French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union

Mureșan, Antoanela-Paula Article French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union CES Working Papers Provided in Cooperation with: Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Suggested Citation: Mureșan, Antoanela-Paula (2019) : French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union, CES Working Papers, ISSN 2067-7693, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Centre for European Studies, Iasi, Vol. 11, Iss. 3, pp. 170-184 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/286608 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CES Working Papers – Volume XI, Issue 3 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 170 French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN* Abstract Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union in 2007. For both of them, the taking over of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union has represented a crucial moment. Two former communist countries, east-central countries, have been in charge of the Council of the European Union. The article attempts to present some perception of the French press on the presidencies of these two countries, which has engendered a series of results indicating a subjectively different approach towards the Romanian and the Bulgarian presidencies of the Council of the EU. While the former has been regarded from a critical standpoint in the light of the internal political context, a more constructive view has been adopted in the case of the latter. Keywords: European Union, Romania, Bulgaria, Presidency of the Council of the European Union Introduction The press is considered to be the fourth power in the state. And like any power, it has a tremendous influence, especially in the 21th century, a century of information and information consumption. Thanks to our digital technologies and internet access, we are now permanently connected to all news – i.e. the latest information. This paper aims to present the French journalists' perception of the presidency of Romania and Bulgaria of the EU Council. We have turned to five French national journals, La Croix, Le Parisien, Est Républicain, Le Monde and Les Échos, which allotted press articles before the taking over of the rotating presidencies of the two countries. The five have been picked so as to benefit from a representative spectrum of the French press, from the standpoint of the political ideologies favoured, but also because they pertain to the traditional, reputable segment of French media. They also have a reputation for covering international subjects in a comprehensive manner. The topic is important at present because of the emphasis made in current research on the fake news phenomenon, but also because the reflection in western media of the course of European integration in East-Central European countries needs to be checked for bias. In fact, the * Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN is Lecturer at the Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, e-mail: [email protected]. CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union 171 manner in which the French press has reflected significant events in matters of European affairs from countries such as Romania and Bulgaria has at times been somewhat controversial and, given the influence it may have on public opinion, we consider our case study on the important matter of the presidency of the Council to be welcome. The reputable press is expected to be objective, thorough in its research and informative, especially in a founding member state of the European Union, but its degree of understanding of European affairs in the former communist states is, in our view, questionable. Numerous political discourses and even some political parties in France have made a point of resorting to exaggerated criticism of Romanian realities, for instance, even before the country’s integration into the Union, which has taken its toll on the diplomatic ties between the two countries and the image of Romanians working in France. For the first time in history, Romania (much like Bulgaria), has had the task of taking over the rotational presidency of the Council of the European Union, which should be a matter of national pride, but comes with great responsibility and expectations of a political, as well as a symbolic nature. These are some of the arguments that favour the study of the topic our research tackles. From a methodological point of view, we shall use a quantitative-comparative analysis, evaluating the themes discussed in the editorials, and a comparison between journalists’ opinions on the presidencies of Romania and Bulgaria. Text analysis is the predominant method, as certified in literature by a number of prominent scholars (Kuckartz, 2000; Roberts, 1997; Titscher and Jenner, 2000). 1. The Council of the European Union. A few general remarks. The bases of the Council of the European Union were laid in 1950, with the negotiations for establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty (Eur-lex, 2019). Back then, four institutions were created, one of which was the Special Council of Ministers. Since its creation, it has suffered modifications in terms of denomination, structure, functions, attributes, so as to correspond to changing contexts. Originally, its role was to represent and coordinate the national governments and policies of the ECSC Member States. Following the signing of the Treaty of Rome of 1957, two other special councils were created, one for each of the two newly established communities - the European Economic Community and EURATOM (or the European Atomic Energy Community). Subsequently, upon signing the Brussels Treaty of 1965 (Eur-lex, 2009) and its entry into force in 1967, it was decided to replace the three existing councils with one, able to serve all three European communities. In the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992, the denomination was that of Council of the European Union but, in the Treaty of Lisbon of 2007, the name of the institution is simply the Council (Eur-lex, 2009). The Council is seen as the voice of the Member States, an institution that represents CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN 172 their interests by adopting together with the European Parliament the legislation and coordinating European policies. The Council represents the governments of the Member States of the European Union. It is composed of one representative at the ministerial level of each Member State, empowered to engage the government of the Member State which it represents and to exercise the right to vote (Art. 16/2). Consequently, there are no permanent members. (As long as they are ministers in their countries, they participate in the meetings). Depending on the topic discussed, the ministers of each Member State participate in meetings without fixed dates (every 1-3-4 months, depending on the 10 Configurations). The Council of the EU is a single legal entity, but it meets in 10 different 'configurations', depending on the subject being discussed (Council of the EU, 2019). These 10 configurations are: • Agriculture and Fisheries Council • Competitiveness Council • Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council • Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council • Environment Council • Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council • Economic and Financial Affairs Council • Foreign Affairs Council • General Affairs Council • Justice and Home Affairs Council Although there are no differences between them, three configurations deserve an outline: The General Affairs Council, The Foreign Affairs Council and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Neill, 2017, p. 166), due to their activities. Within the Council, each Member State shall hold the rotating presidency for a period of six months. The Member States holding the Presidency work together in groups of three, called Trios. The Trios system, in fact, commenced in 2007 after the reform of the Council’s rules of procedures. The Lisbon Treaty merely finalized this change. (Bache et al., 2015, p. 265) The Trio sets long-term goals and formulates a common program addressing major issues over a period of 18 months. Each member country prepares its own agenda for six months in what is called the priorities. The presidency is responsible for driving forward the Council's work on EU legislation, ensuring the continuity of the EU’s agenda, orderly legislative processes and cooperation among member states. The presidency has two main tasks, giving evidence of neutrality: planning and chairing meetings in the Council and its preparatory bodies, and representing the Council in relations with the other EU institutions. The presidency works in close coordination with the President of the CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union 173 European Council and with the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Responding basically to policies that affect our daily lives, the Council, due to the Lisbon Treaty, has the following functions: policy and lawmaker, meaning that it is stipulated in the Treaty that it negotiates and adopts EU legislation (TEU art. 16/1), together with the European Parliament, on the basis of proposals submitted by the European Commission, and coordinates EU countries' policies; negotiator - the Council shall frame the common foreign and security policy and take the necessary decisions for defining and implementing it on the basis of the general guidelines and strategic lines defined by the European Council (TEU, art. 26/2). It concludes agreements between EU and other countries or international organizations. The Council shall authorize the opening of negotiations, adopt negotiating directives, authorize the signing of agreements and conclude them and it adopts the budget. The European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with a special legislative procedure, shall establish the Union's annual budget (TFEU, art. 207 and 218). The ministers of the country holding the presidency preside over the meetings of the 10 configurations, except for the Foreign Affairs Council, which is always chaired by the same person - the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In terms of its hierarchical structure, the Council is made up of: ministers who meet in the ten Configurations, COREPER or “Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union”, an organ composed of experts from national administrations specialized in a particular subject and their assistants, and “Council preparatory bodies” composed of around 150 committee and working parties. The particularity of the Council is that it is made up of national government members that have to decide at international level. When attempting to achieve a rational institutional balance that promotes the values of the European Union, the Council along with the Commission and the Parliament represent the Institutional Trio of the European Union. 2. Analysis of journals The context of our analysis is somewhat thorny for Romania, as it was for Bulgaria, upon its taking over of the Presidency of the Council. From an EU-centred perspective, it revolves around the rise in populism and a wave of anti-European feelings taking ever stronger roots in countries from the so-called New Europe, chiefly Poland and Hungary. As for Romania and, to a lesser extent, Bulgaria, while Eurosceptic voices barely make it to the eyes of the media, let alone the offices of government, conflicts with EU institutions and perceived abuse in matters of justice and, notably, human rights, have been reported of late. The stakes appear to pertain to at least two paramount CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN 174 subjects, one of which is the control of the justice system, often camouflaged in the form of an alleged reform, while the other is the management of European funds. While the presidency of the Council does not make a country almighty in European affairs, it is certain that it endows it with a power of influence that is worthy of being studied from the standpoint of its ability to influence the European agenda. Hence, the press plays an important role in informing on the progress, agenda and eventual slips of a presidency. The first article we shall comment on was published in Est Républicain, written by Aurélien Poivret (with AFP) (2019). The title is an open, incentive-based question, formulated in such a manner as to suggest a negative answer: Can Romania preside over the European Union? The editorial underlines the challenges that Romania is likely to face during the presidency. These are chiefly related to Brexit and EP elections. Although Romania has been since its accession to the EU, in 2007, a Europhile country, in recent months, because of the Social Democratic government, the relationship between Bucharest and Brussels has become tense: Romania takes the presidency of the European Union with a government that today frontally opposes Brussels. The judicial reforms proposed by the government are seen by the representatives in Brussels as a measure that enables corrupt Romanian politicians to evade prison, especially the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea: Brussels believes that the justice reform project prepared in Bucharest is only intended to provide amnesty for elected and close officials of the Social Democratic Party in power (PSD) worried about corruption cases… Liviu Dragnea, former Prime Minister (sic!) already convicted for electoral fraud. On the other hand, the Romanian government considers that these measures are only intended to correct the abuses of certain magistrates and prosecutors who are accused of having set up a "parallel state". President Klaus Iohannis is often seen as a Europhile, who fights against corrupt politicians, the only one who can genuinely represent Romania outside its borders. Romania is also presented in economic and demographic terms, mentioning that the standard of living of Romanians is amongst the lowest within the EU: The average gross wage is 970 euros, making it one of the poorest countries of the twenty-eight. (Since the fall of the communist regime in 1989, about 4 million Romanians have gone abroad to live, or 20% of its population). Romania’s priorities during its mandate are presented extremely succinctly with reference to the webpage of the Presidency made by the Romanian Government. These pertain to Europe of Convergence, cohesion in Europe, the development of the EU's social dimension, more attention to migration issues, Europe as a global player and Europe of common values. Liviu Dragnea and Florin Iordache, vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, are the most outspoken voices against the European Commission, considering that Romania has the right to be CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union 175 independent, to act according to its Constitution and to take its own decisions. Liviu Dragnea, who is still considered the strongman of Romania, has described the European Commission as "unfair"… The vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, Florin Iordache, also a member of PSD, was even clearer, adding the gesture to the word. The desire of Bucharest to protect its corrupt politicians, the tensions with Brussels on judicial reform, and cohesion as a priority are the main ideas of the article. At the end of the Romanian presidency, the European Union could have changed its face. We shall deal with two articles published in Le Monde about Bulgaria’s and Romania’s presidencies. The first article is assumed by Cécile Ducourtieux (2018), while the article on Romania is assumed by a collective team. The title of the first article is an educational one, dwelling on the social-economic condition of Bulgaria: Bulgaria, the poorest of European countries, takes the rotating presidency of the EU. The challenges that Sofia has to face are related to finding an optimal solution to the issue of migrants and to the second phase in the negotiation process on Brexit. For Bulgaria, it is the first time that it has held the rotating presidency of the Union in the 10 years since it became a member of the EU. Therefore, without experience in this area, the European Commission helped it, by “lending” 40 officials to cope with the demands of the presidency. For six months, the Bulgarian officials will be responsible in Brussels for organizing the European ministerial meetings, setting the agendas and working on the formation of consensus. Bulgaria’s agenda is considered to be loaded and delicate due to the issues it should solve. In the last two years, Europe has been facing an extremely serious problem which has basically led to the shaping of two totally different opinions on the matter of migration. The countries of the former communist bloc reject the idea of “quotas”, as this would affect the sovereign decisions of the Member States. This is the point of view of the Polish prime minister, shared by his Hungarian counterpart, Ludovic Orban. On the other hand, three countries, Italy, Sweden and Germany, believe that the Eastern European countries should grant material or logistical support to the issue of migrants. Its most complicated task will probably be to reach an agreement on a subject that has deeply divided Europe in the last two years: migration. The role that Bulgaria must assume within the Presidency is one of neutrality, a difficult position to achieve, because before the crisis, in 2015, the position of the Bulgarian prime minister was more similar to that of the Hungarian leader than to that of Angela Merkel. Another important issue in this discussion is the fact that Bulgaria has a common frontier with Turkey of about 250 km. Another extremely important challenge for Bulgaria is linked to the second phase of negotiating the Brexit agreement. The difficulty lies in the stubbornness of the British prime minister, Theresa CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN 176 May, to offer the best trade deal, meaning not leaving the EU’s internal market and customs union: Prime minister Theresa May continues to promise her fellow citizens the best possible trade deal with the EU, while defending an exit from the internal market and the customs union, which will take a considerable toll on British economic actors. The multiannual financial framework, i.e. the Union’s budget for 2021-2027, also represents a heavy stone test for Sofia. Due to the fact that Britain no longer contributes to the Union’s budget, it will face a decrease of 10 billion euros a year. France and Germany aim to condition the distribution of funds on the existence of the rule of law, aimed directly at the "illiberal" excesses in Poland and Hungary. With a GDP per capita nine times lower than Luxembourg’s, Bulgaria hoped, much like Romania, to obtain the country’s passport for the Schengen area. This is a major goal that the Bulgarian commissioner, Marya Gabriel, always emphasises: It is an injustice that cannot last. According to the article, neither Bulgaria nor Romania deserved accession to the European Union: The two states entered the EU through the small door because they were deemed insufficiently prepared. Sofia faced three major issues that require annual monitoring by the European Commission in order to observe progress/regressions. These were: corruption, organized crime and reform of the judiciary system. In a report dated January 2017, the Commission regretted that "the fight against corruption is the sector where Bulgaria has made the least progress in ten years". Although the President of the European Commission, Juncker, in 2017, offered support for Bulgaria's entry into the Schengen area, this was hard to achieve because unanimity was needed in the Council. Bulgaria did not prove its fight against corruption even though the president of Bulgaria, Roumen Radev, was personally involved in it. A loaded agenda - a battle over the budget, negotiations on Brexit, with a divided Europe on “quotas” for Member States on migrants, being closely monitored by the Commission, but with the strong support of Juncker to obtain the passport for the Schengen area, such were the challenges that Bulgaria had to answer. The title of the second article from Le Monde (2019) is informative, but with a negative meaning Worrying anti-European drifts in Bucharest. The relationship between Romania and Brussels is one of distrust, and the attacks on the rule of law in Romania have been increasing. These represent the central points of the Le Monde journalist reporting on the Romanian presidency. The government in Bucharest has not yet fully understood what it means to preside over the countries of the European Union. The words of Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, give an idea of the worrying atmosphere in which Romania took over its first rotating presidency of the EU on Tuesday, 1st January. CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY French Press on the Romanian and Bulgarian Presidency of the European Union 177 According to the article, the Social Democratic Party’s goal since winning the 2016 elections has been to launch a huge offensive against Romanian justice for the party leader, Liviu Dragnea, the strong man of the Romanian power to evade prison and become Prime Minister. In addition, the Romanian leader is on the edge of copying the model of Poland and Hungary of weakening the rule of law. Romania will have the difficult task to determine whether it will sign up on the agenda of the European Council (sic!) the procedure against the two countries mentioned above: but Bucharest will have to decide in the next few months whether to include on the agenda of the European Council the procedure of sanctions against Warsaw and Budapest for undermining the independence of the judiciary. As stated in the article, PSD managed to increase the number of Eurosceptics through a speech that poor and rural Romania accepted and resonated with, while Romania's rich urban areas became apathetic and no longer eager to protest: In a country so deeply pro-European, PSD has managed to advance Euroscepticism by targeting Brussels. The cliché used by several personalities of PSD, in their favour, is that of the influence of the foreigners. The editorialists’ perspective refers to the fact that the European Commission is careful not to activate Article 7, which punishes states trampling their institutions, (Hungary and Poland being examples of this particular situation) because it does not want to take drastic measures or to add other countries onto this list. In this regard, the European Commission uses all the instruments it has at its disposal in order to make countries respect its decisions. Consequently, it turned to the European Court of Justice in the case of Poland and for Romania’s cases of corruption. Liviu Dragnea is given as an example for a fraud of 21 million euros’ worth of European funds, which the European Commission’s anti-fraud services brought to the knowledge of the Romanian justice. A polarized Romania between urban and rural, increasing Eurosceptic discourses, corruption of the political leaders, these are the fundamentals that the article emphasizes with regard to Romania’ presidency. Derek Perrotte (2017) assumes the article on Les Echos concerning Bulgaria’s presidency. The title informs about the priorities put forward by Bulgaria: New President of the European Union, Bulgaria wants to help the Balkans. Bulgaria's priority is to help Balkan countries and provide a safe, stable and solidary Europe. European unity is another priority assumed by Bulgaria. Bulgaria primarily wants European security with a focus on strengthening border control. The author’s opinion is that during the presidency, Bulgaria will have a limited role, because it is a small country which does not have the necessary force to promote great changes. Other European political personalities will make the rules, amongst whom we find Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, together with the leaders of large countries, and will decide on matters of Brexit and the Eurozone. The author considers that although CES Working Papers | 2019 - Volume XI(3) | wwww.ceswp.uaic.ro | ISSN: 2067 - 7693 | CC BY Antoanela-Paula MUREȘAN 184 Le Monde (2019), Inquiétantes dérives anti-européennes à Bucarest, 15 January 2019 (retrieved from https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2019/01/02/inquietantes-derives-anti-europeennes-abucarest_5404398_3232.html). Martinat, P. (2019), La Roumanie, un casse-tête de plus pour l’Europe, 15 January 2019 (retrieved from http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/la-roumanie-un-casse-tete-de-plus-pour-l-europe-0201-2019-7979430.php). Merger Treaty, 1965 (2019), 10 January 2019 (retrieved from (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A11965F%2FTXT). Nugent, N. (2017), The Government and Politics of the European Union, Macmillan Education UK. Perrotte, D. (2017), Nouvelle présidente de l'Union européenne, la Bulgarie veut aider les Balkans, 15 January 2019 (retrieved from https://www.lesechos.fr/28/12/2017/lesechos.fr/ 0301077896449_nouvelle-presidente-de-l-union-europeenne--la-bulgarie-veut-aider-lesbalkans.htm). Perrotte, D. (2019), La Roumanie prend la présidence de l'UE en pleine tension avec Bruxelles, (retrieved from (https://www.lesechos.fr/monde/europe/0600417014540-la-roumanie-prendla-presidence-de-lue-en-pleine-tension-avec-bruxelles-2233238.php). Poivret, A. (with AFP9) (2019), La Roumanie peut-elle présider l’Union Européenne?, 15 January 2019 (retrieved from https://www.estrepublicain.fr/actualite/2019/01/03/la-roumanie-peutelle-presider-l-union-europeenne). Roberts, C. (1997), Text Analysis for the Social Sciences: Methods for Drawing Statistical Inferences from Texts and Transcripts, Lawrence Erlbaum. Titscher, S., Jenner, B. (2000), Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis: in Search of Meaning, SAGE. Treaty on European Union (2019), 10 January 2019 (retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12012M%2FTXT). Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2019), Art 207 and 218, 10 January 2019, (retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12012 E%2FTXT).