France took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the 13^th time as of 1 January 2022. Announcing the priorities for its presidency which will last through the first half of 2022, Paris has mentioned many issues in its work programme including a fully sovereign Europe, securing border control and climate-integrated economic development. The French EU Presidency also marks the beginning of a new cycle of trio presidencies which includes the term presidencies of France, Czechia and Sweden working together over a period of 18 months. The thematic priorities identified by the France-Czechia-Sweden trio include protecting citizens and freedoms by adhering to European values, creating a new growth model on the axis of sustainable green growth and digital sovereignty and protecting Europe’s health by building a greener Europe.

The Historical Background of French EU Presidencies

Having assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU twice after the millennium respectively in 2000 and 2008, this time France took over the EU Presidency from Slovenia. Apart from being one of the six founding members of the EU, France has steered European integration since its very beginning through numerous initiatives. The initiative for the European Defence Community, the Empty Chair Crisis during presidency of Charles de Gaulle, and the Franco-German rapprochement during the presidency of François Mitterrand are among the first examples that come to mind.

During its EU Presidency in the second half of 2000, France managed to facilitate the negotiation process of the Nice Treaty. These efforts concluded with the regulation of the decision-making mechanism of the EU institutions and making the preliminary preparations for the 2004 enlargement. In addition to that, France played a critical role in the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy.

While France’s previous EU Presidency in the second half of 2008 was marked with numerous challenges such as the Irish veto on the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the Georgia-Russia conflict and the global financial crisis. At that time, French President Nicholas Sarkozy established close relations with Eastern Europe and took initiatives to realise the free movement of the workers inside the borders of the EU under his country’s EU term presidency.

Broadly, French EU Presidencies have been in favour of the deepening perspective, rather than supporting the EU’s widening. As a matter of fact, the priorities of the new French EU Presidency clearly reveal that the same perspective will be maintained.

The Main Priorities Set Out by the French Presidency

On 9 December 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron presented the priorities of the French Presidency of the  Council of the EU. The priorities presented by Macron could be categorised under four headings:

- Realising the dream of a “sovereign Europe”,

- Modernisation of the European Social Model and the EU budget in the context of social policy,

- Accelerating the implementation of the new climate-prioritised economic development model,

- Legislative support for digital transition.

1- Sovereign Europe

The first priority area concerns the revision of the Schengen regulation in the context of sovereignty and defence. Macron stated that preventing the manipulation of the right of asylum, also means protecting European borders, and thus European sovereignty. He stated that France would support the strengthening of cooperation between Member States in the defence and military areas as well as the establishment of an “emergency border support mechanism” which would cooperate with Frontex. Moreover, Macron intends to put EU’s “strategic autonomy” into action in order to achieve a stronger position in the competition with China.

2- The Modernisation of the European Social Model

The second priority under the French EU Presidency, unsurprisingly, is the new regulation on social policy. Emphasizing that Europe needs a new social model, Macron stated that efforts would be made to design a legislation on an EU-wide minimum wage, to reduce unemployment rates and to close the gender pay gap by putting forward relevant directives. It was also expressed that the budget deficit procedure with 3% to GDP, included in the Maastricht criteria and described as “out-dated” by Macron, would be revised to accelerate the recovery process in the post-COVID era.

3- Climate Change Agenda

The third priority concerns the climate agenda. In this context, France intends to accelerate the implementation process of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism for reaching the EU’s climate-neutrality goal by 2050. France also would like to prohibit the import of products that cause deforestation.

 4- New Legislation In the Context of Digitalisation

“Transforming Europe as a digital power” is the fourth priority under the French EU Presidency. This goal also includes the digital sovereignty and digital independence.  To achieve this goal, the aim is to speed up the legislation process which goes along two paths; the Digital Services Act and the Digital Market Act. In addition to the investment plans envisaged by the European Commission, these two proposals put forward on 15 December 2020 are expected to be approved during the Presidency of France. With the Digital Services Act, it is aimed to remove illegal contents from digital platforms, from hate speech to counterfeit ones, to appoint a “Digital Services Coordinator” by each Member State, and to impose fines on users who violate this act. On the other hand, with the Digital Market Act, which aims to regulate competition in online platforms and prevent violations, EU offers a mechanism where large companies in the market, in other words, gatekeepers, can no longer use the data they receive from other companies with which they compete and to prevent their monopolisation in online markets.

5- Position of the French Presidency within the Scope of EU’s Internal and Foreign Policies

While emphasizing European sovereignty, Macron also underlines the goal of protecting European citizens by values such as democracy and the rule of law. In this context, he states that the rule of law principle, which occupied the EU agenda mostly in 2021, cannot be open to negotiate. In regards with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Macron made a statement as “We must work together for Europe”. Secondly, France has a goal of improving democratic instruments both in terms of quantity and quality. For example, ensuring the continuity of the Conference on the Future of Europe, French Presidency announced that its outputs will be shared during its period.

Another topic under this headline is the enlargement perspective. France has traditionally has embraced the European integration as being in favour of the deepening perspective, rather than supporting the EU’s enlargement. When the official website of the Presidency of the Council of the EU makes a comment about the Western Balkans only on the concept of strategic partnership, there is not a single mention about Turkey. In this sense, it seems more convenient to focus on technical areas such as visa liberalisation dialogue and the modernisation of Customs Union for Turkey.

In foreign policy, Macron hints that a new economic and financial deal will be launched with Africa. In addition, it is also expected that France, which strives to increase its competitiveness against China on the Pacific axis, will keep the policy of “strategic autonomy” alive on the European agenda in the next six months. Finally, it is possible to foresee that the results of the French presidential elections to be held on 10 and 24 April 2022 will directly affect both its policy priorities and relations with Turkey.

For further information, the website of the French Presidency can be accessed from here.