'The feeling is that Europe has saved France from crisis'

Christophe Barbier (1967) is the editor in chief of the French weekly l’Express.

In the run-up to the European elections, what issues are being debated in France?

"The only international theme is Turkey’s entry into the European Union. The ruling UMP party, which is insisting that Turkey should be left out, systematically puts this issue on the agenda because this position resonates well with the French electorate. But the UMP is the only party doing so. For the extreme right, there is nothing to win here because it is not an issue that distinguishes it from the UMP.

"For the left, however, the debate about Turkey is problematic because its politicians are divided. They are annoyed by the UMP’s insistence on Turkey and prefer to talk about the ‘manifesto’of the European Socialist Party. But that doesn’t make theirs a European campaign. The socialists discuss the various issues in the manifesto only within a national context. Necessarily so, because the document is nothing but a kind of catalogue of good intentions. It contains few concrete figures and the intentions remain vague and general. It could hardly be different: take the issue of minimum wage for example, that has a completely different context in France than in Greece.

"An additional difference between left and right involves the presidency of the European Commission. The French right has a candidate: it wants José Manuel Barroso to be re-elected. So the voters know who will be in charge if they vote for the right. The French left doesn’t have a candidate. So as a leftist voter you have no idea who your vote could bring to power."

A key issue in European politics is market ideology, especially with the financial crisis. In France, is there debate about whether the market ideology of Brussels needs to be amended?

"France has always been less liberal than many other European countries. The French right traditionally accepts a relatively strong role of the state. President Sarkozy himself is only moderately liberal. There never has been an ultra-liberal party in France. Therefore, the French left cannot present the financial crisis as a failure of the ideology of the right-wing government. A large majority of the French voters agree that the Commission’s neoliberal ideas should be weakened, circumscribed. This feeling is reinforced by the fact that an ultraliberal country such as Britain at the moment is suffering most from the financial crisis."

Another key issue is euroscepticism. What is the general attitude in the France towards Europe? Is there a populist protest against Europe?

"The French said no to the European constitution in the 2005 referendum. For the moment, that is enough. There is no real institutional distrust of Europe. There is a widespread feeling that Europe and the euro have protected France from the financial crisis. Of course we have some technical issues, over fishery for example. And some people continue to make fun of bureaucrats in Brussels who want to decide the size of goat cheese. But that has not increased. There is no feeling of malaise."

How would voters in France like the EU to develop? Would they support a joint foreign policy? A stronger central bank?

"It depends on the issues. When we are talking about daily affairs such als health care and education, the French want a national policy, not European regulations. But in matters of diplomacy and defence, they support a more European approach.

"In that sense, there is a clear effect of the French presidency of the European Union last year. President Sarkozy keeps insisting that the modus operandi of the European Union has to change. Most people support that claim. And most French would like the European central bank to be less independent. They recall how the French central bank operated in concert with the political powers, how it was an instrument of governmental monetary policy. They would like more political control over the decisions of the European central bank.

"Overall, the public looks with a lot of distrust at bankers. They think many bankers already earned too much over the years, and that when they are asking for government money to support the banks, they are profiting from the financial crisis to further enrich themselves. The relations between the bankers and the public are disastrous."

Any anecdotes from the campaign for the European elections in France?

"Two incidents come to mind. At a meeting on May 5, president Sarkozy illustrated his vision of Europe. This was strongly criticised by the politicians on the left, who said that the head of state should not campaign.

"Another incident involves Rachida Dati, the minister of justice who is a candidate for the UMP. At a meeting in April with young party members, she made a much-quoted remark suggesting that she did not really want to go to the European parliament. Answering a question about what Europe is all about she said, in a grammatically incorrect phrase: 'Europe occupies itself with what it is given to be occupied with, with persons who can bring their business to occupy themselves with.’

"The impression the voters got is that one should not take these elections, and Europe itself, very seriously. In a way, that fits the strategy of the ruling UMP, which tries to avoid turning these European elections in a vote on the Sarkozy governement."

France, year of EU entry: founding member	Political system: republic	Capital city: Paris
Total area: 550 000 km²	Population: 63.7 million	Currency: euro