FRANCE:FRANCE HAILED the new fiscal treaty as a "tremendous" outcome, but the opposition insisted it would seek to reopen negotiations if it took power in the spring election.
Foreign minister Alain Juppé said president Nicolas Sarkozy would sign the treaty in the coming weeks but that the electoral timetable would not give parliament enough time to ratify it before voters go to the polls in late April. The socialist candidate, François Hollande, who leads Mr Sarkozy in opinion polls, has indicated he will seek to reopen talks on the pact if he wins.
Mr Juppé said the treaty was a “tremendous” compromise between different states’ demands. Germany’s desire for strict fiscal controls were reflected in the budget-balancing rule, but France had succeeded in its aim to have the euro zone strengthened as a forum for economic decision-making.
“On this, the French idea prevailed. There will be an economic government with regular meetings of euro zone heads of state and government,” he said.
France had sought to limit the transfer of budgetary control demanded – and ultimately secured – by German chancellor Angela Merkel and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Mr Juppé urged Mr Hollande not to try to revise the deal if he won the election, saying Mr Sarkozy’s signature implied that France was bound by it.
“If there is a political change-over – it’s a hypothesis, not a certainty – we would see if France would go back on its signature. I think it would be very damaging to the interests of our country and of Europe itself,” he said.
Mr Hollande has signalled he would reopen talks on the treaty to make jobs and economic growth more central. This position was confirmed yesterday by his campaign director, Pierre Moscovici.
“We cannot enter a spiral of austerity with a pact geared only toward austerity. Budgetary discipline isn’t enough. There is a need for growth,” he said.
The German Christian Democrat party announced at the weekend that Dr Merkel would actively support Mr Sarkozy’s campaign for re-election.