Barnier said that France should hold a national debate, as with Germany or Britain, on what it wants out of the European Union, without waiting for Berlin to define the next stage in European integration.
Michel Barnier urged President François Hollande to appoint a cross-party panel of elder statesmen to report on French interests in Europe and lead a debate on the next steps towards closer union. He said Paris should take advantage of the fact that 2013 was a transitional year in which European diplomacy would be on hold due to elections in Italy and Germany to develop its own agenda for future integration.
Those could include issues close to French hearts such as a common industrial policy, a legal basis to protect public services under EU competition policy, and possibly mutualising some national tax resources to fund pan-eurozone policies.
"If you don't debate and screen these ideas, you end up in a position of total weakness", Barnier said. "(Chancellor) Angela Merkel is not afraid to talk about Europe in the German national debate. In France, there is a general fear of debating this."
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