Abstract:

As from July 1 of this year France will have the presidency of the European Union. The intergovernmental conference that began in February 2000 its work of reforming the Union before the next new members join will therefore constitute the main challenge facing this presidency. The French authorities have chosen to restrict the agenda to the difficult issues that were left in abeyance at Amsterdam: size and composition of the Commission, weighting of votes on the Council and scope of use of a qualified majority and to a reform of reinforced cooperation. This technical agenda does not measure up to the political challenge that enlargement represents. It squares ill with the determination that France is still showing to build a 'powerful Europe', a political Europe. Will France remain, along with Germany, in the vanguard of the building of the Union, or will she slip back to the rearguard in the name of a form of pragmatism bordering on resignation?


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