Focus on priorities

France should not let its presidency priorities be sidetracked by the Irish ‘no’ vote, says Graham Watson

It is not uncommon for the best laid plans to be disrupted by unforeseen events. The French presidency is no exception. Their priorities have been known almost since the beginning of the year yet the Irish vote has forced the in-coming presidency to redirect time and energy onto institutional matters that most had hoped were behind us.

Aside from resolving the Irish question, the priorities of the presidency are fourfold: finalising the climate change package; addressing immigration through a comprehensive immigration and asylum pact; developing the nascent European Security and Defence Policy (notably making 60,000 troops available for rapid deployment); and making proposals for the long-term reform and sustainability of European agriculture policy.

These are all necessary yet sensitive issues so it is not entirely helpful that the careful planning and presentation of them have at times been pre-empted and mishandled by the desire for a news headline. President Sarkozy will have to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of EU business in a more conciliatory and pragmatic fashion if he is to claim a successful six months as chair of the EU.

The commission’s climate change package needs to be wrapped up before the European parliament elections next summer if the EU is to have a coherent and ambitious mandate for the December 2009 Copenhagen talks on the successor to Kyoto.

The energy package – opening up the gas and electricity market in Europe to competition and improved supervision will require a deft hand to navigate between the economic nationalism of the larger member states and the desire for more choice, greater security of supply and more competitive prices for consumers.

France will also inherit a potent cocktail of record fuel and food prices that are causing hardship and hunger both at home and abroad. The financial crisis and credit crunch resulting from the US sub-prime housing market have combined to create what some have dubbed the ‘perfect storm’.

The way that France and the ECB (recently somewhat at loggerheads) handle the financial uncertainties will also determine, to a large extent, how the French presidency goes down in history.