France in the 20th century : France and the European Union
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The establishment of the European Union (EU) in 1993, a successor of the European Community, had profound consequences for France and other European nations. Power over a wide range of policies, once exercised solely by European national governments, gradually shifted toward the EU. The creation of the EU marked the evolution of the European Community from a largely economic organization into a political one, which now includes a European Parliament. The Maastricht Treaty of 1991, which created the EU pending the treaty’s ratification by member states, provided a new impetus toward further European integration. Among its provisions was the call for a single European currency. This currency, the euro, was introduced for limited purposes on January 1, 1999, much to the surprise of many observers. They had been skeptical because the EU had not always been able to agree on a common economic policy. In early 2002 euro notes and coins became legal tender and entered circulation, replacing national currencies in 12 of the 15 EU member states. |
French governments of both the center-left and center-right have consistently supported European integration under the auspices of the EU, and this support has perhaps been France’s most significant contribution to world affairs since it dissolved its overseas empire. A Frenchman, Jacques Delors, provided strong leadership as president of the European Commission, an agency of the EU, from 1984 to 1994. French president Nicolas Sarkozy took over the rotating presidency of the EU in 2008. France has favored European integration for several reasons. First, as Charles de Gaulle had recognized in the 1960s, France without an empire was too small a nation to play a major role in international affairs. France’s influence abroad promised to be enhanced if it joined with other nations of Europe to pursue a common foreign policy. |
Second, trans-European institutions, such as those of the EU, could help restrain Germany, whose great industrial and financial power was bound, in the absence of such institutions, to dominate Europe economically. Membership in the EU would allow France and other nations to have greater economic influence in Europe through common policies on trade and interest rates. Third, at a time when growing international competition meant that France had to compete more intensively to sell its goods abroad, participation in the EU ensured that France would have greater access to the markets of its neighbors. No doubt the French economic situation would have been worse had the EU not acted to promote growth. |
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European Union. |
Agreements between the EU and several eastern European countries during the 1990s made markets in those countries more accessible, and successful implementation of the euro facilitated commerce across national borders. However, the extent to which greater European integration will be, on balance, a boon to the French economy and society remains uncertain. New opportunities for reaching foreign markets must take into account the difficulty of maintaining domestic wage rates that are much higher than wage rates abroad. Greater European integration also threatens to increase the influence of large multinational corporations on national policies while limiting the ability of countries such as France to address important domestic concerns, such as environmental pollution. As they become integrated into wider and deeper economic and political networks, France and the other EU members may well be compelled to develop a broader definition of the nation than they have ever known before. Encarta |
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