Conference of the European Parliament committee chairmen – Statement by M. Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Minister of State responsible for European Affairs

Strasbourg, 20 May 2008

It is a tremendous pleasure to be here with you in Strasbourg today to present how France is preparing for its coming presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Politically speaking, this presentation marks France’s entry into the home straight of preparations for the forthcoming six months. I have already had the pleasure of meeting some of you as well as the chairmen of the political groups and – very regularly – the President Hans Gert Pöttering with whom I have an extremely open and candid relationship. All of these exchanges have been most useful to us in preparing for the tasks that lie ahead in the second half of this year and I would like to thank you for accepting and contributing to this regular dialogue. I can assure you that President Sarkozy, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs are absolutely determined for this French presidency to serve the European public interest and to work as closely as possible with the European Parliament to achieve these common goals.

1. This presidency comes at a significant time for the European Union.

LISBON TREATY

1.1. Ratification is under way for the Treaty of Lisbon.

This treaty, which gives the EU’s institutions fresh momentum, is a decisive tool for Europe to define and conduct the policies that European citizens want.

Once ratified, this treaty will apply as of 1 January 2009 and it is up to all the institutions to prepare for its entry into force. And, as I have already had the opportunity of saying to Chairman Saryusz-Wolski and Chairman Leinen, the French presidency will ensure that the European Parliament plays its full role in the consultations that will be held.

EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS/RENEWAL

1.2. For the EU, 2009 will be marked by the renewal of the European institutions.

The European elections will be held in June 2009, just before the appointment of a new Commission in November. This implies a particularly heavy legislative agenda and a larger volume of texts than usual being debated during the French presidency. If all this work is to be done, particular attention needs to be paid to Council and Parliamentary inter-institutional coordination, extending well beyond the budget procedure for 2009.

FRENCH EU PRESIDENCY PRIORITIES

2. President Sarkozy and the Prime Minister have set four main priorities for the second half of 2008.

ENERGY

2.1. The first concerns the energy-climate package and EU energy policy.

This is a subject on which the European Parliament is already largely mobilized since the publication of the Commission’s proposals on 23 January this year. The French presidency’s ambition, determined by the conclusions of the last European Council meeting in March, is to arrive at a political agreement in the Council on the entire package this year and, if possible, at the first reading with your Assembly (or in the early weeks of 2009). This is a key element of the exemplariness we want for Europe to strengthen its driving role in the international climate negotiations in the run-up to the Copenhagen Conference in 2009. The Ministre d’Etat, Jean-Louis Borloo, and I have raised this point with Chairmen Niebler and Ouzky. In addition to the energy-climate package, the French presidency will make energy security proposals concerning both the European Union itself and its relations with its major partners, especially Russia.

MIGRATION

2.2. The second priority concerns migration.

Europe is subject to substantial demographic and economic pressures. This raises the necessity to coordinate the Member States’ actions and ensure their consistency with Community policies. We need to see how far we can improve the harmonization and sharing of our policies on asylum applications and reception and integration, as well as our concrete actions to combat illegal immigration and advance shared development. This is why the future French presidency would like to see political commitments made in the form of a European Immigration and Asylum Pact to be adopted by the European Council, in full consideration of the legislative agenda and the Commission’s communications.

I am aware of the importance of the issues surrounding the area of freedom, security and justice in your Assembly and I have already had the opportunity of discussing this subject with Chairman Deprez. It is of major political consequence for Europe to have common principles governing the response to growing migratory pressures. The French presidency will therefore pay particular attention to the European Parliament’s concerns and suggestions regarding the Pact and to a smooth transition to co-decision for texts on legal migration.

EUROPEAN SECURITY AND DEFENCE

2.3. The third priority concerns European security and defence.

Europe, a major industrial, agricultural, economic and financial power, is not the global player it should be in the world today.

In keeping with the conclusions of the European Council meeting of December 2007, the European Security Strategy should be updated to take into account the EU’s enlargement since 2003 and new threats such as food security, energy security, non-proliferation and cyberdefence.

The increase in the number of crises also calls for Europeans to step up their military and civilian capabilities. The lessons learned from the ESDP operations show that, despite the work already done to develop these capabilities, the Member States need to do more in this area. The ESDP will be bolstered in complementarity with NATO. President Sarkozy has an extremely strong political commitment to this, the sensitiveness of which Chairman Saryusz-Wolski and many others of you are aware.

CAP

2.4. The fourth priority will cover the Common Agricultural Policy.

First of all, there is the particularly topical subject of the CAP Health Check since the Commission publishes its proposals today. We hope to complete this task during the French presidency with the cooperation of Chairman Parish, who is in regular contact with Michel Barnier. Then there is the launch of discussions on the way forward for the CAP. In the current global environment of heightened food imbalances and the surge in certain product prices, the aim is to define certain common principles for the CAP of the future: correction of world food imbalances, environment, geographical balances, food quality, etc.

OTHER EU PRIORITIES

2.5. I obviously cannot cover all the issues at this point and, if you have no objection, I would like to leave as much time as possible for your questions.

In what has been a stormy environment for the financial markets since last summer, our ambition will be to make progress with the principles of transparency and the responsibility of financial players. We will also pay close attention to building the competitiveness of the European economy and especially its SMEs. This is precisely the purpose of the proposals that the Commission will make with its Small Business Act. Another core track of our action will be to boost the social dimension of EU action and mobility, especially mobility in education and lifelong learning (Comenius, Leonardo and Erasmus), the research policy and the cultural dimension of Europe. I might take a moment in this address to mention the Barcelona Process that France wishes, along with the Commission and the other Member States, to deepen to give it fresh momentum. In keeping with the conclusions of the last European Council meeting, France will hold a Union for the Mediterranean summit on 13 July with a view to developing concrete regional projects involving the Member States and the Southern Mediterranean countries on a voluntary basis.

FRENCH EU PRESIDENCY PREPARATION

3. Political and administrative preparations are well under way for the French presidency

3.1. The French presidency intends to uphold the continuity of the successive Presidencies’ work.

The Slovenian presidency of the Council, with its noteworthy diligence and high quality, has already coordinated with our presidency on a good number of subjects.

In addition, as is now customary, France is preparing a “trio” programme with the next two Presidencies to structure the Council’s work over an 18-month period and ensure its consistency through the renewal of the institutions that I have briefly described.

3.2. The organization of the different Council events is being finalized with the General Secretariat of the Council.

All the dates have now been set for the members of the government to present the French presidency’s priorities to the committees.

3.3. A number of parliamentary committees will visit France – Paris, but also the regions – before and during the presidency, as did the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on 14 April this year and as will the Budgets Committee and Reimer Boge – whom I will have the pleasure of welcoming to the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs – at the end of this week. I will also, along with Bernard Kouchner, be available to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 June and the Constitutional Affairs Committee on 9 October.

To conclude, allow me simply to repeat that I am entirely at your disposal throughout the French presidency, and I look forward, Mr Chairman, to 21 October when I will be delighted to return at your invitation to review how France’s presidency of the Council is progressing.

I will now be pleased to answer your questions./.