19 June 2013

Reuters: French EU-wariness complicates life for Hollande

A feeling in France that the European Union no longer works in its interest is fuelling tensions between Paris and Brussels and adding pressure on President François Hollande to be more assertive in Europe.

Successive Europe-wide polls show that disenchantment with the EU is rising fastest in France, a founder member whose battle to reform its ailing economy has now become the top preoccupation of the 27-nation bloc. Anti-EU groups such as the National Front have latched onto the public mood of frustration to secure opinion poll gains. The mainstream French left and right are struggling to define their stances on Europe before early 2014 European Parliament elections, where both fear heavy losses to populist parties.

The instinctively pro-European Hollande is not about to tilt French policy in a eurosceptic direction. But such anxieties set the stage for France's lone stance last week to ring-fence cinema and other cultural goods from talks on an EU-US free trade pact, to the dismay of Brussels and some European capitals.

When the Commission last month issued a detailed list of reforms it wants from Paris in return for a two-year reprieve to narrow its budget deficit, a peeved Hollande fired back that it was not for Brussels to "dictate" to France. While his response irked allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it reflects a domestic French reality of which Hollande is only too aware: if he is to reform sensitive areas such as pensions, it must not be seen to be at Brussels' bidding. An EU plan to cut air travel times and costs across Europe fell foul of French air traffic controllers last week who walked off the job to protest at moves they say threaten security and their working conditions. France, this time joined by Germany, told EU authorities to freeze the project.

France's right remains in disarray on Europe, with a wide cleavage between pro-sovereignty and pro-integration wings potentially meaning the centre-right UMP struggles to go into the elections on a united platform.

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© Reuters