Redefinition of what it Means to be Sovereign
By Cercle des économistes, Special for USDR
For the 16th edition of Les Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, the Cercle des économistes calls for a redefinition of the architecture of international, European and French sovereignty.
We are convinced that the existence of countries willing to preserve a large share of their sovereignty needs to come hand in hand with stronger cooperation structures in order to be in line with current global changes.
Sovereignty implies the existence of complete and unshared responsibility. With this in mind, we have come out with twelve measures, constituting a coherent whole. We believe that they will reshape cooperation models in a time of growing global uncertainty, brought about by a third globalisation and the turmoil that came with it – namely the rise of national populism, various forms of violence, isolationist tendencies and the perception of an increase in inequalities.
On a global scale, sovereignty centres around four aspects: environment, finance, numerical data and peacekeeping. In order for this sovereignty to be carried out, traditional international institutions need to fuel their negotiations through a dialogue involving decision-makers, business leaders, civil society representatives and local authorities, as recently exemplified by the <spanclass=”xn-money”>COP21.
On a European level, we need to establish a distinction between what must be handled by the European Union and what must be handled by the Euro zone. The European Union should be responsible for European fiscal policies, border control, innovation, and to some extent, European defence. Within the Euro zone itself, integration and sovereignty need to materialise through the implementation of a policy mix and via different forms of industrial policies. Needless to say this requires a significant budget.
Finally, any French political agenda must be inscribed within the territory of its sovereignty. Obviously, diplomacy and a large part of defence should be taken into consideration, but the main focus needs to be social cohesion, economic growth and personal development policies. This definition of national sovereignty entails the priority given to education and housing, and the construction of a second chance society. Reforming fiscal policies as a way to stimulate investment falls within French sovereignty -the creation of an evolving single employment contract, for instance.
SOURCE Cercle des économistes
