Introduction: Old France In New Europe?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: OLD FRANCE IN NEW EUROPE? By David P. Calleo Xaken together, our six essays furnish a good look at France's present situationandprospects. My taskhere isnotto summarizethem, sincethey are lively, rich in substance and well worth reading in their entirety. Rather it is to pick out their main themes and discuss their collective implications for FranceandEurope. Benoîtd'Aboville leads offwith asparkling surveyofthe majorpolitical and foreign policy issues that nowconfrontthe French. Many of these issues, he notes, were catalyzed by the referendum on Maastricht. Thanks to its debate, French political elites and the public at large are keenly aware ofhow much andhow rapidly the European and international environments arechanging, and how vital it is torespondcorrectly tothem. The most substantialreexaminationofforeignanddefensepoliciessincetheearly 1970s is well underway. Reexamination of European questions is particularly searching, d'Aboville observes, since it involves the deepest issues ofnational identity and interest. Howcan national states use Europeto adapttoaglobaleconomy thatchallengestheirtraditionalrole? Whatis"therelationshipbetweentherole ofthe nation and the functioning ofits democracy, on the one hand, and the Europeanprocess, on the other[?] How will the nation's 'civic space' relate to the functional role of a confederal Europe?"( 18) "Will what the individual gains as aconsumerbe paid forby what he loses as acitizen?"(19) These are the issues that "will continue to dominate the French political scene."(19) Amongotherconsequences, "fi]twill nolongerbesufficienttopresentEurope as aprocess in the making. A clearerdefinition ofgoals and ambitions on the world scene will be necessary."(26) Naturally, the debate is affected by dramatic events that reveal Europe's shortcomings—monetary turbulence, the Yugoslav crisis, or transatlantic trade and security disputes. D'Aboville 4 SAIS REVIEW gives his own trenchant analysis ofthese issues and their effects in France. TheproblemsofthefrancwithintheEuropeanMonetarySystem(EMS), he notes, can be blamed not on basic French economic policy, but on the recession combined with the difficulties the Germans have encountered in their reunification. But, the French political establishment continues to support thefrancfort—in the interest, it is thought, of Europe as well as of France. TotheFrench, Europe's feebleperformanceintheYugoslavcrisislends new urgency to the need to clarify the responsibilities and structures of the European Community (EC), the Western European Union (WEU), the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and the United Nations(UN). ItalsomakesimperativethereformoftheNorthAtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO) "in order to create a proper framework for a renewed American commitment, despite a lower level of U.S. forces and shifting priorities in U.S. policy."(23) The French believe that NATO's reform is necessary "to save it, not eliminate it... a position that has not been clearly understood in the United States."(23) A settlement on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) seemsanotherurgentneed. Butitmustbe"trulycomprehensive,balancedand durable."(24) Itmustcover "the entire gamutofissues agreed on atPuntedel Este in 1986"; "European farmers must not be the only ones making concessions "; and the Americans must not expect to nullify piecemeal and by unilateral action resultsthey donotlike.(24) BeyondtheGATT's immediate issues are two basic problems: access to European and American markets of products "from countries like China, with very low salaries and weak social protection,"(24) and "the problem of monetary instability between the main trading blocs."(24) Concerning the former, Europe sees "maintain[ing] a stablesocialandculturalframeworkasanintegralpartofanywell-thought-out approach to economic development."(25) Europe's societal model "is probably more relevant and exportable to the United States than are the idiosyncraticpracticesoftheJapanese ."(25) Onthelatter, "[i]tisquiteabsurdtofocus exclusively on tariffs as impediments torational specialization throughtrade, when floatingcurrenciesregularlychangetransatlanticpricesbytentotwenty percent or more."(24) D'Aboville concludes by noting critical differences between American and European perspectives on continental nation-building. Europe is not a United States in the making. It will remain a plural union ofdiverse states, boundtogether, amongotherthings, by the will andthe needtoplay aroleon theinternationalscene. AredefinitionofEurope'spartnershipwiththeUnited OLD FRANCE IN NEW EUROPE? 5 States is "vitally important and increasingly urgent."(27) Old transatlantic quarrels aregrowing obsolescent, particularly since America "is itselfrenewing its own sense ofnational identity and purpose."(27) With Patrick McCarthy's essay, we turn from high politics to a magisterial examination of the inner state of the French body politic. McCarthy begins by reviewing various fashionable analyses of France's "political malaise," analyses that assume some "indigenous crisis" in French public life.(29) He takes adifferent view. The...