EU - FRANCE
France in favour of EU enlargement
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
France, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in mid-2008, is in favour of further enlargement of the bloc, according to Europe minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
By AFP
France, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in mid-2008, is in favour of further enlargement of the bloc, its Europe minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said in an interview out Tuesday.
Jouyet told the Financial Times newspaper that further expansion of the 27-member EU "does not make me worried" and France would push for the eventual integration of Balkan states, including Serbia.
Bosnia and Croatia are already angling to join, with support from Greece for the accession of Albania and Montenegro. Romania and Bulgaria were the last to join the EU on January 1 last year.
Jouyet said Paris's attitude towards Europe had changed since French voters rejected the EU constitution at a referendum in 2005.
"We have crossed a very important rubicon in the last two years in terms of European integration," he told the business daily in a dispatch from Paris.
"We used to believe that a federal Europe was necessary for a more deeply integrated union and that enlargement would counter this and prevent Europe from working effectively. We have now overcome this contradiction."
Unlike its neighbour Britain, France is opposed to Turkish membership of the European Union and Jouyet accepted that not enough had been done to make the case for enlargement in France.
Jouyet's comments come after the French government last month outlined an institutional reform bill, which included plans to shelve the requirement to hold a referendum to approve the entry of a new EU member state.
France assumes the six-month EU presidency from Slovenia in July. Jouyet said his government's ambition was that "Europe gets moving once more and that France regains its role".
Priorities were a larger role for Brussels in defence and security, energy and the environment, a Europe-wide agreement on immigration and new regulation of financial markets after the squeeze on the global credit markets.
Jouyet told the Financial Times newspaper that further expansion of the 27-member EU "does not make me worried" and France would push for the eventual integration of Balkan states, including Serbia.
Bosnia and Croatia are already angling to join, with support from Greece for the accession of Albania and Montenegro. Romania and Bulgaria were the last to join the EU on January 1 last year.
Jouyet said Paris's attitude towards Europe had changed since French voters rejected the EU constitution at a referendum in 2005.
"We have crossed a very important rubicon in the last two years in terms of European integration," he told the business daily in a dispatch from Paris.
"We used to believe that a federal Europe was necessary for a more deeply integrated union and that enlargement would counter this and prevent Europe from working effectively. We have now overcome this contradiction."
Unlike its neighbour Britain, France is opposed to Turkish membership of the European Union and Jouyet accepted that not enough had been done to make the case for enlargement in France.
Jouyet's comments come after the French government last month outlined an institutional reform bill, which included plans to shelve the requirement to hold a referendum to approve the entry of a new EU member state.
France assumes the six-month EU presidency from Slovenia in July. Jouyet said his government's ambition was that "Europe gets moving once more and that France regains its role".
Priorities were a larger role for Brussels in defence and security, energy and the environment, a Europe-wide agreement on immigration and new regulation of financial markets after the squeeze on the global credit markets.
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