French bring hopes and fears to Dublin meeting

MR Michel Barnier brings both a hope and a fear with him to Dublin this morning. France's Deputy Foreign Minister with responsibility for European affairs, Mr Barnier hopes the Dublin Summit will give new momentum to the Inter Governmental Conference (IGC). His worst fear is that it will not.

France is the EU member most impatient for institutional reform. Unless the EU Commission is streamlined, unless voting strengths are re distributed and decision making simplified, France fears the Union cannot be extended to the former east bloc countries.

"It's obvious that the IGC negotiations lack ambition today," Mr Barnier told The Irish Times. "They must be placed in the perspective of European enlargement - which was the purpose to begin with. Only the heads of state and government can give the talks impetus."

Mr Barnier insisted that France's only interest is successful enlargement. "That is also the interest of the other members. We must succeed in extending to central and eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Can we do it with our present institutions? We don't think so. Eleven countries are holding their hands out to us. We must be more ambitious. This is what is at stake."

French impatience with the slow pace of institutional reform - led the Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, to criticise the "mediocrity" of the IGC and the Irish draft treaty - which Mr Barnier helped to draw up. "What Mr de Charette probably meant to say was that the collective ambition is mediocre," Mr Barnier explained.

"The work was serious and difficult. The Irish presidency is not responsible [for the lack of agreement]. By working from the document over the next six months and adding contributions like [this week's] Franco German letter, we should achieve good results at [the June 1997 summit in] Amsterdam.

"France's only ambition is that Europe function better as a Union of 25 than as a Union of 15," Mr Barnier continued. "The dividing line is not between little countries and big countries, but between countries who are thinking about how the Europe of 20 to 25 members will function, and those who think only about the status quo. But in negotiations among 15 parties you cannot force anyone - you have to convince the others."

The Europe of the future must not be a giant supermarket, he said. "After we bring in the central, east European and Baltic states, we must be a vast democratic area, with the role of a world power. Do we have this ambition? That is the question."

Britain is often accused of wanting little more than a `European supermarket'. "We know the British reticence," Mr Barnier said. "We must take the time to convince Britain that their interest is in being with us, that they can keep their soul and traditions, but that we are all better off doing this together."