[A-List] EU integration struggles: UK/France/Germany

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

UK fears resurgent Franco-German axis

Patrick Wintour
Wednesday November 20, 2002
The Guardian

The French president, Jacques Chirac, and Tony Blair will meet this week on
the margins of the Nato summit amid growing British concern that a
Franco-German axis is once again taking a grip of the EU's future, which may
include the election of a new super-president for Europe.

The French government remains furious at the rebuke directed at President
Chirac by Tony Blair over the common agricultural policy (CAP) at the EU
summit in Brussels.

The dispute led to the suspension of an Anglo-French summit due to be staged
at Le Touquet in December. No new date for the summit has been agreed, and
the timetable may now slip until February.

French diplomatic sources have warned that a further attempt to reopen the
CAP budget debate by Mr Blair will be regarded as "a declaration of war".

The French are incensed at the British imputation that the CAP, fiercely
defended by President Chirac, acts as a brake on the economies of developing
countries.

Alain Juppé, the former French prime minister and founder of the rightwing
alliance that led to the re-election of Jacques Chirac, held talks with Mr
Blair yesterday, partly to see if a rapprochement could be achieved.

He claimed that Mr Blair had acknowledged that the outcome of the
discussions on Europe's future in the convention may yet influence Britain's
stance on the euro.

Mr Juppé, speaking after the meeting, said: "He [Mr Blair] made a link -
this will be of interest in France - between the entry of the UK into the
euro and the result of the convention and the reform of the institutions."

Some British officials are concerned that the Franco-British disagreement
may strengthen the Franco-German relationship, reducing British influence
within the EU at a key moment.

In the first of three joint statements, Paris and Berlin issued a common
defence policy for Europe on Monday, which was initially welcomed by
Britain.

The French and the Germans will produce two further joint position papers in
the next few weeks, including a new EU-wide policy on justice and home
affairs as well as a position paper on the convention on the future of
Europe, the organisation compiling a new draft treaty on Europe.

The paper on justice and home affairs is likely to call for a fuller role
for the EU through a common asylum policy based on majority voting.

The French remain puzzled by what they see as Mr Blair highlighting
differences with the French over the CAP, and more recently over European
defence. They believe he is behaving foolishly because the British need the
French to help deliver German support on key aspects of the future of Europe
debate.

They also remain angry at the way in which the British publicly sided so
strongly with President Bush on Iraq, forcing the French to work hard to win
support for the idea of a second meeting of the UN security council to
discuss any material breach.

The joint Franco-German statement on the future of Europe debate is likely
to prove difficult to draft.

The Germans, under the influence of its foreign minister, Joschka Fischer,
have been pushing for a stronger role for the commission in the reworked EU
constitution.

Britain and France have been pushing for a stronger role for the council of
ministers.

In a search for a compromise, France has urged Germany to back a new
super-presidency of the EU.

According to diplomats, the single appointed leader would head the European
commission and the European council of EU leaders.

Paris initially backed a proposal by Britain to strengthen the power of
member states by creating a long-term president of the council, inevitably a
rival to the authority of the president of the commission, the EU's
bureaucracy.

Berlin had wanted to boost the federal institutions by having the commission
president elected by the European parliament.

Whitehall sources recognise that the French and Germans are trying to revive
the motor that has always been at the heart of the EU. "They need to make a
big push, but they are struggling to find common cause on a range of
issues," said one source.