{"id":84275,"date":"2016-03-24T01:29:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T00:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/content\/?p=84275"},"modified":"2016-03-24T01:29:16","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T00:29:16","slug":"france-takes-a-back-seat-to-germany-in-e-u-migrant-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2016\/03\/24\/france-takes-a-back-seat-to-germany-in-e-u-migrant-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"France Takes a Back Seat to Germany in E.U. Migrant Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<header id=\"story-header\" class=\"story-header\">\n<div id=\"story-meta\" class=\"story-meta \">\n<h4 id=\"headline\" class=\"headline\"><span class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"byline-author\" data-byline-name=\"CELESTINE BOHLEN\">CELESTINE BOHLEN<\/span><\/span><time class=\"dateline\" datetime=\"2016-03-21\">MARCH 21, 2016<\/time><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"story-body-supplemental\">\n<div class=\"story-body\">\n<figure id=\"media-100000004283233\" class=\"media photo lede layout-large-horizontal\" data-media-action=\"modal\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-viewer-candidate\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/03\/22\/world\/22Letter-web\/22Letter-web-master675.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-mediaviewer-src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2016\/03\/22\/world\/22Letter-web\/22Letter-web-superJumbo.jpg\" data-mediaviewer-caption=\"President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande of France greeting Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace in Paris on March 4.\" data-mediaviewer-credit=\"Christophe Ena\/Associated Press\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"media-action-overlay\"><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"caption\"> <span class=\"caption-text\">President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande of France greeting Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace in Paris on March 4.<\/span> <span class=\"credit\"> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Credit<\/span> Christophe Ena\/Associated Press <\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"173\" data-total-count=\"173\">PARIS \u2014 The French-German couple has always been assumed to be the engine of the European Union, the crucial team at the heart of a sprawling, unruly family of 28 nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"207\" data-total-count=\"380\">But in recent months, if not years, the tandem has become visibly lopsided. As Germany takes the lead on crisis after crisis \u2014 from the euro to migration \u2014 the question keeps popping up: Where is France?<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"358\" data-total-count=\"738\">\u201cWhy has France not stepped up to make the voice of Germany\u2019s main partner heard, even as the migration crisis turns into a nightmare and threatens Europe\u2019s very existence?\u201d asked the French newspaper Le Monde on March 6, just as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany began a final push to make the migration deal with Turkey, which was reached Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"232\" data-total-count=\"970\">The reasons for France\u2019s muted role on the migration issue are connected to domestic politics, said Pascale Joannin, general manager at the Robert Schuman Foundation, a think tank based in Paris that focuses on the European Union.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"228\" data-total-count=\"1198\">With one of Europe\u2019s most stubbornly high unemployment rates and a far-right anti-immigrant party gaining popularity, France is in no mood to roll out the welcome mat for the migrants trying to make a home in Europe, she said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-1\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"243\" data-total-count=\"1441\">Nor is France a top destination for most of the refugees and economic migrants now heading to Europe \u2014 a fact supported by the thousands who are huddling in northern France but trying against all odds to cross the English Channel to Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"173\" data-total-count=\"1614\">\u201cFrance and Germany do not have a common position on migration, which is one reason why Europe has been skating around the issue since last September,\u201d Ms. Joannin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"297\" data-total-count=\"1911\">The gap was exposed in February, when Prime Minister Manuel Valls of France, speaking in Munich, knocked back taunts from the French news media that the country needed a Merkel of its own and challenged the chancellor\u2019s open-arm policy toward the migrants, to the irritation of his German hosts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"289\" data-total-count=\"2200\">Ms. Joannin traces the reluctance of the Socialist government to play a leading role in Brussels to a 2005 referendum on greater European integration that was defeated in France with the help of leading party members \u2014 including Laurent Fabius, who was foreign minister until last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"234\" data-total-count=\"2434\">\u201cFabius never did anything on Europe, nothing,\u201d Ms. Joannin said. Furthermore, she added, President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, who as the Socialist leader presided over the party\u2019s division in 2005, has proved at best to be ambivalent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"226\" data-total-count=\"2660\">\u201cThis president does not have a passion for European affairs,\u201d she said, noting the stark contrast with previous French presidents, who staked out a pivotal role in Europe with a close embrace of their German counterparts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"197\" data-total-count=\"2857\">The French failure to take a leadership role has come at a cost for Germany, which lacks a strong ally within the European Union, but also, some argue, for the perception of the bloc within France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"244\" data-total-count=\"3101\">\u201cThe truth is that France doesn\u2019t organize itself, and it has never organized itself, so that its voice is heard\u201d in Brussels, Sylvie Goulard, a French deputy to the European Parliament, said in an interview with the newspaper 20 Minutes.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story-continues-2\" class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"145\" data-total-count=\"3246\">That Germany should emerge as the dominant player in Europe owes much to its economic strength; that was clearly the case during the euro crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"136\" data-total-count=\"3382\">France has a weaker hand, particularly because its budget deficit, one of the highest in Europe, continues to exceed European standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-para-count=\"285\" data-total-count=\"3667\">Mr. Hollande\u2019s embattled political situation \u2014 weakened by a mishandling of crucial legislative initiatives that have divided his own party and brought protesters onto the streets \u2014 has only added to the view that France is losing ground as a voice to be reckoned with in Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-body-text story-content\" data-node-uid=\"1\" data-para-count=\"76\" data-total-count=\"3743\">For that to change, Ms. Joannin said, \u201cFrance has to say what it wants.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By CELESTINE BOHLENMARCH 21, 2016 President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande of France greeting Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace in Paris on March 4. Credit Christophe Ena\/Associated Press PARIS \u2014 The French-German couple has always been assumed to be the engine of the European Union, the crucial team at the heart of a sprawling, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[9980,3520],"class_list":["post-84275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-francois-hollande","tag-merkel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}