Interview: 'French campaign lacking EU substance'[fr] 

Europe has become "an irritating topic" in French politics since the failed Constitution referendum of 2005, said Herzog, a former Communist member of the European Parliament who left the party in 1996 to found Confrontations Europe, an established European policy think-tank.

And, partly in fear of reigniting the debate, partly due to a lack of interest, most candidates so far prefer avoiding the issue. "In the end, candidates have little substantial things to say about the European project, they don't know how to respond," Herzog says.

"Our candidates want new common policies, for example on research and energy. But with what content?" asks Herzog who studied at the French elite "Ecole Polytechnique".

"The Left, in particular, is deeply divided," notes Herzog, who criticises the "spell-binding" proposals of Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate who recently promised "a more protective Europe" if elected in May.

"The general problem with the French Left is its hostility to the market [economy] when it is the necessary base on which to build new solidarities - solidarities for activity,not assistance," Herzog explains.

Herzog does not spare Royal's conservative rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, who joined the socialist candidate calls for eurozone countries to exercise greater political control over the European Central Bank (ECB), in a similar protectionist vein.

He says such attacks stem from a basic "misunderstanding": "The Union does not have a role to protect our state-run and worn-out social regime," he argues, "but it can make it more efficient and fairer."

"The single market and the single currency's contribution to the French economy are considerable. Without them, the Franc would be under attack and interest rates would be much higher," Herzog says, denouncing a French tendency, "particularly to the left", to "hide" the country's competitiveness problems behind "external scapegoats".

He dismisses claims that the EU is merely a liberal structure, saying that is has put in place ambitious environmental and consumer-protection policies as well as regional funds to balance market integration with solidarity mechanisms.

What France should be debating, he says, is the type of market economy it wants in Europe, "not the principle of the market".

"France will be better heard if it finally accepts the European market and if, on this foundation, it proposes to structure the market with public goods," he continues, saying that the EU "should not protect against globalisation but help in facing it".

Herzog admits that Sarkozy is "more modest" than his socialist rival when it comes to the EU's institutional future, saying that Royal's calls to negotiate a new treaty to be approved by another referendum will lead to "an impasse" since many countries have rejected such an ambitious option.

"A new 'No' would trigger a very serious crisis," Herzog warns. "It would be more reasonable to envisage a Parliamentary ratification, as Mr Sarkozy has done," he says, adding that national referendums "are more akin to a right of veto than to a democratic exercise".

To break the current deadlock and relaunch Europe, Herzog proposes that a new treaty be adopted that would take up merely the main institutional reforms of the EU Constitution: a more stable Council Presidency, external policy, democratic advances, double majority voting, etc.

In a second step, a series of concrete projects would be launched on topics such as energy, environment, education and the knowledge economy. The projects would be launched on the Single Act model of political co-operation introduced by Jacques Delors in 1986 to launch the EU internal market and the single currency.

"Today, a new Single Act…would allow moving forward on projects that would make the Union stronger in the face of globalisation," says Herzog. 

But he warns that "the spirit of responsibility of France, Great Britain and Germany will be decisive" to do this as "the spirit of compromise" of other member states seems to him "far less problematic".

Click here to read the full interview (in French)