France will act as mediator during its presidency of the European Union. It is she who will have to seek the best compromises between the 27 to advance the issues of the moment. The last time she held this role was 13 years ago, in 2008, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.
Dn the 1960s, France chaired the institution every two and a half years, but in a Union of 27 when everyone has to take their turn, things go slower, of course. The scarcity of the exercise makes it all the more important for the member country.
It is often said “presidency of the European Union” for simplicity. France is in fact going to chair the Council of the European Union, that is to say the institution which brings together ministers and not heads of state. This does not mean that the less important thing, on the contrary: in their field of activity (transport, finance, justice, environment, etc.) the ministers amend the proposals made by the Commission to lead to legislative texts in connection with the Euro-deputies. They are the co-legislators of Europe. At the moment, for example, there are 250 texts under review. So France will take the opportunity to push its files. The advantage of this rotating presidency, which lasts six months, is that we can put on the agenda the subjects we want to see come to fruition in order to move them forward a little faster. This is the main power. Basically we control the agenda. For example, in the second half of 2020, last year, it was Germany’s turn: Berlin took the opportunity to push the economic recovery plan as much as possible, which was not unanimous at all.
Emmanuel Macron’s priority subjects: harmonizing minimum wages in Europe. This means in particular to convince Sweden which is wind head against this idea. But also better regulating the Gafam, the digital giants, it is quite consensual and electorally promising. Then push forward what is called “the climate package” with a carbon tax at the borders which should see the light of day in 2023, it is a technically very complicated subject to implement, but also very complicated to negotiate, at least as much as the budget, it is the one that is the least advanced . Or, in the area of immigration, move forward on the reform of the Shengen agreements.
We know the European convictions of the Head of State, who since his election has been the leader of pro-Europeans against nationalists and populists. He also wants to take advantage of this moment to defend European sovereignty and bring the French closer to Europe. According to the latest barometer from the Jacques Delors Institute, among the 27, France is one of the countries where public opinion is the most eurosceptic. In order to be visible and concrete, the various ministerial councils will also be organized all over the place, in medium-sized towns such as Angers, Dijon or Grenoble. Except that this French presidency will quickly find itself parasitized by the presidential campaign. This was already the case in 95 at the time of the Mitterrand-Chirac alternation.
It means two things. First, there is a risk of political instrumentalisation, the fact that this presidency turns into an exercise of personal communication intended to bring a possible Macron candidate to the presidential election. This is what fear his opponents who reproach him for not having reversed, for example with the Czech Republic which will take over in the second half of 2022. He could have, but the 27 had to be validated, and this schedule has been set since 2016 , when everyone’s order of passage was put back in order after Brexit and set until 2030. We can also say that Macron did not wait for this presidency to get involved in European issues. The second thing is that from mid-March we will enter France during the reserve period. And there it is a little more complicated: it means that Emmanuel Macron has only two and a half months to move forward “the Europe dossier“.