to speak on Europe's behalf, even when to do so is divisive of European unity, such as over the war in Iraq in 2003 and makes relations with the US difficult. In the first decade of the 21st century the rules guaranteeing the security of the West were particularly unstable and in this specific context "French relation with the European Union where Europe's external security and world status were concerned was particularly unpredictable, experimental and controversial. French relations with the European Union, then, can only be accurately read if placed in their broader international context." History of the European Union from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union#History_of_European_integration (Accessed 24 February 2006) Franco-German Relations "With respect to France's relations with Germany, the nice summit in December 2000 established the political problems that the two nations had been facing in their relationship. Theses difficulties causes a decline in the cooperation of EU These difficulties amounted to a decline of the habitual will to cooperate, which had been built up over the course of the European Union's life, but which had been confronted with new facts of global life following Germany's unification in 1990. The political figures of Franois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl had lent a high degree of continuity and stability to the relationship in the early years of the transition from old to new. However, their partnership had not fully incorporated the more fundamental changes in the relationship which had been triggered and fuelled by new circumstances." Not Available http://www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/italian/pdf/drake-paper.pdf (Accessed 24 February 2006) The above changes were mostly of a speculative, intellectual order concerning the related distinctiveness and safety of France and Germany as defined by the other. The relationship of France and Germany started to strengthen by 1950's, which had successfully absorbed their various inequalities and differences (economic, diplomatic, and demographic) over the years. Soon in 1990's at Nice, the method was clearly tested by the leaders of Germany seeking and moderately achieving additional power and manipulated through revised voting weights in the European Union's institutions. "Although the deal was maintained as such, the mere fact of the challenge mounted to it by Germany amounted to its demise, and became part of a context in which any French monopoly on the intellectual leadership of the EU was exposed, as were French expectations of German compromise over divergent interests. By way of illustration, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had already challenged the French presidency before it began, in May 2000, by means of his speech, in which he proposed a vision of the future architecture of an enlarged Europe. Subsequent keynote speeches by French President and Prime Minister were inevitably seen as responses to the German initiative, rather than fresh ideas in their own right. Henceforth, French relations with its most favored partner would become less predictable and harder work. A re-launch of the relationship duly began shortly after the Nice summit and resumed in the autumn of 2002, having been interrupted in between by the final stages of the political cohabitation between President Chirac and Prime Minister Jospin; and by the elections of the year 2002. An ongoing 'unknown' in the relationship turns on France and Germany's stances towards the United States; German foreign and European policy is after all still in the making, as it makes its faltering transition from dependence on the USA to a more independent-thinking doctrine. Institutionally, the Franco-German tandem has certainly been strengthened, with new forms of cooperation at the level of the two countries' European ministers; a new look for the biannual summits; a number of initiatives underway, particularly at the regional level; and in September 2003, a joint call from Chirac and Schroder to revive the European Union's economy through an EU-wide growth plan." Not Available http://www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/italian/pdf/drake-paper.pdf (Accessed 24 February 2006) Treaty of Rome (1957) On 25th March 1957, in Rome two treaties were signed which helped in the development to the European Economic Community (EEC) and to European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Christian Pineau on behalf of France, and Konrad Adenauer from the Federal Republic of Germany and three other countries signed the treaty. The Treaties were approved by National Parliaments over the following months and came into action on 1st January 1958. "The Treaty founded the European Economic Community affirmed in its preamble that signatory States weredetermined to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe. In this way, the member States specifically affirmed the political objective of a progressive political integration.In fact, the brand new institution was a customs union. As a consequence, the EEC was colloquially known as "Common Market". The member countries agreed to dismantle all tariff barriers over a 12-year transitional period. In view of the economic success that freer commercial exchanges brought about, the transitory term was shortened and in July 1968 all tariffs among the EEC States were abrogated. At the same time, a common tariff was established for all products coming from third countries. As a matter of fact, the common market meant exclusively free circulation of goods. Free movement of persons, capitals and services continued to be subject to numerous limitations. It was necessary to wait until the Single European Act, in 1987, when a definitive boost was given to establish a genuine unified market. This brought about the European Union Treaty in 1992." The Treaty of Rome (1957) - The history of the European Union and European Citizenship http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/traroma.htm (Accessed 23 February 2006) The other important accord integrated in the Treaty ofRome was the implementation of a Common agricultural policy (CAP). Basically, the CAP endorsed a market of agricultural products which were free inside the EEC and established protectionist policies that assured enough profit to European farmers, evading rivalry from third countries' products by guaranteeing agricultural prices. The main intention was financing the CAP, the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) was established in 1962. The CAP has started gripping most of the district budget, and its reform has been one of the most badly needed in recent years. The Treaty of Rome helped in the prevention of monopolies; bring in some common policies, and awarded of some business-related rights to the royally territories of the member States. The Treaty implements the victory in a very reasonable approach to the construction of European Union. Succinctly, a process put in motion in which progressive economic integration was paving the way to the long term objective, the political union. The Treaty that introduced the European Atomic Energy Community made such a condition which causes to development of a strong nuclear industry. "It was much less important than the treaty that brought into existence the EEC and, in fact, when people speak about the treaties of Rome refers, incorrectly, to the one which established the EEC." The Treaty of Rome (1957) - The history of the European Union and European Citizenship http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/traroma.htm (Accessed 23 February 2006) References J. Robert Wegs and Robert Ladrech, Europe Since 1945A Concise History, Fourth Edition, (St. Martin'sPress: New York, 1996 0-312-27022-4. D. Dinan, Ever Closer Union, (Macmillan: Basingstoke, 1999) 0-337-73242-1 Mary Fulbrook (Ed.), Europe Since 1945, (Oxford University Press: London, 2001) 0-19-873178-7. J.W. Young, Cold War Europe 1945-1989: A Political History, (Arnold: London, 1996) 0-340-55324-3. History of the European Union from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union#History_of_European_integration (Accessed 24 February 2006) European Union - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_union (Accessed 18 February 2006) The Role of France and Germany in Today's and Tomorrow's Europe http://www.european-security.com/index.phplg=UK Helen Drake. Perspectives on French Attitudes towards the European Union. Relations between the EU and France are neither simple nor easy Excellency Bernard de Faubournet de Montferrand. French foreign policy towards Europe. Public lecture A socialist alternative to Europe http://www.marxist.com/Europe/socialisteurope.html (Accessed 18 February 2006) Capitalist Europe and its lies http://www.marxist.com/Europe/capitalist_EuropeCB0504.html (Accessed 18 February 2006) European elections confirm polarisation between the classes. http://www.marxist.com/Europe/euroelections_2004.html (Accessed 18 February 2006) EU Constitution debacle - The real nature of EU exposed. http://www.marxist.com/Europe/eu_debacle1203.html (Accessed 18 February 2006) The Treaty of Rome (1957) - The history of the European Union and European Citizenship http://www.historiasiglo20.org/europe/traroma.htm (Accessed 23 February 2006) Not Available http://www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/italian/pdf/drake-paper.pdf (Accessed 23 February 2006) Read More