THE EU: Nöelle Lenoir, France's Europe Minister, arrives today in Dublin. She told Lara Marlowe in Paris what she will be saying to the Government.
As President of the European Council for the next six months, the Taoiseach is trying to gauge how much other European leaders want a deal on the constitutional treaty that was put on hold at last month's Brussels summit.
French officials have so often said they would rather wait than accept a slipshod compromise that their desire for a treaty has come under question.
"We always said we wanted a European constitution," insists France's Minister for European Affairs, Ms Nöelle Lenoir. "There can be no doubt about our intentions." Ms Lenoir will visit Dublin today to consult with her Irish counterpart, Mr Dick Roche. She is fascinated by the way the Government turned public opinion around on the Nice Treaty, and will deliver a lecture at the Institute for European Affairs entitled Citizenship and Communication on Europe; Lessons from the Irish Experience.
Ireland wants the constitutional treaty to be adopted before its presidency ends in June. Ms Lenoir would not say whether Paris considers six months a realistic deadline.
"We hope the constitution will be adopted in 2004," she said. "The present break must not drag on. There was a certain burst of enthusiasm when the Convention finished its work; public opinion must not lose the momentum."
France, she promised, "will do everything to make the job easier for the Irish presidency." In diplomacy there is always a "but".
"We want a constitution which enables Europe to make a real, qualitative leap, which strengthens European institutions," Ms Lenoir explained.
"We want a system that removes the spectre of impotence when it comes to decision making. For that, we must broaden as much as possible the areas in which decisions are taken by qualified majority voting."
France was a driving force behind the constitution and Ms Lenoir said Paris would happily have accepted the draft treaty as it was presented last year by the Convention. The election of a long-term president of the council is advocated by France, because it strengthens the inter-governmental aspect of European integration. Paris is keen on the naming of a European foreign minister who would have more power than the present EU foreign policy representative. And the French are delighted with the draft constitution's provision for "structured co-operation" in defence matters, which could make it easier for Europe to take military action without Washington's approval.
So what did France have to sacrifice in the still incomplete constitutional treaty? "We wanted to go a little further towards harmonisation on social issues," Ms Lenoir said.
"Economic growth must be relaunched. We're not at all against opening up various economic sectors to the markets. But we want a social Europe, which means that we'd like more social legislation to be passed by QMV."
Fear of a "two-speed Europe" has given impetus to the Irish presidency.
By again evoking the formation of "pioneer groups" last week, President Jacques Chirac gave the impression that France is willing to leave reluctant EU members behind.
It often falls to Ms Lenoir to smooth European feathers ruffled by her superiors. "For us Europe is 25 states," she said. "There is no question of creating a parallel Europe. There is no group of states that can substitute itself for the Union we've been building for the past 50 years. We are not favourable to a 'two-speed Europe'. There are not first-rank and second-rank countries."
The euro has proved that some countries can move faster than others in specific areas of European integration, Ms Lenoir says. "The greatest Europeans, including [former President of the Commission Mr\] Jacques Delors, have always said that the more wagons join the train, the more powerful the engine needed to pull them. Just because the train is longer and heavier doesn't mean it needs to slow down."
Paradoxically, Ms Lenoir noted, some of Europe's greatest successes have been achieved by an informal process of opting in or out. The complex provisions for "enhanced co-operation", first laid down in the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, were not needed to achieve the Schengen Agreement on freedom of movement, the single currency or progress towards a European defence force, she said