Lhe German Chancellor pronounced, on August 29, in Prague, a speech which was finally little commented on by French politicians but which is for us an important document, likely to lay the foundations of a new European project shared between France and Germany. This text is not complete and we have our own proposals to put forward, but it is a stimulating basis for discussion between French socialists and German social democrats.
Olaf Scholz claims the need to bring a new European project to the baptismal font. Founded on an inward-looking peace project, the European Union (EU) must henceforth defend its values and ensure its independence and stability also vis-à-vis the outside world, it must assume that it has interests geopolitical and strategic. He insists on the rule of law, “fundamental value that should bind our union”. He proposes a European rapid reaction force in 2025, that is to say tomorrow, and an air defense system.
If Europe is built on its values and a project for a humanist society, then it must welcome the peoples who want to join this fight and accept a new enlargement, including in particular Ukraine. It weighs this enlargement against the generalized move to qualified majority voting, particularly on tax policy, to make Europe once again governable and capable of moving forward collectively.
A new balance
Olaf Scholz also insists on the need to put an end to unilateral dependencies and on the definition of a new balance between the necessary economic openness to the rest of the world and the objective of European sovereignty. “Made in Europe 2030” is a watchword that we are adopting and which implies a profound reform of competition policy, trade policy and, let us add, the common agricultural policy.
The Chancellor finally makes “investing together” its political priority, subordinating to it European economic governance which should succeed the Stability Pact. Investing to build Europe’s industrial and health sovereignty, investing to make the ecological transition a success, investing to fight against social and territorial inequalities, this is a perspective dear to French socialists.
This text may appear too turned towards the East; he is cruel to France, rarely mentioned. This absence is an alert that calls for a double awareness. The tilting of Europe towards the East and the Balkans is not a danger to be fought, it is a historical, human and geopolitical reality that our country must take head-on. The Franco-German couple must be refounded; the gaps in Olaf Scholz’s speech testify to a lesser closeness and to real problems which burst into the open with the postponement of the Franco-German summit.
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