FILLON AND EUROPE

Fillon at the French National Assembly on 28 June 2016

Translated by AALEP

1. The divorce with the United Kingdom must be calm but also rapid. In the meantime British MEPs should no longer participate in votes and British civil servants in Brussels should no longer participate in decision making. The objectives to be reached are clear: The UK leaves the EU but this does not mean they are adversaries. No hostility, no complacency. It is not possible to leave the common house, no longer make contributions to the EU budget and at the same time benefit from a roof, beds and food. On the other hand, we can negotiate a good neighborhood agreement. And if they ask for it, and I hope so, it is necessary to maintain and deepen defense agreements with Great Britain. But there is no reason to give them the European financial passport, and the Euro zone must recover the clearing of its currency. In the process we must extend our hand to French citizens established in the United Kingdom and to those who think about being established within the European Union.
2. The second step is to refocus Europe on its strategic priorities. By virtue of dealing with everything, the European Union misses the point. We will never be a Federal State. We are too different to achieve this. And moreover, it would be an historical mistake because the more tied nations are, the more nationalism becomes aggressive. Let us stop then to examine all and let us reconcentrate on the European Union.
3. The first priority is the economic independence of Europe within globalization. Enough wishful thinking. We have neither an obligation to sign an unbalanced transatlantic treaty nor to suffer Asian economic domination. And to protect our economies from Chinese dumping we need a Europe that is strong and lucid.
4. Our independence is also harmed by the tutelage that the United States impose on European enterprises subject to American domestic legislation, either because they use the U.S. dollar as currency or for the purpose of fighting corruption. The only way to resist this hold is to have a currency that assures our independence and therefore the Euro must become a reserve and settlement currency.
5. To achieve this, the Euro zone must develop an economic government driven by the Heads of state and government, controlled by national parliaments and an harmonization calendar of corporate taxation.
6. The second priority is European security. The Europe of merchants, tourists and single currency does not suffice. This Europe is destined to disappear if it is not at the same time a Europe of security, if it is not a Europe that controls immigration, if in this area as in the economic domain, it is not a Europe that protects. We need a new Schengen with a real corps of border and coast guards to come and help countries whose maritime borders are stormed but we also need to make systematic use of modern means of control be they computer or biometric means and with an unwavering cooperation of security services.
7. Our security requires a military defense. Since the end of the cold war, Europe has done nothing to take its fate into its own hands. It continues to rely on the United States for protection. But this protection has become uncertain, especially with regard to the sustainable threat on the continent of islamic totalitarism that destabilizes a large part of the world from Pakistan to Nigeria. Within the respect of the sovereignty of nations, we must establish a European defense that allows for a just sharing of burden.
8. Third priority : I want to speak about education, culture, research and innovation. Of course we have established a university Erasmus, homogenized diplomas, linked laboratories. But have we done enough to develop our conscience that of belonging to a distinct and brilliant civilization? By being globalists, some have not only contested nations but they have buried European civilization. And by only seeing Europe as a market, we continue to negotiate with Turkey. No ! There are borders and an heritage that is ours.
9. Ancient philosophy, Christian values, rule of law, solidarity, appreciation for arts and science, freedom of speech, freedom of thinking, freedom of voting : all that forges the soul of Europe. If this heritage does not vibrate within us, if our own youth does not feel at home in Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Athens or Prague, if we are not capable to combine our identities, then why are we together?
10. The soul of Europe in the 21st century : that’s the challenge of our era for our youth !
11. Finally, we must engage a refound of the European institutions. My belief is that Europe with 28 Member States has invalidated the objective of a Federal Europe in which I never did believe and it has disrupted the functioning of the community Europe of the eighties. The new Europe refocused on essential cooperation must transfer back competence to the Member States all that has nothing to do with it. The European Commission and the European Parliament have never succeeded in acquiring a real democratic legitimacy. We must give back to the European Council and the national parliaments their preeminence? Subsidiary and variable geometry must prevail over current uniformity. The Euro zone must be more efficient and the rest of Europe must be less standardized.

In ten years will  the European Union still exist ?? Asia is becoming the economic epicenter of the world and the former western domination is every day being disputed by billions inhabitants who get up every day thinking that progress is within their reach. We  don’t even know anymore what this word « progress » means. Worse, progress makes us anxious. On the other side of the Mediterranean, millions of poor people are ready to attempt anything to reach our coast. Moreover we are threatened on our own soil by Islamic fanatism. They don’t only place bombs, they not only shoot innoccents, they dream of attacking the humanist spirit of Europe.

To meet these challenges, we must be certain of who we are. I am proud to be French and I feel European.

For me the French Nation has been and always will be relevant, but let us be clear : We will not make History by dismantling Europe. In a world of 7 billion inhabitants, Europeans have a choice: either each one fights  in his corner, or  they fight together! And unless we want to bring ourself down, the national interest calls us to be Europeans. But not at any condition. Not by default. Not by resignation. What we must defend, it’s the European civilization and it’s the place of France within this civilization ! And to hold this seat, it is not sufficient to say ‘Long live Europe’ in order for Europe to really be alive.

Europe is a place of power where strong nations set the tempo for others. When France is weak, it suffers Europe; when it is strong it leads Europe.

General de Gaulle once said that what is essential to play a role across border is ‘to exist by oneself at home !  For the Republicans group time has come to give back to France the power to be strong at home in order for France to be great in Europe.