Tag: France

The European Commission yesterday (25 July) ruled that Italy and France did not breach EU rules by adopting their own measures to deal with an influx of migrants from Tunisia earlier this year, but failed to respect the "spirit" of the Schengen agreement.

France is "moving towards constructive realism" regarding the European Union, said the country's new European affairs minister, Jean Leonetti. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv.fr, he defended France's long-standing positions on agriculture and disputed a proposed increase of the EU budget.

EU leaders are too focused on the short term of upcoming elections and lack a strategic vision to give new impetus to European integration and better connect with citizens, said Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in an interview with EurActiv.

G20 farm ministers struck a deal yesterday (23 June) to tackle high food prices, agreeing to a watered-down declaration that fell short of France's ambitious proposals to tighten regulation of commodity markets.

The European Commission's proposed changes to the Schengen rules would not lead to any 'renationalisation' of borders and the EU would retain authority as to when internal border checks are reinstated, argues Yves Pascouau of the European Policy Centre.

The European Commission published yesterday (4 May) a proposal to better manage migration, following the diplomatic tensions between Paris and Rome over an arrival of some 25,000 illegal immigrants from Tunisia. The Commission paper was welcomed by the European People's Party and the Greens, and strongly criticised by the Socialists and Liberals.

The Chancellor of Austria, Social Democrat Werner Faymann, joined anti-nuclear activists on Monday (25 April) to call for a public campaign to eliminate nuclear power in the European Union. His aides now say the Chancellor hopes to mobilise public opinion to prompt the launch of a European Citizens' Initiative.

Italy and France will today (26 April) discuss changing rules that scrap border checks between EU countries, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits Rome seeking to ease tensions over North African immigration following the Arab revolutions.

The French government has backed a draft bill that would ban shale gas drilling in the country, citing fears that the extraction method is a risk to water quality. However, for other countries like Poland, shale gas has become a national priority to win independence from Russian imports. EurActiv France reports.

The Italian government gave its green light yesterday (7 April) to a decree allowing economic migrants from Tunisia to move freely throughout the Schengen area for a three-month period. France said it could re-establish border controls.

More than 40 governments and international organisations are meeting today (29 March) in London to try to lay the groundwork for a Libya without leader Muammar Gaddafi.

France was right to take decisive action to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from unleashing a bloodbath in Benghazi, and the distance between positions of Paris took from Berlin would not threaten Franco-German relations, Dominique Moïsi, founder and senior advisor at Ifri (the French Institute for International Relations), told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday (21 March) admitted they were divided over how to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, but agreed to extend sanctions on the Gaddafi regime and carry on offering humanitarian assistance.

France and the UK made a last-effort yesterday (16 March) to urge the UN Security Council to back a draft resolution that would include a no-fly zone over Libya. As the international community appears unwilling to take action, Muammar Gaddafi's troops are preparing to launch "a mortal blow" on rebel capital Benghazi.

MEPs and prominent professionals in the media world warned yesterday (3 March) that press freedom had deteriorated badly in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, but also Italy and France, and called on the EU institutions to spearhead a wide-ranging "reconquest" of basic rights across the European Union.

Although France's opposition to Turkish accession creates tension in the two countries' relations, events in Southern Mediterranean offer a unique opportunity for strategic cooperation between the European Union and Turkey, writes Sinan Ülgen, a former diplomat, visiting scholar with Carnegie Europe in Brussels and president of Turkish think-tank EDAM in Istanbul.

The controversy surrounding the Hungarian media law has triggered heated comments in EU circles, but few bothered to look at the situation in other countries. EurActiv's network takes up the challenge with this first article focusing on the EU's two largest members, France and Germany.

For a second week, French Foreign Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie has been under mounting pressure to resign for having used the jet of a Tunisian businessman while on holiday. Yesterday (8 February), however, it was the turn of Prime Minister François Fillon himself to fight accusations that he accepted official Egyptian hospitality during a private trip.

New Front National leader Marine Le Pen will campaign against Brussels as a threat to French independence, heritage and jobs, Sylvain Crépon, a researcher at Nanterre University and an expert on the far right, told EurActiv.fr in an interview.

Angered by France and Germany's decision to postpone Romania's accession to the EU's border-free Schengen area, Bucharest has warned that it could unilaterally leave an EU mechanism to monitor its law-enforcement system. Romania also said it would insist that the same mechanism be applied to Croatia. EurActiv Romania reports.

France produced new arguments yesterday (8 December) to support its position that Romania and Bulgaria are not ready to the join Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone, citing poor border and immigration controls.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reappointed trusted ally François Fillon as prime minister and named new defence and foreign ministers yesterday (14 November) in a reshuffle aimed at shoring up his position 18 months before a presidential poll.

The EU's REACH regulation requires companies to register all their dangerous chemical products and those they use in large quantities by 30 November. Yet in France, some manufacturers run the risk of missing the deadline as they are unaware that the law applies to them. EurActiv France reports.

French parliamentarians are divided on whether to change the way the European Union is financed after the European Commission presented proposals this week to give the EU its own resources to fund the budget. EurActiv France reports.