French politicians try to catch up with ‘Brussels’

After the shock of the lost EU Constitution referendum, the French are slowly waking up to their lack of knowledge about EU affairs. But surprisingly, even the political elite seem to have some catching up to do about ‘Brussels’.

A group of nineteen elected representatives from the French National Assembly and a handful of senators were on a visit to Brussels on 30 and 31 January, in what was the second in a series of trips to Brussels and Strasbourg organised by France’s Minister-Delegate for Europe, Catherine Colonna.

The idea to organise the visits came in the wake of the Constitution debacle of May 2005 when a majority of French people rejected the EU’s draft Constitutional Treaty in a referendum that President Chirac had called. Instead of the plebiscite he had hoped for, Mr Chirac had to come to terms with the fact that the ‘European project’ no longer enjoyed the unconditional popular support it had earned over decades with the Franco-German ‘motor’ setting the tone on European issues.

The Constitution campaign revealed that the French knew little about EU politics and reduced ‘Brussels’ to a bunch of unelected Commission technocrats spelling out liberal economic policies. This realisation prompted Mr Chirac to instruct his government to take action.

But it became apparent that even the members of the National Assembly and the Senate knew little about EU affairs. A series of measures were thus adopted to bridge the information gap with France’s elected representatives in the hope that they would bring the EU debate to their constituencies.

Debates are now systematically being organised in the French parliament before every EU summit. Ministers were told to report systematically about the outcome of each Council meeting and to lay down the main issues before the Assembly. Regular visits to Brussels and Strasbourg are being organised to strengthen the parliament’s relations with EU institutions. At the local level, regional assemblies are now required to hold at least one or two debates on Europe every year. 

At the government level, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin now holds a monthly meeting with the ministers involved to debate issues of current interest in the EU. Five such meetings have already taken place since they were introduced at the end of June last year. Discussions have focussed for instance on national economic reform programmes (the Barroso Commission’s renewed Lisbon strategy), the services directive and the review of the EU’s transport policy.

Efforts are also being made to involve French civil society in European affairs. Every six months, at the start of every EU Presidency, Colonna holds a meeting with the ‘social partners’ (trade unions and employers) to discuss EU issues. These meetings can also be convened on special occasions to discuss topical issues of current EU interest such as the services directive.

But, it appears that the lack of knowledge about Europe also has deeper roots – in the education system. A senior aide to Catherine Colonna – a graduate from the prestigious Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) that has produced nearly every French minister and head of state since World War II – told EURACTIV that, only five years ago, the EU was missing from the ENA’s examination programme. 

To make up for this a decision was made in December last year to set up special training sessions to keep civil servants in the French administration abreast of EU issues and its decision-making mechanism.

However, communicating Europe to the wider public in France seems like a much taller order due to lack of media interest. Speaking to MPs on a visit to Brussels on 30 January, Marc Paolini, the Brussels correspondent for French economic daily ‘La Tribune’, drew attention to the low level of representation of French papers and TV channels in Brussels. Indeed, France’s most popular TV channel, TF1, does not even have a permanent correspondent in the Belgian capital.