FRANCE/THE EU: The French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, has modified his stance on the inclusion of a reference to Christianity in the European Constitution. Mr Raffarin said in Dublin yesterday that Paris was not hostile to a reference to Christianity and said he was ready to compromise on the question as long as it was done in the "right way".
France has previously resisted a reference to Christianity in the draft treaty proposed by the Convention on the Future of Europe, whose preamble cites "religious values" but does not single out any particular tradition.
Mr Raffarin said the original text in the draft treaty "was a good one", and the aim should be to stay as close as possible to that version. "That's why we feel that if we are to distance ourselves from that text on this or that issue it should be either through consensus or compromise," he said.
Mr Ahern did not specify a preference for either side of the debate. "I understand both sides of the argument and we have to try and get a compromise," he said.
The two leaders were speaking in Government Buildings after a meeting at which they discussed the negotiation of the EU Constitution. Mr Ahern said Mr Raffarin and his colleagues had been been "very helpful" in their work on the areas that were outstanding.
He also expressed sympathy with Mr Raffarin over the death of four people at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when part of a roof collapsed.
Mr Raffarin said France would support the majority of the Irish EU Presidency's proposals for compromise on the constitution at a summit on June 17th.
But while Dublin is resisting any move to end national vetoes over taxation, Mr Raffarin said the question of extending qualified majority voting to taxation was "still open".
"We did discuss these issues. As I said we were both looking for a Europe that would achieve growth," he said.
"That means in fact that in due course we will have to have across Europe a reduction of social costs of labour. That means also in due course that our tax policies will have to be harmonised, that we'll have to have a clearer common position on subsidies."
Mr Raffarin described Ireland as an example to Europe, "having focused on growth but also having focused on social partnership and social cohesion". He added: "I hope that the Irish example can be used as an example for the EU as a whole."
Mr Raffarin said France was an ally of the US but one that had its own concerns and views on different issues. "On the strategic issues such as Iraq or the painful issue of the Middle East we feel that the UN is and must be the forum, the appropriate context in which international law must be developed. "On Iraq, more specifically, we will say that we support this idea of restoring the sovereignty of the Iraqi people."
He said that process would have to be "a full and complete" one that would lead to elections, which would "bring about a government in a position to decide what it hopes will happen and what it wants to see happen with the forces that are currently stationed in Iraq".
Raffarin forecasts 2% growth for France: page 20