THE 28 VISIONS OF EUROPE: FRANCE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC FRANCOIS HOLLANDE

President François Hollande’s vision of Europe is in line with that of the founder of the French Fifth Republic and president from 1959-1969, General Charles de Gaulle. It is thus very ‘French’. Europe has to be in the interests of France, not the other way round. France is a net contributor to the EU budget but the greatest beneficiary of the Common Agricultural Policy. Mr Hollande wants solidarity at the European level with eurobonds and a common budget capacity, but certainly not a complete loss of sovereignty on major issues such as the French fiscal policy.

He insists it is essential to develop growth in the European economy by a coordinated stimulus. France sees the role of the European Central Bank (ECB) as crucial in ‘soothing the pain’ when needed.

According to François Hollande, Europe is currently at crossroads and is moving very hesitantly forward. It takes a lot of time before it makes important decisions and dedicates a little time on deliberations about its own future.

The French president believes that the crisis situation at the moment, the weak growth and high unemployment are not a temporary situation, but a significant change. If it is true, he says that the crisis is already behind us, then we still haven not succeeded in learning the lessons from it. Without elaborating about what lessons have not been learnt, he explains that there is demoralisation - not of the markets, but of people - and it is the greatest danger the Union is facing. It is necessary, according to him that policies be adapted to national specifics and  implemented in a reasonable manner. He believes that countries that have problems with competitiveness should have a breathing space at least for a period of time and the countries with high competitiveness (without explicitly mentioning Germany) should allow the rest to recover until a balance is reached.

Hollande defends some sort of bigger European centralisation. One of the problems he believes is the exchange rate of the single currency. The exchange rate of the euro cannot constantly fluctuate because in this way it "eats" the achievements in terms of competitiveness. A zone of a single currency should be able to influence the exchange rates, he says.

François Hollande says that two principles were in the foundation of the EU and they are integration and solidarity. Integration is to define common goals and harmonise policies. Common policies for infrastructure and research are needed, but integration depends entirely on the new financial instruments. Solidarity is not simply transferring resources among the member states, but a social ambition to ensure employment, training and education for every citizen. Solidarity is to tackle unemployment by using the globalisation adjustment fund. Quite in the spirit of socialist doctrine, François Hollande explains that security of workers must be guaranteed throughout their entire career and their pensions as well. A guarantee for minimum wage is also needed.

For François Hollande Europe is not only a budget, a single market and a single currency, nor can it be viewed as a set of rules and treaties which regulate the living together. Europe should be viewed as a union of nations, each of which has come in to search for a solution for its future. Europe is a political project ,a balance between rules and responsibilities.

France is against a Europe of two speeds.