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This paper explores the conceptualization and interpretation of ‘European solidarity’ by the French President François Mitterrand. It discusses the relevance of former concepts of foreign and European policy. It differentiates between a European idea and European institutions, also taking into account personal experiences. Finally, it analyses the correlation between different concepts such as ‘European solidarity’, ‘transatlantic solidarity’, ‘West European solidarity’ and ‘pan-European solidarity’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In France and Europe today, claims arise defining so-called Muslim and European ‘worlds’ and labelling them irreconcilable. These claims ignore the intertwined history of France and North Africa. When the six founding members of the European Economic Community (EEC) signed the Treaty of Rome, French administrators still considered Algeria to be a constituent part of France, despite the ongoing war. The Algerian question was central to negotiations for the Treaty of Rome and during them, French officials attempted to inscribe Algeria within the founding documents of the European project through a policy of ‘Eurafrique’. Their partners, eager for France’s signature on the Treaty, accepted a vision of integrated Europe with borders crossing the Mediterranean. This decision raised thorny issues in the months and years to come, first in debates of how or even if the Treaty could be implemented overseas, then when independent Algeria attempted to define its relationship with the EEC. These episodes of negotiation and interaction reveal the centrality of the question of empire to the foundations of integrated Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the creation of the European Community, the Gaullist movement has never been united over the question of European integration. De Gaulle’s intergovernmental vision of the European project has largely been the dominant discourse. At times however, this narrative has been questioned—on the one hand by more supranational notions of European integration; and on the other by a more pro-sovereignty Eurosceptic discourse. Subsequently, in its various modern-day guises the Gaullist movement has faced a series of major internal divisions with regard to its position on ‘Europe’. This uncertainty has also manifested itself at the highest level as demonstrated by the changing discourse advocated by former French presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. This paper analyses the internal tensions over the European issue within the Gaullist movement at elite level. It determines that despite Chirac’s and Sarkozy’s attempts to unite the party throughout their presidencies the Gaullist movement is far from having moved towards a united European stance. Accordingly, the authors identify that over the past three decades, it is possible to identify three distinct, and at times conflicting, Gaullist stances on European integration with which the party’s elites have vacillated, namely Euro-Federalism, Euro-Pragmatism and Euro-Populism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is provided to articles in the issue on theme of the relationship between France and Europe from the March 1957 Treaty of Rome through 2017 with topics, including European integration, French Algeria and the European Union (EU).

Studies of the relationship of political parties to the European Community/Union (EC/EU) increasingly use the perspective of ‘Europeanisation’ to measure such relationships. There is also a case, however, for looking at Europe from the perhaps narrower but no less necessary point of view of intra-party dynamics: in particular, what kinds of challenge does ‘Europe’ represent to party managers and how do they deal with it? By analysing the relationship of the Socialist Party to the EC/EU at three key moments in the history of European integration, the author identifies some common tropisms which continue to operate even as the effects of ‘Europeanisation’ increase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an attempt to explain Europe's lack of influence and policy inconsistency in the Middle East, the European foreign policy literature has consistently pointed towards the existence of a democratization-stabilization dilemma. According to this explanation, EU long-term interests in a more democratic region have been consistently subordinated to short-term preferences for security and regime stability. The outcome has regularly been a lack of vision and consistency. This article questions this explanation by demonstrating that European vacillation has not been informed by a static competition between realist and idealist approaches, but by different national foreign policy traditions that are based on divergent views of identity, interests and threats. Analysing continuity and change in French and German Middle East policy, the article argues that a solution to the democratization-stabilization dilemma remains close at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 9/11, the Iraq war and the French and Dutch rebuttal of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, some have observed that EU member states have tended to de-Europeanize or renationalize foreign policies. In such a context, does France see its foreign policy future within the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) or outside it? Despite the inherent contradictions of the traditional French model of European foreign policy (intergovernmentalism, Europe puissance, EU as a power multiplier), France's commitment to a strong European foreign policy remains powerful. But the French allegiance to CFSP is less based on a political project for Europe and for its role in the world than motivated by necessity, as France is less and less able to act alone in the world. Thus, French policy vis-à-vis the EU in general and CFSP-European security and defence policy (ESDP) in particular has become increasingly pragmatic and flexible. This trend will most likely continue under President Sarkozy's leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]