Brussels, 04/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - In an interview published by the Figaro on 1 January, the President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine welcomed the appointment of Valery Giscard d'Estaing at the head of the Convention that is to prepare the next IGC , noting in particular that "it's a Frenchman, which has its importance when we think that topics as delicate as the common agricultural policy could not fail to be broached by the Convention" and that the "triumvirate" he forms with Jean-Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato "defend federalist concepts, even though this word still makes people angry".
Among the salient episodes of her Presidency, Ms. Fontaine recalls in particular: - the visit by Commander Massoud to Strasbourg in May 2001. "His last words were "Let's meet in a liberated Kabul". "I shall go to his tomb in January", Fontaine announced; - the establishment of new relations with the European Commission. Ms. Fontaine notes that in the beginning "certain MEPs would not have been averse to having a new crisis explode (…). The Germans led by the CDU/CSU did not swallow the fact that Gerhard Schroeder had not sent one of their own to the Commission (…). The British Conservatives newly elected to Strasbourg were much more Euro-sceptical than their predecessors. In addition, there were members of the Committee on Budgetary Control that had orchestrated the resignation of the Santer Commission: they still had a taste of blood on their lips. All that took the form among many of a desire to humiliate the Commission by making demands unacceptable to it. A new crisis would have been a great mistake"; - appearance of the President of the European Parliament on the "family picture" of the European Council. This is an important signal and "I tried to secure that since I arrived in office. There was no way under the Finnish and Portuguese presidencies. It was the French who opened the breach, a year ago in Nice. The Swedes were marvellous, just as the Belgians (…). For my successor in Parliament, it is now a fact".
Among Nicole Fontaine's regrets, Parliament's decision to abolish the Friday morning session of plenaries in Strasbourg. "I found that dreadful. We lost the vote by only nine votes, and fourteen French MEPs were simply absent" from the vote, she deplored.
As for the future, Ms. Fontaine said that she could rejoin "the small structure in France called the "Musketeers" of the President of the Republic (…) Jacques Chirac told me that the timing of my leaving office was perfect. He repeated that to me in Laeken".