New French EU affairs Minister Repentin to EuroFora: Debates with Citizens before EU Election 2014

*Strasbourg/EU Parliament/Angelo Marcopolo/- New French Minister for EU affairs, Thierry Repentin, replying to "EuroFora"s questions during his 1st visit in EU Parliament, launched a vibrant call to Timely kick-start the forthcoming EU Electoral campaign for the May 2014 Vote, by debating with EU Citizens on the spot, in a way which reveals the links between EU Decisions and People's Everyday Lives, in concrete terms, i.e.  practically endorsing "EuroFora"s main idea in the preparation of the crucial 2014 EU Elections.

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"We must speak about Europe in concrete terms, because many Citizens have a Bureaucratic, abstract image of the EU", he stressed earlier.

- "Europe mustn't be present in the People's eyes only in times of Crisis, as, f.ex., recently, with the solution that €uoGroup had to find in the case of Cyprus, while it's never cited concerning everyday life", he criticized.

- "During the forthcoming Year (i.e. in the run-up to May 2014 EU Elections), I have also a Mission to make concrete (handy) what was for years almost impossible to handle", Repentin characteristically pointed out.
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 - "EuroFora" asked the new French EU Minister if he found that debating with EU Citizens in concrete terms before forthcoming important EU Decisions which affect their Lives, would help incite them to be more active in EU decision-making processes, including, naturally, by participating in 2014 EU Elections.

    - "During the 1st exchanges of views that I had with various among those Responsible for the European ideal, be it Ministers, Ambassadors, etc. of this or that Country, I systematically speak with them on the Rendez-vous of May 2014", Minister Repentin revealed, in reply to "EuroFora"s question.

    - "Why ? Because I have the impression that they are most of the time focused on Guiding the (EU) car, these Responsible People try to find Solutions to problems affecting everyday life,  which are raised to them.
    - "But, by being focused on the Driving wheel, they forget to look for a Perspective at the Horizon", Repentin criticized....

    - "And, I think that we (EU) should experience a kind of collective conscientisation (acknowledgment), all together, independently of the Poltical commitments of one or another, so that, we can tell our Citizens, through some Concrete Examples, how the EU benefits them", the New French Minister suggested.  

    - "Also, to be careful : Sometimes, certain Decisions with only a Marginal (EU) Budgetary impact, have an enormous impact in our (EU) Citizens' Lives " :

    - "F.ex., the (EU) Help to Poor People : It's only marginal inside EU Budget. But it has an Extraordinary Impact in the Public Opinion !", he pointed out.

    - "The simple fact that, thanks also to France and others' action, we succeeded to reverse a controversial initial Decision, which had put a Break, even a full Stop to the (EU) Food Help for extremely Poor People, should have been perceived as very Positive. But we (EU) didn't manage to find, collectively, a way to valorize it" in People's minds.  "It's a fact that some (other) (EU) Countries were not very enthousiast about that, and, may be, it's because of this, that we (EU) didn't publicize it as something positive", he observed.

     - "We :  (EU Member) States, Countries, must engage effectively in activities of Communication on May 2014", Minister Repentin proposed.

     -"Why ? Because, otherwise, all this Year it (EU Elections of 2014) risks to pass without even being noticed !", he  warned.

    - "Since all our (EU) Countries have  scheduled RDV with National or Regional Elections, which are the most Important in the eyes of our (EU) Citizens", he revealed.

    - F.ex., in France we have the Local Elections on March 2014, and if they (EU) Elections were held almost the Same Day, then, most People would probably talk only about their Municipalities", he warned...

    - But, "the fact that there is a Difference between the Dates of each Election, (f.ex. in the French case : From March to May 2014), this gives us a Hope and a Chance to act Beforehand -and that's also my role as animator of these Debates, to go on the spot,

    - "Before the (March 2014 EU) Elections it's my role to go on the spot, to visit together with Elected MEPs : I hope that they can visit with me, in order to become well known to the People", the New French EU Minister anounced.

    - "So that, during the Next 8 Months, (April - December 2013), before Next Winter, we can visit, in order to incarnate what Europe means in the environment of Everyday Life".

    - "Afterwards, there will be a(n Electoral) Campaign of just 1 Month, after the Local Elections (of March 2014), for the Campaign on the European Elections" of May 2014, he noted.

    - Meanwhile, "the Electoral System will remain at a Regional basis, as it is now, without any change, hoping that this will help to better Identify the actors, if th Men and Women who embody the European Idea, are visible at a certain Region, instead of a purely National area, which would risk to be seen as even more Distant than currently the EU", Repentin explained.

    In this regard, the new EU Minister expressed his satisfaction for the fact that the Foreign Minister, Laurent "Fabius, is the No 2 after the Prime Minister", as well as that, "in this atypical Ministry" for EU affairs, "one plays, in fact, an Inter-Ministerial role, and sees, almost Each Day, or two, the President of the Republic, (Francois Hollande) at the Elysee" palace, as he was glad to say, also observing that "he thinks and speaks of Europe,  almost at the occasion of most among many various issues", often as a possible "Solution for Employment and Growth".

    + Moreover, the fact that "the current President of the European Investment Bank", (EIB : often cited as a main Tool for stimulating Growth in the foreseeable Future), is a former Minister of EU Affairs in Germany, Werner Hoyer, (Comp. Hoyer's statements to "EuroFora", on EU Integration, already as early as since December  2010, before his recent venues at EU Parliament on July 2012 and January 2013, etc), was seen by Repentin, as something which "speaks in favor of all former EU affairs Ministers", as he said in reaction to "EuroFora"s observation of this timely coincidence...
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 - "When we speak about stimulating Growth, or regarding Social protection, the Regional Funds, etc., there, the European Ideal is really incarnated  (embodied) in concrete things", he noted earlier.

"F.ex., in my previous responsibilities, when we proposed to extend Erasmus to apprenteeships in order to be trained also in other Countries, when we spoke about an EU Status for apprenteeship, or when (Social affairs Minister) Michael Sapin was (together with his German counterpart, Minister Ursula Von Leyen), established at nearby Kehl an Office for the Employment of both French and German People in one and same location, etc., that's something concrete".

"Many speak too often about Europe by abusing of some incomprehensible terms, .. instead of speaking about a Better Control of Funds' Destination, or about the will to Moralize a practical activity, etc., then, People start to be interested".

Repentin, after working initially together with former MEP and Minister Jean-Pierre Cot, in addition to EU Commission in Brussels, worked as a Politician close to local/Regional grassroots matters, dealing with "Concrete" issues, such as f.ex. the Presidency of France's Social Housing (former "HLM"), during which he organized also a Congress in Strasbourg a few years ago, "pleading for Social Housing to be recognized (by the EU) as a General Interest Service, together with several other European allies, while, on the contrary, he didn't hesitate to lodge applications to the EU Court of Justice at Luxembourg, if  he "found that the (EU) Treaty of Rome"'s principles were betrayed, f.ex. when someone inside EU Commission had attempted to banalize the "Livret A" : basic popular savings deposited in Banks ; or when we fought, together with various EU allies, for a Budgetary line destinated to Young People who faced Unemployment for a too Long period, somehting which is now a proposal inserted inside the 2014-2020 EU MultiAnnual Financial Perspectives currently under discussion ; as we did also for those Workers who are going to return to their country of origin, etc.

In fact, Europe is Present at People's Lives in concrete terms :

F.ex. as a locally elected politician in a sensitive Urban Area,  I know that I couldn't help my compatriots if I didn't have the European Social Fund on my side, for (economic) insertion via Economy, in order to help Associations working on everyday Education of Young People who need a supplementary boost, while Public Services couldn't emerge without FEDER, (EU Regional Funds), and, being at a Borderline Region, I know what INTEREG procedures mean,  as well as FEADER, which helps the Agricultural world ,...touching, at the same time, upon Economic Development, Social support, Spatial Planning, etc.

- "In my new role, during the forthcoming Year, (i.e. in the run up to May 2014 EU Elections), I also have the Responsibility to make Handy what was, until now, impossible to handle".

- "F.ex. I was recently at a Small-Medium Enterprise which had just been helped by the EIB allowing it to lodge an application for Pattern, according to the new, Simplified procedure : That's also a kind of Stimulation for Growth", he observed.

 - At any case, "We are living inside an EU which has 27 Countries, and the role of an EU Affairs Minister is also to try to convince Countries which are not yet oriented towards Economic Growth, etc. Repentin noted, after having already visited earlier his counterparts in Berlin and Helsinki, etc.

(../..)