FRENCH essay
antonio74123
read2.docxSection 2: France in Europe
European Commission Building in Brussels, Belgium
Overview
In this Section we examine France's role in the development of the European Union. Conversely, we also look at the effect that a changing Europe has on France and the French. Finally we explore key issues facing the global community and the ways in which France works together with other countries to address these concerns.
Key terms and concepts: European Union, European integration, European Economic Community, European Commission, European Parliament, Treaty of Maastricht, Treaty of Lisbon, euro, globalization, nuclear power, environmental issues, Brexit
Table of Contents:
· Chapter 23: The Meaning of Europe (Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong , pp. 325-339 }
· Energy
· Notes
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After completing the following readings, see if you are able to do these things: |
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· Explain why France chose to develop a nuclear energy program. · What are the advantages and disadvantages of the French model for the EU as a consortium of states? What are the pros and cons of the British and German alternatives to the French idea? · What is the main challenge facing the EU in the future? |
Chapter 23: The Meaning of Europe (Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong, pp. 325-339)
· How did the European Union evolve after WWII?
· Britain, Germany, and France all have different ideas about the structure of the European Union. Briefly outline these perspectives.
· How is participation in the European Union holding French interventionism (intervention by the State) in check?
· N-B argue that Europe, rather than globalization, will have a greater shaping effect on the Future of France. How would you explain that?
Chapter 23 concludes Part III on "Change, " which begins by recalling the fact that France has coexisted peacefully with its European neighbors for 70 years since the end of WWII -- the longest time in five centuries (p. 326). With borders now essentially invisible, the cooperation required between countries to integrate their economies has done far more than make war impractical. From the establishment of the six core countries of the European Economic Community to the setting up of a superior jurisdiction, or set of institutions to which the sovereign nations of a federated Union could be held accountable, has taken more than the initial setting up of the European Commission. As N-B point out, "different languages and welfare systems made the bulk of Europeans captive to their own country" (p. 328). This need was the incentive for the slow elaboration of a project which came to fruition under Mitterrandwith the adoption (by a very slim margin in France) of the Treaty of Maastrict in 1991, the founding document of the European Union. This treaty contained the timetable for the monetary union, which began in 1995 with the euro. Of the fifteen member countries who were members when the transition phase to the euro began in 1998, Britain, Sweden*, and Denmark refused to join the euro zone, which became fully operative in January 2002. (N-B erroneously citeNorway instead of Sweden, p. 330. Norway does not belong to the EU.) Today there are 28 member countries. (Note 1). Link to EU Website (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
The establishment of the EU is an enormous accomplishment. Sustaining it is even a greater challenge: To use N-B's analogy, "Like a bicycle, Europe has to keep moving to stay up" (p. 331). Among the various models for the expanded Union, France favors a consortium of sovereign states who may elect to partner among themselves. This consortium model would maintain the status quo, whereas the others would loosen or tighten the federation, thereby affecting the degree to which countries would retain or be asked to compromise aspects of their sovereignty, traditional political power, or both.
The last problem leads to what N-B see as the main challenge before the EU: how it will give legitimacy to its decisions. As N-B remark, the EU Commission is not an elected body like the European Council, which makes decisions and the Parliament, which ratifies them. The Commission only makes recommendations and is not above the law (p. 334).
France's economy has done well within the EU, and France has broadened its markets through mergers. The French State has deferred to the Union in matters such as the Crédit Lyonnais bank mismanagement scandal, all this with the full understanding that they will never control Europe and that Europe will never be French (p. 337).
Putting the current situation into perspective, N-B write: "But of course, modern France is only a chapter in the life of a very old people. The French aren't less French, even inside Europe" (p. 338). Ending with the example of the cheese that wouldn't set because the air around it was too clean, they note that the cheese maker knew exactly what to do: just open the window to let the bacteria do their work! (p. 339).
Brexit
In June 2016 a referendum was held (vote by the British population) to determine if Britain should stay in the European Union. The results were 52% to 48% in favor of leaving. When Brexit passed Prime Minister David Cameron resigned and Theresa May, former home secretary, took his place. While initially not in support of leaving the European Union, Ms. May is abiding by the will of the people and organizing Britain's exit which is scheduled to take place March 2019. The move to leave the EU was largely driven by immigration issues and the economy. Those in favor of leaving have sited benefits such as greater autonomy, thus control over decisions affecting immigration and trade deals. Those in opposition to leaving have predicted a mass economic downturn and significant increase in unemployment. (The term Brexit is derived from the merging of the words Britain and Exit.)
Globalization
For our discussion of France's involvement in the global economy and influence on international cultural exchange it is helpful to define the term "globalization." The World Economic Forum has offered the following definition:
In simple terms, globalization is the process by which people and goods move easily across borders. Principally, it's an economic concept – the integration of markets, trade and investments with few barriers to slow the flow of products and services between nations. There is also a cultural element, as ideas and traditions are traded and assimilated.
World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/what-is-globalization-explainer/
ITER Experimental Reactor
France elected to develop energy independence through the harnessing of nuclear power during the 1970s in reaction to the oil crisis provoked by the OPEC countries. Its natural sources (coal, gas, and hydroelectricity) were depleted or inadequate to meet the demand, and Charles de Gaulle had already commissioned the first nuclear power plant to be built in 1958. Today there are around 60 French plants (compared to 100 in the US) which furnish approximately 3/4 of the country's electrical production (as compared to the 15% supplied by nuclear plants in the US). Due to the high output of these plants (which must be run 24/7), France exports energy to European neighbors (Germany, Italy, and Britain) who abandoned their nuclear programs due to pressure from ecologists. In a way, the French have dirigisme to thank for the success of their nuclear program. However, having made the choice to build and maintain a nuclear energy program, France has not gone full-steam ahead in searching for renewable forms of energy like other industrialized European countries. Before Sarkozy left office in May 2012, the reactors were re-certified through 2020. However, recent problems have emerged in the French nuclear power industry. See this article from May 2015 that discusses the loss of French credibility as the world leader in nuclear power and safety concerns that emerged from the discovery of a defect in a new-generation EPR (Energy Pressurized reactor) being constructed in Flamanville, Normandy, that has resulted in cost overruns and serious delays.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/business/energy-environment/france-nuclear-energy-areva.html?_r=0 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
In the spring of 2007, the Bush administration began taking a keen interest in France's nuclear power program as an alternative energy source. Since the Three-Mile-Island nuclear reactor suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, Americans became leery of nuclear power and shuttered many of its power plants. However, as recent news coverage (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. revealed, the plants that remain operative in this country have a spotless safety record and, like those in France, provide a means of low-cost energy. In search of better ways of delivering nuclear power to its citizens and customers, France is involved in a research project seeking better forms of nuclear energy through fusion science. The world looks to France as a leader in this effort since it was selected as the site of world's first large-scale, sustainable nuclear fusion reactor, ITER, a multi-national fusion energy project located in the south of France. (Note 2) Seehttp://www.iter.org/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
The Environment
Madagascar Rain forest inside Masoalah Zoo
The standard of living of the average French person improved dramatically during the thirty years of rapid economic recovery from 1945-1975 known as Les Trente Glorieuses. But as all first-world countries well understand, industrial growth and the development of new technologies have come at a price that we might not wish to pay. As various forms of pollution threaten the world we live in, ecologists in developing nations have joined together to warn of the dangers caused by shortsightedness when it comes to the environment. We know, for example, that damage to the ozone layer has many side effects due to increased radiation from the sun. As the temperature of the oceans increases, the food chain is affected and delicate ecological balances are disturbed. Not only are we faced with global warming and the slow climactic change; we are also witnessing the rapid destruction of the rain forest, the contamination of underground aquifers, and so many other signs of inevitable change.
Denmark and the Netherlands have been the European leaders in the ecology movement, while France has taken a middle-of-the-road position on most issues. However, the French have been active in protecting water and air, recycling household waste, and in protecting endangered species. Their nuclear power plants have made them better defenders of the planet in terms of adding to the greenhouse effect. Although Jacques Chirac's government was internationally censured by ecologists for conducting nuclear tests in the pristine oceans of the South Pacific in 1995, the French joined other EU nations and the world in supporting the Kyoto protocols of 1997 and 2001 (the latter being the one that George W. Bush's government refused to sign because it would interfere with US economic development).
iPad advertisements in the Gare de Lyon, Paris
The debate over globalization (la mondialisation) began in the 1990s, pitting the rich developed nations of the North against the poor developing nations of the South. For those who opposed it, globalization was seen as a victory of the economic over the social, or of the rich over the poor, or of the powerful over the weak, epitomized in meetings of groups like the G-8 (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, the US) or the WTO (140 member states), which succeeded GATT ("Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade") in 1995.
The French are accused of being against globalization. They acquired the reputation of standing up for "cultural exception" during the GATT agreements in 1993, arguing that a country's cultural products and services should not be treated in the same way as other goods. The other EU countries backed them. When José Bové and La Confédération Paysanne acted on this principle by dismantling the McDonald's in Larzac just a few months before the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999, the message they paraded through the streets was the same: that deregulation was bound to hurt the small farmer, that genetically modified organisms used in agriculture were harmful, and that all this leads to bad food (la malbouffe). But beyond these concerns, the issues farmers are raising about food also have a wider scope since agribusiness often disregards environmental impact issues.
Under Sarkozy's leadership, France vowed to be a stronger voice in the world of finance, particularly with regard to to euro-zone. In particular, he requested an economic government that would encourage investment but would be ethical in that it would penalize speculation. An example of what must change is what is currently possible under the Central European Bank: being able to buy a business by raising money that is counter-guaranteed against any risk, then sell it off in portions that give a 25% return on investment, meanwhile leading to a 20% reduction in personnel or job losses across the board. Sarkozy also looked to America and elsewhere (China) to see if the management of the prime interest rate can keep the economy strong, as has been the case in the US under the guidance of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his successor Ben S. Bernanke. The rising value of the euro in relation to other currencies hurts the French economy and the other industrialized countries of Europe, and while the Central Bank of Europe must remain independent, an ongoing dialogue between the bank and the ministers of the euro-zone is essential. (Note 3)
"In an outlook update published on June 18, the national statistics office INSEE said France's economy would expand fast enough in the second half of the year to halt the rise in unemployment, which stands at around 10 percent. In the eurozone's top economy, Germany, by contrast, the unemployment total fell for the ninth month in a row in June, with the jobless rate holding steady at a record low of 6.4 percent.otes1
1 In January 2013, the EU expanded to 28 countries with the addition of Croatia. Of the 28 member countries, 19 belong to the Eurozone, or member countries using the euro as their currency.
2 "France Will Get Fusion Reactor To Seek a Future Energy Source," Los Angeles Times (June 28, 2005)
3 "Sarkozy:'Quel président je serai'", L'Express (no. 2908: 29 mars au 6 avril 2007:28)
