Freedom to act

France’s regions need more autonomy if they – and the country – are to benefit fully from all that Europe has to offer, claims Jean-Paul Huchon

Europe, the “last utopia” described by Dominique Wolton, editor of the journal Hermès, should not be seen as a “necessary evil”, as progress merely for progress’ sake or as a never-ending labour of love. The history of Europe, in which we are all active participants, is truly remarkable – the EU is a creation unique to the history of the world, a creation built on the desire for peace and a prosperous future for everyone. But for it to succeed, we need to rediscover the excitement of European construction by defining clear and concrete targets that will give new meaning to the future of Europe and Europeans. Following the rejection of the EU constitution, the French presidency of the EU must reopen the debate on the future of Europe based on its own efforts to decentralise political power.

Perhaps I should at this point make it clear that I belong to a much-maligned category of Europeans - the federalists. In France, this means that I believe in the power of the regions. I am a European, French and ‘francilien’ (from the Ile-de-France) – but I, like everyone else, am well aware that each of these three categories is distinct but complementary. We all live our lives at many levels each day, without any particular difficulty. I believe that it is not Europe that is holding back our country. Quite the contrary: Europe is in many ways a bastion against globalisation. We need Europe if we want to remain French, German, Italian, etc. We should not forget that the EU was not created simply to bring peace but to ensure that we are stronger together than we are as individual countries.

Decentralisation has become an ever-increasing part of French political life in recent years. Centralised ‘jacobin’ France is finally seeing the benefits of ‘girondin’ democracy as more power is handed over to the regions. Local authorities are playing an ever more important role in the everyday tug-of-war over who controls what. Indeed, after 15 years of steady decentralisation and the implementation of the treaty of Maastricht, the all-controlling French ‘état’ has seen its powers eroded so much that in many cases it is little more than the intermediary between the EU and the regions. This shift in the balance of power is more than simply a sign of the times, however – it is a reflection of the need for a more democratic form of governance, where the needs of citizens are paramount.

I feel, however, that it is now time to take a further step down this road, and the French presidency could show us the way. The French regions at present are a pale shadow of their German, Spanish or Italian counterparts when it comes to legislative and budgetary autonomy. In fact, it could be argued that we are the last country in Europe where the central government has such tight control over spending.

My hope is that the French government finally lets the regions look after themselves, and while some critics are bound to make dire warnings about what this would mean, I believe that giving the regions the means to play a bigger role on the European stage would ultimately benefit France as a whole. I am not talking about creating a “Europe of the regions” that bypasses central government altogether; what I mean is a Europe where policies are devised and implemented at the level closest to the people they are meant to benefit, which has the added advantage of being a more effective way of acting.

The regions of Europe are bullish because they know that their ‘development model’ is supported by European citizens – less ambitious than grandiose schemes for the whole of Europe, perhaps, but I believe better understood by people because it focuses on local territories and issues. The regions are taking action right where that action can be seen and felt most clearly by European citizens. But for this to happen in France, the regions need more freedom to act. In short, the whole concept of what we mean by ‘regions’ in France needs to be rethought.

I know that most European countries are undergoing a similar debate between central and local government. But between the über-centralists and the radical decentralisers, a compromise position appears to be emerging, somewhere between the federal state on the German model and the centrist state à la française. In order for France to find this happy medium, the regions need to be given more autonomy and, above all, the financial means to become more competitive.

The French should be the fiercest supporters of a “European federation” at the same time as defending our own decentralised approach to government: this, I believe, is how a federation of nation states should be run. I do not suggest that France’s identity should be diluted in some form of supra-national entity or fractured into different regional variations. But what I do think is that this combination of regional decentralisation and European cooperation will give our country a far greater chance of being a core member of tomorrow’s Europe.

If France wants to become a better place, then it needs strong regions within an integrated Europe. I hope to see a modern, forward-looking France at the heart of a democratic Europe. Countries should not fear the current move towards greater European integration and decentralisation: indeed, they should embrace it. They have everything to gain from doing so. I hope that this will be the message sent out by France during its six months in the EU presidency.