Laurent Fabius
The single currency should allow the European Union, and therefore France, to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China.Collection: Strength
But Maastricht was not the end of history. It was a first step towards a Europe of growth, of employment, a social Europe. That was the vision of Francois Mitterrand. We are far from that now.
At the same time the Constitution sets in stone the Stability Pact and risks preventing member States from implementing a policy of growth. So we are not able to do things at the European or the national level.
I want to make an extremely strong appeal to those who abstained. Vote. It takes five minutes and then it's for five years.
There are 20 million unemployed and what does the Constitution offer us in the Europe of 25, 27 and soon to be 30: policies of unrestricted competition to the detriment of production, wages, research and innovation.
I am a partisan and artisan of Europe. But I draw the lessons of my experience in government.
We on the left who are pro-European and Internationalist wish to unite the peoples under a social model.
France on its own cannot impose its point of view. But neither should it give up on its demands. With a clear vote for change France will be in a strong position.
This revision of the Constitution will not be perfect. But at least the Constitution will not be inflexible. It will be a step towards the Social Europe which we wish.
This assumes an upward revision of the European Budget, which is precisely what Jacques Chirac refuses to do. On the contrary, he has demanded a reduction.
For a long time many believed that there would be an automatic adjustment and counted on a rapid increase in the wages of the emerging nations, on our advances in technology and the costs of transport preventing disruption. But this reassuring analysis is out of date.
The demographic weight of countries such as China and India exercise a massive pressure on our wages and salaries. They have accomplished massive technological advances and the revolution in information technology has reduced the costs of transport.
Shopkeepers are not bankers.
The U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol endangers the entire process.
Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity. We need to build on this, and make the euro more than a currency and Europe more than a territory... In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union. Stronger growth and Euorpean integration are related issues. In both areas we will take concrete steps forward.Collection: Europe
Without sounding too grandiose, the survival of the planet itself is at stake, you have rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans, immigration sparked by climate change, droughts that are much more severe.Collection: Change
The EU should help the emergence of "organized multipolarity" in the currently non-polar world.Collection: World
If the US economic landing is soft there will be no consequences (for Europe).Collection: Europe