Brussels, 03/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - In dialogue through the pages of the last issue of the weekly 'L'Express", French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine and his former counterpart, Alain Juppé, expressed their views on the idea of a "vanguard" in Europe, or a "pioneer group" as President Chirac calls it. "We cannot do without such a group", Mr Juppé considers. Mr Védrine, for his part, admits he is "frankly perplexed about Jacques Chirac's proposal". He continues: "So a small group is needed. But which? That is where the difficulties begin. None of the people, from Delors to Fischer, who have so far propounded this idea have managed to say with whom, why and how without crisis. When the President of the Republic speaks of a pioneer group in 2004, I am quite frankly concerned, also because it is as if he is anticipating the failure of the Convention and of the Intergovernmental Conference. It is a bad signal to send to the countries that are already members, or candidates". Mr Juppé replied that Jacques Chirac answered these objections by clearly pointing out that the pioneer group should be open to everything.
Furthermore, Mr Védrine felt it was too early to apply institutional mechanisms to the common foreign and security policy being formed, such as qualified majority voting. In his view, it will only be necessary to do so once a far higher degree of cohesion has been reached, allowing a true foreign policy to be carried out together. Just as it will only be possible to speak of European deterrence once there are really vital European interests, and when a legitimate European political power notes that these vital interests of Europe are threatened, he said.