Introduction

Until the French voters rejected the proposed constitution for the European Union in the referendum of 2005, France had been the political leader of the Franco-German alliance to keep moving Europe toward ever-closer unity. France had led the “deepening” process for the European Union, from the Schuman Plan of 1950 to the Nice Treaty of 2002, primarily to ensure that a resurgent Germany would be enmeshed entirely in a democratic rule of law for Europe. The rejection of the constitution, the change in parliamentary leadership, and the outbreak of widespread riots by alienated, and unemployed, north African youth throughout France in the fall of 2005 have forced the French political leadership to shift emphasis. Preserving French identity and economic interests within the enlarged European Union now take priority over initiatives to strengthen EU institutions. Rather, initiatives are now directed toward strengthening the executive leadership within France, for example by placing the Commissariat du Plan directly under the Prime Minister in October 2005. From now on, this agency, set up originally to oversee the operation of the Monnet Plan after World War II, will be comparable to the Council of Economic Advisors to the President of the United States. These policy shifts are a response to the continued high unemployment rates and sluggish growth of the French economy, which began at the same time as the slowdown in the German economy.