FRANCE: France said yesterday it remained committed to pursuing closer EU integration with other "pioneer" countries after the German Foreign Minister Mr Joschka Fischer dropped his vision of a core of states forging a federal Europe.
The debate is central to the European Union's future as it prepares to take in 10 new members because smaller countries fear France and Germany want to create a "two-speed" Europe and move ahead faster than the rest.
Mr Fischer told German newspaper Berliner Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday that "visions of a small Europe" no longer suited a world in which global problems such as terrorism could be tackled only at a broad, continental level.
Officials in Paris said France's policy, which like Mr Fischer's federal vision fuelled the fears of a two-speed Europe, was not aimed at excluding current or future EU members.
"We oppose the idea of a two-speed Europe. We want to build a 25-member Europe sped along by reinforced cooperation," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ms Cecile Pozzo di Borgo, using the EU term employed to describe projects not involving all EU members.
"This is not about making two Europes. This is about giving momentum to Europe as a whole," she told a regular briefing. - (Reuters)