Chirac, Schroeder meet on EU constitution, industrial policy
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-26 14:07

French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder were to meet in Paris for talks on industrial policy and the European Union constitution, just over a month before the French vote on the landmark text.

Chirac and Schroeder were to preside over a joint cabinet meeting focused on economic and industrial cooperation, a key element in efforts by Paris and Berlin to strengthen bilateral ties.

But first, the two leaders were to meet at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) at Chirac's Elysee palace, along with French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, to discuss the European constitution, ahead of a May 29 referendum in France.

More than 20 polls taken since mid-March have shown that French voters will reject the constitution on May 29, with opposition at between 52 and 58 percent. Not a single survey has suggested that the "yes" camp would win.

Officials in Berlin have officially expressed confidence that the French will approve the text, which aims to streamline decision-making in the expanded EU, but privately have voiced concern about the surging 'no' camp.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who recently came to France to defend the constitution, said the future of Europe depended on the decision of French voters.

"I firmly believe that France, despite the current opinion polls, will vote 'yes'," Fischer told Germany's Handelsblatt business daily last week, insisting that the text could not be renegotiated.

Chirac and Schroeder were also to discuss the EU's 2007-2013 budget, the controversial Bolkestein directive on the liberalization of the bloc's services sector and a possible lifting of the EU arms embargo on China.

About 20 ministers from each country were to meet at the same time to discuss bilateral cooperation, French officials said.

Then the leaders were to preside over a joint cabinet meeting devoted to economic cooperation, at which the French and German leaders of a working group on the issue were to present four possible joint projects.

Two were to focus on biomedical research, while the other two were devoted to information technology; all fall within the framework of Chirac's agency for industrial innovation, launched in a bid to maintain French competitiveness.

Chirac was to insist on the link between European industrial cooperation and the political importance of the EU constitution in a speech later Tuesday at the Sorbonne.

"We can't build strong industrial ambitions without the dynamic of political integration," Chirac's aides said.

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