Brussels, 14/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Relations between France and the European Commission are looking good, if one is to set store by the statements made on Thursday 14 April after the meeting in Brussels between Commission President José Manuel Barroso and French Prime Minister François Fillon. Barroso said the views of the Commission and France coincided on the broad thrust of European issues. Relations between the two are “stamped with great trust”, according to Fillon.
The French prime minister said that the usefulness of the European budget, and in particular its major policies (common agricultural policy, regional policy, external aid and research) “is not being called into question by anyone”. He stressed that spending in the next multiannual financial framework (2014-2020) must be frozen. “We call for the same effort from the European budget as is being required of national budgets, that is, no increase in spending”, he said. The forthcoming talks “will take place against a background of severe constraint for national budgets”, he went on, adding: “This constraint must be taken into account here, in Brussels”. “Under no circumstances must agriculture be relegated to a second tier European priority. We will be very vigilant on this”, Fillon made clear. The idea of a European VAT was not one that France liked, he confirmed. France, however, “is not closed to innovations on own resources for the European budget”. These resources must, however, reduce the burden on states, not make it heavier. In December, France and four other countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom, called for the EU budget to be frozen until 2020. See the related article on points related to the influx of migrants from the southern rim of the Mediterranean.
Several areas where economic work has to be done “are still ahead of us, before the European Council in June”, Barroso said. “France and the Commission have always had strong ambition on European economic governance, on coordination of European economic policies. What has been done over the past year has been a massive step forward”, the Commission president said. Now agreement had to be found in June on the governance proposals put forward by the Commission to strengthen the stability and growth pact and limit economic imbalances within the EU. (L.C./transl.rt)