The immigration pact is the idea most likely to succeed during France's tenure, writes Lara Marlowein Paris.
WAS IT a sign of newfound French modesty, as asserted by the Élysée Palace, or fear? Fear of committing a gaffe, or lèse-majesté against President Nicolas Sarkozy? Fear of discordant visions of France's EU presidency? Of offending France's EU partners?
Whatever the reason, the blanket "off the record" order on briefings of European correspondents at the onset of France's six-month EU presidency sat awkwardly with foreign minister Bernard Kouchner's assertion that "if we could come out of this French presidency having invented a simple mode of communication and transparency, we would be very happy".
To their credit, Kouchner and the minister for immigration and national identity, Brice Hortefeux, agreed to be quoted by name. Six other sources of this article were ministerial rank or higher.
Ireland's No surfaced in almost every briefing. "We prepared the French presidency with great humility and gravity," said a senior official. "It was difficult before the Irish No, and even more difficult after." Attempting to renegotiate the treaty was "unimaginable" because, it "would open a debate that could be mortal for the EU", he said.
It was nonetheless "possible to let a country ratify certain provisions and not others". It was not essential that France "resolve this at any price under the French presidency".
The French presidency would consider "any proposal that Ireland put on the table" as long as it did not require other EU members to re-ratify the treaty. An adviser to the senior official mentioned one possibility: If Lisbon is ratified, the EU's 27 member states could commit to deciding in 2014 to keeping a permanent commissioner for every country.
"There will have to be a revote," said a senior official at the Élysée. "The time will come when our Irish friends will have to pronounce themselves. We'll take stock in October."
On the issue of corporation tax, the Élysée source said it was "extraordinary" that "for corporation tax you can do what you want to - it seems that's one of the reasons our Irish friends voted No. What works so well for corporation tax, why not for VAT?"
A discussion on harmonising corporation tax is provisionally scheduled for the finance ministers' meeting in December. A senior French official said the issue was "alive but not kicking". France "will raise harmonisation of corporate tax with no success", the official predicted.
It now appears more likely that Mr Sarkozy will use his influence as president of the council to attempt to modify Europe-wide regulations on VAT rather than corporation tax. In a television interview this week, he vowed to obtain Brussels' agreement to reduce VAT in French restaurants to 5.5 per cent before the end of the year. It may seem like a minor victory, but cuisine is sacré here, and it would be a royal snub to his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who repeatedly promised the same but failed to deliver.
The French presidency has started under a paradox. For months, officials have proclaimed vast ambitions to reach European agreement on climate change and energy, immigration, agriculture, defence and a new union for the Mediterranean - all by December 31st.
Yet at the same time, as Hortefeux said: "We are going forward in a modest, humble, not arrogant way. These are orders from the president and prime minister, with the objective of emphasising that Europe is capable of meeting the challenges that face our societies."
The immigration pact is the French idea most likely to succeed during the presidency. Hortefeux was one of the few ministers whose work (on a text that will be presented to justice and interior ministers between July 7th and 8th) was not complicated by the Irish No. "The particularity of the pact is that it has no allusion to Lisbon and its progress is not linked to the treaty," he said.
As Hortefeux noted, illegal immigration is a problem across the union. France wants to promote the immigration of qualified professionals, fight trafficking, begin to elaborate a shared policy on asylum, and obtain a commitment from member states that they will not regularise immigrants en masse, as Spain and Italy have in the past.
This commitment, and a requirement that immigrants sign an "integration contract", have raised objections, particularly in Spain. "The integration contract is for me a minor point in a major pact," Hortefeux said repeatedly.
Earlier work by last year's German presidency and the commission has already laid the ground work for a "20/20/20" climate package, whereby the EU would reduce greenhouse emissions by 20 per cent, increase the mix of renewable energy sources to 20 per cent, and increase energy efficiency by 20 per cent.
But the modalities of the package, which would include an exchange system for emission quotas, will require intense negotiation. The coal-burning countries of eastern Europe, some of whom are being forced to shut down nuclear power plants, object that that they are at an unfair disadvantage. With 80 per cent of French electricity produced by non-polluting nuclear energy, the exercise is relatively painless for Paris.
And French zeal over nuclear power reactors could create tension, in particular with Germany. "France will not accept that nuclear energy will not be a subject of discussion," a senior official said. "We're not imposing anything, but just because certain countries are ill at ease with nuclear power, we don't want it to be a taboo subject."
Though the Élysée says 44 heads of state and government will attend the July 13th summit of Sarkozy's Union for the Mediterranean, that ambition has been scaled back significantly. In agriculture, a senior official said: "We are not going to redefine the Common Agricultural Policy, but agree on a health check and reflect on general principles for after 2013."
It's ironic that with all the emphasis on ratifying Lisbon, European institutions are decidedly out of fashion.
"Nobody understands anything [about European institutions]," Kouchner said.
"Nobody is interested in institutions. We haven't taken account of people; when Europe can't do anything about petrol prices, people don't give a damn about whether they have a constitutional treaty."