PARIS — Echoing debates of the mid-90′s, the issue of France’s comeback into NATO’s integrated military structures (left in 1966) seems to be officially on the table again. We will have to wait for the French White Paper on defence to be issued few months from now to get a clearer picture, but the tone set by President Sarkozy and his entourage is definitely telling.

Whatever the outcome of such a process of rapprochement, it seems clear that Paris will not get back to the military integrated structures if the two following conditions are not clearly met:

- substantive progress and achievement on the road to a genuine European defence. The line is that if France stops being a difficult ally within NATO, its European partners may be more willing to move forward when it comes to European security and defence policy (ESDP). The French declared they would reach out to the British again and try to revitalize the so-called”Saint-Malo” spirit (the franco-british Saint-Malo summit in 1998 gave a real push to European defence identity).

- the adoption by NATO of a new strategic concept, more in tune with the current international and security landscape. French Defence Minister Hervé Morin made clear that given France’s peculiar situation within NATO, it was more difficult for Paris”to contribute in an efficient way to NATO’s transformation in order to answer the new strategic context. We have less influence on military operations led by NATO on theaters where we are all acting together”.

Next NATO’s summit in Bucarest, Spring 08, could be the appropriate moment for France to explore such a political and strategic move on its part.

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PARIS — Although there is some consistency in French answers to the Transatlantic Trends questionnaire compared to 2006, the French distinguish themselves on two major issues.

The first one is Turkey: 49% of French respondents say that Turkey’s accession to the European Union would be a bad thing. This is the highest negative percentage of all EU countries included in the survey. In this respect, it seems President Sarkozy’s own attitude on the issue reflects very well the feelings of the public. Sarkozy had made clear during his campaign that he was not in favor of Turkey’s accession to the EU and would promote an alternative solution such as a close association/partnership. Once elected, he showed more flexibility on the issue, but still made clear that he remained personally opposed to plain accession.

The other issue where the French prove to be different than other Europeans is related to the EU’s increasing role on the international stage; 58% of the respondents say that the EU should manage international challenges independently from the United States. This is again the highest percentage among the EU countries included in the survey. One can think this is a”temporary” reaction, strongly linked to the fact that the French are strongly oppose President Bush’s foreign policy. Such an attitude could change in 2008 with the election of a new U.S. president (the French are also among the more optimistic Europeans when it comes to the 2008 U.S. election and the changes in transatlantic relations it should bring).

This second feature goes against President Sarkozy’s strong emphasize on cooperation and friendship with the U.S., but we will have to wait until next year to see is such a strong stance on his side is likely to change French attitude when it comes to transatlantic relations and the EU-U.S. partnership.

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PARIS –”France, like every other nation, has no given right when it comes to its international status; its message to the world won’t be heard unless it comes from a confident and ambitious society.”

This is how Nicolas Sarkozy chose to revitalize French foreign policy in a speech delivered August 27 to all French ambassadors, who had gathered in Paris for their annual conference.

There is with no doubt a change of tone on foreign and security policy issues, as this has been the case on domestic affairs since Sarkozy has been elected. The speech was punchy, ambitious, and showed a desire to put France back on track on the international scene. The style is definitely more pragmatic than Chirac’s one was, and the quest for a non-idelogical approach of foreign affairs (especially when it comes to the transatlantic dimension) is obvious. In a very smart way, Sarkozy made clear that there is a direct linkage between France’s capacity to reform and adapt itself on the domestic front and its credibility on the international stage and in foreign affairs.

Now, what does Sarkozy see as the main international challenges?

First comes the necessity”to avoid the clash between the West and Islam”. No doubt Jacques Chirac would have never used such a direct and strong wording. Sarkozy announced that:

France will increase its efforts in Afghanistan ;
his concept and plan for a”Mediterranean Union” will be further developped;
the”tragedy in Iraq” should be ended. France still thinks the war was wrong, a timeline for the withdrawal of foreign troops should be devised;
last but not least, on Iran: a nuclear Iran would be”unaceptable”, and we should avoid being trapped by the following alternative:”the Iranian bomb or Iran being bombed”.

Second challenge: how to better integrate emerging powers such as China, India and Brazil in the global world order? Sarkozy put an accent on the necessary reform of multilateral institutions such as the UN, the IMF and the G8 (the latter should be transformed into a G13).

Third: how to better fight against new risks such as climate change, pandemics and energy security? Here again, a more robust and smart multilateralism should be devised.

Sarkozy highlighted European integration as the”absolute” priority of French foreign and security policy which according to him means: going fast on a simplified treaty ; pushing European common defence forward with the adoption of a new EU’s strategy under the upcoming French presidency of the EU in 2008; creating a committee of”wise” men who should reflect on EU’s strategy for 2020-2030.

If the EU takes this road, then France won’t oppose opening new chapters of negociations with Turkey. Sarkozy remains in favor of a”close association” between the EU and Turkey, but he made clear in this speech that the option of full accession should remain on the table. This is kind of breaking news after the”no accession whatsoever” leitmotiv of his presidential campaign.

New tone, strong ambitions, different wording: Sarkozy wants to bring new blood to French foreign policy. It is clear that the goal here is to put France back on the map, and to regain what both Sarkozy and his Minister for Foreign affairs Bernard Kouchner perceive as a loss of status and grasp on strategic and international affairs. It will be interesting to see how such a change in declaratory policy will be put in practice.

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French Prime Minister François Fillon gave his”policy declaration” in front of the National Assembly yesterday afternoon. This is a classical exercise in the French system: at the beginning of their mandate, French Prime Ministers have to expose their plans to the national representation and explain the main policy directions.

Few highlights on major issues and themes:

• institutional modernization: the main theme here is the strenghtening of French parliement’s powers, traditionnally weak in the system elaborated under De Gaulle’s back to 1958. Parliementary control over governmental decision as well as on nominations should be reinforced. Defining how to get there will be brainstormed about in the framework of a”commission of the wise” which should be composed of experts and former political officials.
• a real push for higher education reform: this is the weak point of the French education system. More funds should be devoted to Research (goal is to spend 3% of the  GDP on this, which is the European average). University reform should be top priority: more autonomy, more financial means, higher”productivity”
• deficits and debt: the aim is to  take the level of public debt back to 60% of the  GDP in 2012. This will mean cuts in public expenses and notably sharp cuts in civil service
• “flexsecurity”: using the”Nordic model” as a reference, the Prime Minister made clear the reflexion on how to make the French labor system more flexible without necessarily creating more uncertainties for the employees would be pursued and eventually implemented. Ideas such as a unique and single work contract, reform of unemployement compensation current system, as well as a reform of minimum wage  should be top priorities.

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The Prime Minister office just issued a recommendation inviting employees of the various French Ministries not to use BlackBerries anymore. The reason is national security: informations exchanged between French officials could be intercepted by the Americans through the NSA, which has infrastructures in the UK.

Most of the people working for government, or at least advisors in power position, are used to BlackBerry. This decision comes after the French Ministry of Economy and Finance put the system in place for its own teams back in 2006. Official in charge of this project said:”today, BlackBerry is the most robust and secure product on the market (…) There is a lot of misunderstandings (…) There are also fears related to the myth of servers being deployed and located outside the national territory (…) It would be ridiculous to ban it. People would buy one with their own money, which would be worse. We should rather devise in-house solutions with servers which we can configure, secure and control”.

The Prime Minister office statement is not mandatory, it”invites” people to get rid of their smart phones. Considering the fact most of the people involved come from sectors like banking or private industry, and have been using it for years now, it seems absolutely sure they will manage to use it one way or the other, even if not openly anymore. Would that be better?…

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According to a study conducted by the private consulting firm Hay Groupe and published in the french newspaper”La Tribune”,”golden parachutes” of French CEOs when they leave their position are the highest in Europe even if their income levels are in the European average. According to the study, French CEOs would”double their basic salary and yearly bonus” the day they leave, where only 50% of American CEOs get this kind of package.

The debate on this issue has been fueled in France by the fact that such golden parachutes had been given to non-performing CEOs. There is a reflexion going on within the French Parliament about restoring the linkage between performance and benefits for CEOs of big companies.

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