How Paris became estranged from EU's creation
By George Parker in Paris
March 23 2007
Maurice Faure is a potent reminder of how France gave life to the European Union and then over 50 years became estranged from its creation.
The last surviving signatory of the Treaty of Rome was one of a dozen ministers and officials gathered in Rome's Capitol to sign the EU's founding texts. "The anticipation was enormous," recalls Mr Faure, 85.
At 6.48pm on March 25 1957, with rain lashing down outside, the last speeches ended and Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian foreign minister, stepped up to sign the treaties that created the European Economic Community and Euratom, a nuclear co-operation treaty.
Within four minutes the signing was completed. Mr Faure remembers with nostalgia how Italians ignored the rain to shake hands with the dignitaries after the ceremony: "It was a very enthusiastic atmosphere."
However, he says the momentous nature of the occasion passed many Europeans by. Most French citizens were more concerned with the crisis in Algeria and interest in other countries was limited. The founding of a new Europe was, he admits, an "elite" project.
Mr Faure, then secretary of state at France's foreign ministry, represents an era in which the country was moulding Europe in its own image.
In the postwar period, as West Germany's economy powered ahead, Paris decided to bind its eastern neighbour into a unique framework of European co-operation, along with Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Crucial to the deal was to get France's farmers - one-quarter of the workforce - on board. "The Treaty of Rome was very favourable to farmers," he says. The new arrangements, offering subsidies and markets for France's grain and sugar beet surpluses, were a "big concession by Germany".
In exchange, Bonn won guarantees of market access for its industrial goods. The essence of that agreement still hangs over the EU today: more than 40 per cent of the Union's budget still goes to agricultural support.
So why did French farmers reject the EU constitution in a referendum in 2005? "Perhaps they don't understand what Europe has done for them," he says.
The No vote is the latest in what Mr Faure sees as self-inflicted wounds that have left France, economically, the "sick man of Europe".
Speaking in his left-bank apartment, Mr Faure says President Charles de Gaulle derailed European integration by adopting his "empty chair policy" in 1965, refusing to return unless member states were given the right to veto EU decisions.
"He blocked the path of integration and opened the door to the Europe of nation states we see today," he says. "I hoped for more." Today, he believes France has sidelined itself and become absorbed in its own internal political crisis.
"The countries of northern Europe, including Germany and Britain, are now playing the leading role. Spain and Italy are joining them."
Like Jean Monnet, who drove the diplomatic talks leading to Rome in 1957,
he regrets that the UK was not in at the start. "Europe can't be considered real without England," he says.
He cites Monnet's observation that the British were never likely to take a leap in the dark such as his 50 years ago: "The English don't like ideas; they like facts."
In a sign of how much has changed, Mr Faure says he is concerned that when he attends this weekend's 50th anniversary celebrations in Berlin he may not understand what is being said. "They won't be speaking French," he says. "When we were preparing the Treaty of Rome, we only spoke French."
www.ft.com
By George Parker in Paris
March 23 2007
Maurice Faure is a potent reminder of how France gave life to the European Union and then over 50 years became estranged from its creation.
The last surviving signatory of the Treaty of Rome was one of a dozen ministers and officials gathered in Rome's Capitol to sign the EU's founding texts. "The anticipation was enormous," recalls Mr Faure, 85.
At 6.48pm on March 25 1957, with rain lashing down outside, the last speeches ended and Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian foreign minister, stepped up to sign the treaties that created the European Economic Community and Euratom, a nuclear co-operation treaty.
Within four minutes the signing was completed. Mr Faure remembers with nostalgia how Italians ignored the rain to shake hands with the dignitaries after the ceremony: "It was a very enthusiastic atmosphere."
However, he says the momentous nature of the occasion passed many Europeans by. Most French citizens were more concerned with the crisis in Algeria and interest in other countries was limited. The founding of a new Europe was, he admits, an "elite" project.
Mr Faure, then secretary of state at France's foreign ministry, represents an era in which the country was moulding Europe in its own image.
In the postwar period, as West Germany's economy powered ahead, Paris decided to bind its eastern neighbour into a unique framework of European co-operation, along with Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Crucial to the deal was to get France's farmers - one-quarter of the workforce - on board. "The Treaty of Rome was very favourable to farmers," he says. The new arrangements, offering subsidies and markets for France's grain and sugar beet surpluses, were a "big concession by Germany".
In exchange, Bonn won guarantees of market access for its industrial goods. The essence of that agreement still hangs over the EU today: more than 40 per cent of the Union's budget still goes to agricultural support.
So why did French farmers reject the EU constitution in a referendum in 2005? "Perhaps they don't understand what Europe has done for them," he says.
The No vote is the latest in what Mr Faure sees as self-inflicted wounds that have left France, economically, the "sick man of Europe".
Speaking in his left-bank apartment, Mr Faure says President Charles de Gaulle derailed European integration by adopting his "empty chair policy" in 1965, refusing to return unless member states were given the right to veto EU decisions.
"He blocked the path of integration and opened the door to the Europe of nation states we see today," he says. "I hoped for more." Today, he believes France has sidelined itself and become absorbed in its own internal political crisis.
"The countries of northern Europe, including Germany and Britain, are now playing the leading role. Spain and Italy are joining them."
Like Jean Monnet, who drove the diplomatic talks leading to Rome in 1957,
he regrets that the UK was not in at the start. "Europe can't be considered real without England," he says.
He cites Monnet's observation that the British were never likely to take a leap in the dark such as his 50 years ago: "The English don't like ideas; they like facts."
In a sign of how much has changed, Mr Faure says he is concerned that when he attends this weekend's 50th anniversary celebrations in Berlin he may not understand what is being said. "They won't be speaking French," he says. "When we were preparing the Treaty of Rome, we only spoke French."
www.ft.com
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