Brussels, 21/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - With the European elections in May 2014, “what is also at stake is the influence of France within the European institutions”, said France's Minister of European Affairs Thierry Repentin when visiting Brussels on Tuesday 21 January. He was there to attend the intergovernmental conference that launched Serbia's EU accession negotiations.
Among the important posts that France might want - as the renewal of the European Commission and the end of the current presidency of the European Council fast approach - Repentin mentioned the portfolios that would allow “leverage” in the areas of employment and economic growth. He also spoke about “the presidency of the Eurogroup”, which could become a full-time post (separate from that of the European commissioner for the euro) so as to establish a true economic government of the euro within the eurozone. As well as the political posts, Repentin hailed the recent appointment of Dominique Ristori as director-general of DG Energy at the European Commission. France is also said to want to be at the head of economic and monetary affairs. By contrast, with regard to Michel Barnier's desire to lead the Christian-Democrats at the European elections, and - should it win - be president of the Commission, Repentin did not believe that the French Socialist government should interfere in the internal affairs of a competing party. France's President François Hollande said that he would respect the result of the European elections, Repentin stated.
After Hollande's statements (see EUROPE 10996), the French government is working hard on proposals for concrete Franco-German initiatives ahead of the two countries' joint ministerial meeting on 19 February. The “energy transition” represents “a fabulous source of jobs”, but the “digital” industry could also have been spoken about, said Repentin. The objective is to coordinate better the research work led by France and Germany in areas such as “solar power, storage and intelligent energy management”, he added. Other objectives include “economic and fiscal convergence”, with the introduction of a minimum wage in some sectors of activity in Germany helping to move the boundaries. In addition, Repentin stated that the Franco-German ambition is permitted because on neither side of the Rhine is a big election planned for some time after the European elections.
Banking union. Aware of the European Parliament's hostility towards the Council's position on the single bank resolution issue (see EUROPE 11000), Repentin called on the member states for a real effort to explain “the distance covered” in 18 months in a “difficult” context. This issue is nevertheless moving “in a direction where the Community aspect is clearly included”, said Repentin, who was pleased that MEPs favour an agreement rather than stalemate. Work on an intergovernmental treaty for the rise to power of the single resolution funds and the Council being granted the right of scrutiny in order to stop a process of bank resolution - two points completely rejected by the Parliament - have little chance of being refused.
Lastly, Repentin called for the quick adoption of the revised rules on posting workers so as to enable states to check the way contracts are executed on their territory. (MB/transl.fl)