Paris, 28/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, said after her talks last week with President Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin that she expected the French Presidency during the second half of this year to be very dynamic. According to a press release published after her official visit to France, Ms Fontaine noted that the President of the Republic was "very open" on the subject of the Charter on Fundamental Rights (Jacques Chirac said he was in favour of a simple and clear framework that may be included in the treaty, and if necessary more detailed legal directions for use, states the press release). Mr Jospin shared above all the wish expressed by the European Parliament to make a priority of food safety while the ministers for foreign affairs and European affairs, Hubert Védrine and Pierre Moscovici, showed themselves sensitive, according to the same press release, to the concern expressed by Ms Fontaine about France being very late in transposing European directives. Ninety-five directives have not yet been transposed into national legislation which puts France in 14th place before Greece, said Ms Fontaine, hoping that this delay would be made up if possible before the beginning of the French Presidency. Mr Védrine and Mr Moscovici promised to carry out transposition "in packages".
Ms Fontaine gave a speech on 22 March at the Senate: this was the first time that a president of the European Parliament spoke in plenary before a Union parliament. In her speech, she mainly insisted on the collaboration needed between the European Parliament and the national parliaments, and said: "national parliaments and the European Parliament are fighting for the same thing". She added: "At present, now that the large part of European legislation required by the single market is in place, it is foreseen that in coming years new legislative initiatives will be of a more qualitative kind and will raise the prior question of whether they are founded under the principle of subsidiarity". Ms Fontaine, who felt it would be inconceivable for national parliaments not to have the place which corresponds to their legitimacy, said: "the idea of a meeting that would be the melting pot for democratic confrontation between national parliaments and which would be the common expression of this, deserves to be examined, but I cannot, either in my own name or on behalf of the European Parliament, sketch out an appropriate form". Furthermore, she raised the problem of languages, saying "it is not a matter of setting out, lance in hand, to fight Anglo-American talk" but of taking account of those whose language, "little used by the others", would not have its place and who would therefore feel "lacking in prestige and bound, in time, to disassociate from the others.