..Futuribile

L'Osservatore europeo

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and former finance  minister of France Dominique Strauss-Kahn proposed the establishment of a bilateral union between France and Germany to accelerate European integration.

Their proposal was  published in Le Monde and Süddeutsche Zeitung on 18 June.  

Issues:
The proposal, co-authored by French Socialist Party  member Henri Nallet and French historian Jean-Noël Jeanneney, gives concrete  proposals to re-launch the faltering Franco-German motor which drives the EU integration  process. The four socialists warn that Franco-German co-operation has  deteriorated in recent years, and say that a bilateral Union would reverse this tendency.  

The Franco-German Union would be active in several  areas: economy, science and research, higher education, language teaching, audiovisual media (based on the model of Franco-German television Arte), foreign affairs, military issues.   The French plan envisages close co-operation of  French and German defence industries. It also recommends the creation of an "economic  government", responsible for the common European currency, the euro.  

The proposal includes a joint Congress, consisting of  members of the French and German parliaments.

Background:
The proposal would bypass the EU's principle of  "enhanced co-operation", adopted at the Summit of Nice in December 2000. The authors of the proposal criticise this principle as too cumbersome and unclear. The authors say that the  bilateral Union would remain open to other EU Member States who wish to join  it in order to accelerate the process of European integration.

Pagina iniziale - Europa apparente - Europa reale - Europa futuribile - Approfondimenti - Segnalibri - Mappa sito