French EU Presidency, July – December 2008
The French Presidency of the EU, which begins on 1 July 2008, takes place in a particular context, marked by discussions around international agreements on climate change, the reform of the EU budget including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the recent rejection of the European Union’s reform plans under the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum, explains Romina Vegro, BOND EU Policy Officer.
In addition to discussions on these crucial issues, European elections will closely follow the French EU presidency, meaning that the future of Europe will be central in the debates at different levels.
The French government’s top priorities for the presidency include energy policy and climate change, agricultural policy, preparing the basis for an EU defence force and common EU defence policy and drafting a common EU immigration and asylum policy.
Coordination Sud
To highlight the importance of development cooperation, the French national association, Coordination SUD, has planned several activities, both at national level and, with CONCORD, at European level. Its presidency programme focuses on the EU's relationships with countries from the South and, more widely, the EU's role in globalisation. The future of Europe will be the cross-cutting theme tackled from different angles. The programme, Get Europe to make sense: fair and responsible, aims to ensure that questions related to North-South relations are taken into account in the debates on the future of Europe.
The different working themes of the programme are:
- Climate change and development
- Europe-African relations
- Agriculture and development
- Development financing
- Citizens, Europe and international solidarity
Advocacy work aimed at French and EU decision-makers and communication and awareness-raising activities will be carried out to ensure that civil society’s main concerns are included in the official EU agenda. A manifesto for the French EU presidency, drafted by Coordination SUD, sets out NGOs' analysis and their demands for the future of the EU and the EU's relations with countries from the South.
For each theme, a European seminar will be organised:
- Development financing (1 July): in the context of the international summits, on aid effectiveness in Accra and on development financing in Doha in December.
- Agriculture and development (16 September): in the context of the review of the EU budget and the re-assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy.
- Climate change and development (25 September): the impact of global warming on development in the South.
- International conferences on the role of national platforms (27-28 October) and on the EU as seen by the rest of the world (29-30 October, co-organised with CONCORD) with 80 representatives from all over the world sharing their opinions on different aspects of the EU's external policies, and its role.
- Citizens, the EU and international solidarity (18-19 November): the role of citizens in the elaboration of the EU project and particularly with regard to development and solidarity.
- Europe-Africa relations (5 December): with the joint EU-Africa strategy having been adopted at the end of 2007, there is a need to carry on with the analysis and advocacy work on this subject that was undertaken under the preceding presidencies. The aim is to have proposals for a balanced and mutually enriching relationship between the two continents.
For more information, contact Romina Vegro, BOND EU Policy Officer, or go to the Coordination Sud website.
For more information about the French EU Presidency.