FT: ‘Juppe promises French hard line in EU’
Or should that read: ‘If re-elected Sarkozy promises to close his eyes and pretend the big bad world doesn’t exist.’
France is turning in on itself.
And protectionist – self interested – politics on the rise throughout Europe.
‘Immigration and France’s loss of manufacturing competitiveness have become key issues in the presidential election, which is due to be held over two rounds on April 22 and May 6. The effects of globalisation have caused deep disquiet in France and inspired protectionist calls from both the left and the right.
Mr Juppé said it was also not acceptable for the EU to open its markets to countries which did not allow free access to European companies in return – especially in the area of public contracts which the EU has largely opened. “We have a divergence with our British friends who see Europe as a big free trade area,” he said. “That is not our vision. We must introduce into free trade the notion of reciprocity.”
Mr Juppé said that while France continued to support the free movement of people within the Schengen area, the EU needed to clamp down on external frontiers: “We want the external borders of Schengen to be controlled which is not the case at the moment. The Greek-Turkish frontier is a sieve, for example.”’
Dublin Calling 