Tag: France

France and Germany could become the avant-garde of cross-border energy cooperation and could set the standards for all of Europe, writes Georg Zachmann.

No major announcement marked the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, perhaps unsurprisingly, but the adoption of two new texts shows the French and Germans are still making steps towards further cooperation. EurActiv France reports.

Despite tensions over the management of the eurozone debt crisis, the Franco-German relation has bright days ahead of itself, according to Thomas Klau, head of the Paris Office at the European Council on Foreign Relations. The two countries celebrate today (21 January) the 50 years of the signing of the Elysée Treaty.

Three-quarters of French and 70% of Germans want their countries to harmonise tax and fiscal policy, according to an opinion poll carried out for the German Embassy in Paris. EurActiv France reports.

The leaders of France and Italy pledged on Monday (3 December) to push ahead with a high-speed rail link between Lyon and Turin despite a row over EU spending.

Moody's stripped France of its prized triple-A badge yesterday (19 November), cutting the sovereign credit rating on Europe's No. 2 economy by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, citing an uncertain fiscal outlook and deteriorating economy.

France’s plan to merge its railway and infrastructure operations has drawn criticism and a call for the European Commission to block the move.

A controversial study pointing to health risks from a type of genetically modified maize and a related pesticide did not provide grounds for questioning previous safety approvals, the French government said on Monday (22 October). But Paris also urged the EU to revamp its food safety procedures and said it would maintain its national moratorium on GM goods.

With 477 votes in favour and only 70 against, the French National Assembly approved the EU treaty on budget discipline yesterday (9 October), giving François Hollande's ruling Socialists the majority it needed to pass the pact without support from the Conservative opposition. EurActiv France reports.

France has decided to use the money generated by the Emissions Trading System for carbon dioxide to fund an ambitious energy-efficient renovation programme announced by President François Hollande. EurActiv.fr reports.

France's Socialist-led government today (19 September) kickstarts ratification of a European Union budget discipline pact it grudgingly accepts as the next step out of the euro debt crisis. Meanwhile, another EU treaty for further political integration is already in the pipeline.

France's government begins a review of the world's most nuclear-dependent country's energy policy on Friday (14 September), strongly in support of its small and ailing renewables sector in an effort to boost local jobs and growth.

It is doubtful that all 27 EU members can agree to start treaty negotiations within the next few years. But a smaller vanguard of member states could agree on treaty changes which could be adopted by the other partners later on, Thomas Fischer from the Bertelsmann Stiftung told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The President and the Director of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Chibo Onyeji and Michael Privot, send an open letter to EU Commissioner Viviane Reding and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault regarding the situation of the Roma in France.

The French government will ask the Cyprus EU presidency to put the question of Roma inclusion on the agenda of the 18-19 October European summit, the government announced yesterday (22 August).

A slim majority of French, 52%, want the new European Union budgetary treaty to go to a referendum, while 53% say they would vote yes, says a study by French market research group OpinionWay. EurActiv.fr reports.

VoteWatch Europe has released its first-ever report examining national voting trends in the Council of the European Union. The survey provides new insights into the main areas of disagreement and could help reveal which member states are ‘most difficult’.

The outcome of Greece's 17 June election disappointed Europe not because of the choice it made, but because the country was crippled with indecision, says George Friedman. The analysis was first published by Stratfor.

French President François Hollande met yesterday (14 June) with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, making it clear he was building alliances with leaders in Rome and Madrid who back his challenge to German-imposed austerity.

As French citizens in Benelux countries prepare to elect their first representative at the French National Assembly, Tanguy Le Breton, an independent centrist candidate, argues for better visibility of European issues via a directly-elected President of the European Commission.

As French citizens in Benelux countries prepare to elect their first representative at the French National Assembly, Perrine Ledan, the Green party candidate, argues for maintaining development aid as a cornerstone of European policy.

Despite claims that there should be "no taboo" subjects on the table, French officials who were visiting Brussels for the first time yesterday (29 May) since the Presidential election, appeared hesitant to take the big federalist leap that Germany and others in the European Union are asking for in return for greater solidarity in the euro zone.

Though a Socialist, François Hollande’s relations with Angela Merkel are likely to remain within the framework of France’s long-term ‘Gaullist’ strategy of maintaining European power in the world and French influence in Europe, argues George Friedman.

François Hollande’s election as president of France has been hailed as a decisive shift of the political balance in the European Union, but the policies he will actually push for in Brussels remain unclear, EurActiv France reports.