Jospin supports a federation of nation states

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin broke the ice and spoke out on Europe, putting forward a vision of Europe based on the federation of nation states model. The enlarged EU that Lionel Jospin wants has to include a model of society, must be able to influence global affairs and needs institutional reforms to make it able to carry out its political task of building a social model and international assertiveness.

After having long been criticized for his silence on Europe, qualified as lack of vision, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin entered today the debate on the future of EU with a manifesto calling for EU to become a federation of nation states. Jospin criticizes the federalist model proposed by German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, saying EU has to be made without dismantling the nation states. He sees the EU of the future still based on the intergovernmental cooperation, with an assertive foreign policy and a common defence policy.

Lionel Jospin calls for a politisation of the European Commission, whose president should be issued from the European Party winning elections for the European Parliament. The Commission would thus be controlled and censured by the European Parliament. On the other hand, the European Council, which consists of the heads of state of the EU member states, would have the power to dissolve the European Parliament, under the proposal of the European Commission or of a member state.

The French Prime Minister is also for a European Constitution, which should be the expression of a common society and political project, and not only a rewriting or simplification of the Treaties.

Lionel Jospin joins thus the line of thoughts expressed by French President Jacques Chirac, also partisan of a European federation of nation states, an idea put forward by former Commission president Jacques Delors. The vision contradicts the project put forward by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, saying France and other European nations are not prepared to adopt a federalist model along the lines of the German state organisation.