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With France going through major government instability and facing an alarmingly high public debt, and with Europe struggling to find its diplomatic feet as the US pursues talks to end the war in Ukraine, we speak to a seasoned political figure at the French and European level. Pierre Moscovici is the First President of the French Court of Auditors, a former EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and was a minister of the economy and finance in the former Socialist government in France.
Moscovici says he was “totally surprised” by the allegations that his former colleague at the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, was implicated in a procurement fraud and corruption scandal. “She’s a personal friend, and a remarkable person,” Moscovici says of the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. “I know how much she was dedicated to what she was doing, being the Dean of the College of Europe. I think her reaction was a good one. When you are suspected, you cannot represent such an institution anymore. You need to act with exemplary conduct. But, let’s not forget – as long as you’re not condemned, you are innocent.”
Watch moreEU’s Mogherini charged in procurement fraud probe
Moving on to the war in Ukraine, Moscovici asserts that the US has made “several mistakes” in its negotiations to end the conflict. “The first one is to treat Russia and Ukraine asymmetrically, to seem to be more on the Russian side than on the Ukrainian side, and Mr. Witkoff (President Trump’s special envoy) has shown his preferences before,” Moscovici says. “And the second mistake, of course, is to bypass the Europeans. Peace cannot be done against Ukraine and peace cannot be created without Europeans. You can’t build peace just with Russia.” At the same time, Moscovici is adamant that, even though the EU seems to be excluded for now, the US will eventually come back to the Europeans, because “security guarantees must be made by Europeans in the end. I’m sure that the Americans want to share this burden with us, so I’m confident that they will come back to Europe because they need to. And we must be prepared for that.”
Read moreFrance and Germany warn US could ‘betray’ Ukraine in push for peace, Speigel reports
Asked about public debt, Moscovici admits that there is “a French problem”. He points out that, while Greece and Italy “tend to reduce their debt”, the level of debt in France is “way too high”. He says that “115 percent of GDP is 35 percent above the average rate of the EU, while we were in the average a few years ago. So we need to solve this problem. And that’s in my role of President of the Court of Auditors. I repeat: France must regain control of its public finances in order to keep its credibility.”
Read moreFrench lawmakers approve taxation part of contested social security budget
On the other hand, Moscovici acknowledges that “the structural problems of this country will only be solved after 2027, which is the year of the next presidential elections. We need to recover our vision, and we also need to recover a majority in the parliament. And this majority does not exist for the time being. So they are muddling through.”
Programme prepared by Agnès Le Cossec, Perrine Desplats, Oihana Almandoz and Isabelle Romero
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