The Euro: A challenge for France

Today's issue is entirely devoted to the Euro and its forthcoming introduction into European economies. The articles in this issue are a summary of the papers presented at the 1997 conference organized by Béatrice LEVY.

Since then, the deadlines have become more tangible and the outlook much more optimistic than we imagined just one year ago, given the number of countries that are valid candidates for integration into the European currency.

I have been entrusted with the difficult task of introducing this special issue, in which the subject is dealt with brilliantly and effectively by experts far better qualified than I am to talk to you about it. I therefore invite you to read with interest their contribution to this major reflection on the future of Europe.

Beyond the financial and technical aspects, the introduction of the Euro represents an unprecedented turning point in European history: what awaits us in a few years' time is a radical change in an essential benchmark of all human activity, namely money. In addition to becoming masters of the multiplication table by about 7, we'll have to totally rethink ASTEC's employment survey on the salaries of ITNSAE alumni, for example... We'll be a long way from the time when our fathers claimed to make the franc a universal standard on a par with the metre, the gram and the liter, all of which went on to enjoy a brilliant career...

It has become a cliché to say that the transition to the Euro represents an "abandonment" of sovereignty by the member states, but it's probably much more than just an abandonment: we are now witnessing, on a continental scale, the expression of a true collective will, or the very meaning of Rousseau's social contract.

For the changeover to the Euro is not just a symbolic act: it is necessarily accompanied by a common will to live and work together, and consequently to decide together, for all. Its natural extension is therefore the integration of economic policies, for which the convergence criteria express the technical conditions of operation,

This expression of the common European will has already gone beyond the economic stage: more discreet but equally effective achievements are already underway. A case in point is the integration of European armies within the WEU (Western European Union), which for nearly three years tested the ability of member states to pool their forces in the Adriatic theater.

Betting on the social aspect is also a cliché, although it is clear that Europe will find it difficult to avoid a debate on the rules of the game for human resources management when the euro makes it easier for members of the union to settle in any given state. The common frame of reference of a single currency will make the different rules of the social game from one state to another more obvious,

When the currency, the army, the justice system and the police force have all made good progress towards European integration, there will inevitably come a day when Europeans will all want a say in decisions, if only because all these people have to be paid. In other words, unless everything is cancelled, the Euro can only lead to a debate on the organization of Europe's political institutions. On that day, the French Republic will doubtless have lived. But the future of Ici Fronce lies nowhere else but in Europe.

Amoud Millien