France and the Politics of European Economic and Monetary Union

by V. Caton

Overview

Why did France, with its strong sense of national identity, want to give up the Franc for the Euro? This book, by a former British diplomat in Paris, draws on new archive evidence to explore France's drive for European Economic and Monetary Union, and how unresolved Franco-German tensions over its design led to crisis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137409164
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	05/28/2015
Series:	St Antony's Series
Edition description:	2015
Pages:	211
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Dr. Valerie Caton's career in the British Diplomatic Service included overseas postings to Brussels, Skholm, Paris and as Ambassador to Finland. Twice a Senior Associate Member at St. Antony's College, Oxford, she is currently Visiting Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading, UK.

Table of Contents

Preface PART I: 1970-1991 Engaging Germany, Modernising France The Drive For A European Treaty On Economic And Monetary Union (EMU) 1. Introduction: Why did France want EMU? 2. 1984-88: How the EMU Treaty Project Took Shape 3. 1988-90: German Unity and European Union 4. 1991: The Maastricht Negotiations 5. The EMU Deal: French Ambition; German Design? PART II: 1992-2014 Putting The Treaty Deal Into Practice French Political Management Of Emu 6. 1992-96: The Years of Turmoil and Disarray 7. 1996 - 99: Recovery and Launch of a Wide Eurozone 8. 1999-2007: French Competitiveness and European Reform 9. 2007-12: The Crisis Years 10. Conclusions and Future Policy Challenges Acronyms and Abbreviations Select Bibliography and Further Reading

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'Valerie Caton's book is a sure-footed, impressively researched and very readable guide to the conception, negotiation and execution of the EU's most high-risk project to date. Rarely has France's decisive role in bending economics to politics been laid so bare. Her book is essential reading for understanding the fissile interplay of politics, economics and diplomatic poker which has brought Europe to its current crisis of economic performance and political legitimacy. For all Germany's growing economic primacy, Caton leaves her readers in no doubt about France's key role in - and special responsibility for - resolving that crisis.' Maurice Fraser, Professor of Practice in European Politics and Head of the European Institute, London School of Economics, UK

'François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl sought to build a haven of stability, peace and prosperity at the heart of Europe. Two decades after the end of their historic partnership, the EU offers only austerity for too many of its citizens. The reasons lie in the keystone of the Mitterrand-Kohl project, the euro, whose story Valerie Caton tells, drawing on previously unused archive material in this excellent book.Caton's great strength is to demonstrate the rationality of decisions as they were taken at the time, while underlining their longer-term irrationality, and their unintended consequences. Her tale is therefore both sober there is explanation without finger-pointing and sobering, because it tells of the hole at the heart of the euro, a currency lacking the economic and political underpinnings to withstand the perfect storm that broke over the world financial system in 2007-8. That ways were found to stave off complete disaster testifies to the determination of European leaders to make it work. That they had to be improvised testifies to the weaknesses of the initial project weaknesses to date only partially remedied.' Andrew Knapp, Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History, University of Reading, UK

Editorial Reviews

Caton’s book might … be seen as a testament to a disturbing gulf between academic EU studies and diplomacy. … This book … has obvious added value for scholars and students of European integration, and specifically the move to and operation of EMU and French policy on EMU.” (David Howarth, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 54 (5), 2016)

'Caton gives a brisk and clear chronological summary of the decades of position papers, election campaigns, summits and high-level committees. She goes beyond her French focus to describe the infighting between the German Bundesbank and the country's more European-minded politicians.' Edward Hadas, Reuters Breakingviews blog

From the Publisher