Interview given by M. Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Minister of State responsible for European Affairs, to “France Inter” (excerpts)
Paris, 1 October 2008
Q. – (…) To paraphrase Bernard Guetta: is the crisis “an opportunity” for the EU?
THE MINISTER – Listen, a crisis is never an opportunity for the public at large, for those who are victims of it. But as Bernard Guetta stressed, it has shown – through examples of its foreign policy on one hand, the conflict between Georgia and Russia, and, on the other, what’s currently happening in the financial world – that the EU was revising a number of its dogmas, that it was capable of taking action, and doing so fast. We have to face the fact that the French presidency has become a crisis-management presidency. (…)
G4 MEETING
Q. – This subject [European Central Bank action in response to the financial crisis] is on the table for Saturday’s G4, if I’m not mistaken?
THE MINISTER – You need to bear in mind the fact that there are several series of meetings. The first concerns the proposals on international coordination. I.e. in the face of this crisis, there has to be international regulation which is going to crystallize, particularly at next week’s G7 Finance Ministers’ meeting, in the margins of the annual IMF and World Bank meetings. To prepare these, it’s legitimate for the European Union States and institutions participating in them to coordinate their positions beforehand, i.e. France, Italy, Britain and Germany, together with the President of the Commission, President of the Eurogroup, who represents our common currency, the euro, and, quite obviously, the President of the European Central Bank. They are going to prepare what Europe is going to say to its partners next week. And then there’s a second series of meetings to prepare the measures Europe is going to take, at its level, at the 15 October European Council. This Council will in large part be devoted to the heads of State and government’s analysis of the economic and financial situation and how to strengthen the measures regulating and monitoring risks…
Q. – That means a European policeman, for example?
THE MINISTER – It would mean we’d have to move towards having a European policeman when it comes to the operation of the markets, when it comes to supervision of the banks and insurance companies. It would mean strengthening European regulators for everything to do with the financial mechanisms, but I don’t want to be too technical.
Q. – Are our partners agreed on that?
THE MINISTER – I think there is broad agreement that today is no longer like yesterday: the dogmas which prevailed at European level regarding free competition and prohibiting State aid are no longer acceptable. Today, regulation is essentially national whilst the majority of groups are transnational and risks can affect several European countries. This necessitates a different way of organizing regulation at European level. And here, it’s indeed true, we lack a policeman and an organization (…)./.