Alexis Dutertre: French and Czech presidencies have an important role on the way to a more sovereign and confident Europe

2022 is a special year for French-Czech relations in that both countries have scheduled Presidencies of the Council of the European Union. “A lot has changed since our two countries’ last presidencies in 2009, particularly in that now the approach to EU affairs is perhaps less ideological and much more pragmatic on both sides,” says Alexis Dutertre, Ambassador of France to the Czech Republic. We have talked to Mr. Dutertre in Buquoy Palace, the seat of the Embassy in Prague.

Can you briefly describe how exactly the French-Czech partnership is working on the EU level? How has the occasion of the presidencies changed the French-Czech relations?

Within the EU, we have a common general framework called the presidency trio programme. This has led to common work also with Sweden, who will hold the presidency in 2023, after the Czech Republic, to agree on agenda and common priorities. We want to drive economic recovery and growth, but we also feel that we need to have a more sovereign Europe. This goes for many areas within economics as well, for example, digital transition, low-carbon economy, industrial recovery or investment in specific technologies.

French-Czech relations are very intense now. The presidency is a unique opportunity for all of us, as it is our common mission and responsibility, and we have much intensified our preparations and coordination of the presidencies on both sides. The approach on both sides is less ideological and much more pragmatic than during our countries’ last presidencies in 2009.

Pragmatism on both sides

Can you be more specific on where this new pragmatism is coming from?

I think that both the covid crisis and the increasingly aggressive behaviour in international relations as well as global trade from many of EU’s competitors have much changed the perception of what we need from the EU. It has left much less room for ideological debate, so there is more space for discussions on very concrete instruments to address these situations, and thus increase the EU’s strategic autonomy and sovereignty, i.e. the ability to define by ourselves the EU’s own interests and to act accordingly with the appropriate instruments if necessary, to ensure a level playing field.

What concrete steps should both countries take in their presidencies? Where will their cooperation and synergy be paramount?

First of all, in trade, we need to strengthen the so-called level playing field instruments in EU’s trade policy vis-à-vis its main competitors. We need to empower the European Commission with an anti-coercion instrument to address some coercive behaviours with corresponding measures, as we face a very precise example today with Lithuania facing measures from China. Another example is an international public procurement instrument on reciprocity. The EU is a very open economy when it comes to opening up public procurements to companies from countries outside of the EU. But the reciprocity should be the same when EU companies want to access the Chinese market for instance. Then we also promote an instrument to fight against disguised subsidiaries from third countries, which will help establish a level playing field in company takeovers or public procurements.

Second, during the covid pandemic, we have seen the EU countries was overly dependent on key value chains, specific products or components – be it face masks, chips or semiconductors. This has had a significant impact on our ability to compete. We must avoid these situations if we want to keep competing with the rest of the world. The idea is not to become protectionists and relocate all our production back to Europe, but to conduct an analysis on several strategic sectors where we as EU feel that we could have dependencies and where we should therefore invest to stay competitive and avoid strategic or technologic downgrade.

Can you give any examples of these potential strategic sectors?

Together with the Czech Republic, we are actively supporting the idea of IPCEIs (Important projects of common European interest), which the Commission is expected to approve. It is a framework which enables certain state aids and encourages industrial and technology alliances between EU companies and gives specific support in key areas such as hydrogen, AI, health, cloud computing and of course semiconductors and chips. This idea of economic and strategic sovereignty is not only linked to security and defence but also to economic independence and growth.

Overall, I’m very happy to see France and Czechia are much more focused on delivering on very concrete tools within the EU to make sure we invest in the proper sectors and ensure level playing field within an open economy that the EU is.

You have hinted at a growing trend in the EU towards a common defence, migration, environmental and digital policies. Could this not be perceived as a Eurofederalist tendency? Is there a way to bring the more Eurosceptic wing on board as well?

Organising a joint European response on issues such as security and defence, migration or trade is not about further integration or even a federalist approach. The only right thing to do now is more EU action and coordination from the member states, so that we can all best tackle the regulation of digital platforms, build a European defence complementary to NATO, address the target to become a climate-neutral continent by 2050 or to try and find a proper balance between responsibility and solidarity with an EU migration pact and control our borders. For all EU countries alike, regardless of their size, it’s about not being alone in facing all those challenges, as we are always stronger together. But it doesn’t necessarily mean France or President Macron are pushing for a more federal approach to the EU. We are simply advocating for EU-wide solutions that will bring a more sovereign Europe, a Europe able to define its own interests and act accordingly.

Tasks for the Czech presidency

Where do you see opportunities for the Czech Republic to further develop these plans?

Overall, the reality of the presidency work is that we will need either to build a majority in the European Council, which will be more for the French presidency on some files currently on the agenda for example on the green deal, or to negotiate a deal in the European Parliament, which will be the main task for the Czech presidency.

As for the regulation of digital platforms, France is now in talks with the EP and we hope to finalise it by the end of the French presidency. But the digital agenda won’t be over with the DMA and DSA regulations – we will fully support Czechia carrying on with cybersecurity measures for example. Then there is the Fit for 55 climate package, where France will try to reach an agreement within the Council on some of these issues, for example the carbon border adjustment mechanism. If we succeed, it will be the Czech presidency’s task to negotiate it further within the EP. France and Czechia are promoting together a balanced vision within the EU of what should be the proper energy mix, ensuring security of supply, low-carbon footprint and also some level of independence on external suppliers. For those reasons also, we both advocate for nuclear energy to be part of the EU energy mix as we feel it is part of the solution. As I’ve mentioned before, we have to be pragmatic here.

What about the Asylum and Migration Pact, which is obviously a touchy subject?

We don’t want to force any solutions such as mandatory quotas for migrants. We are together trying to promote a very gradual approach to strengthen the responsibility of first-entry countries and external EU border countries as well as a flexible but effective solidarity : either from countries willing to participate in a relocation mechanism, or with some countries willing to contribute financially or by sending human personnel, and that’s fine as long as we all recognise the need for this balance. We need to have a progressive approach to this, as we feel there has to be a very delicate balance between responsibility and solidarity.

Again, if France succeeds in the Council, it will be up to Czechia to carry on in these efforts with the EP. As you can see, this whole process is bringing strong working habits between our two countries and also making the case for the Czech Republic to have a more prominent European profile, which is what we very much appreciate.

We follow the same path in energy policies

Where do you see opportunities for the Czech Republic to further develop these plans?

Overall, the reality of the presidency work is that we will need either to build a majority in the European Council, which will be more for the French presidency on some files currently on the agenda for example on the green deal, or to negotiate a deal in the European Parliament, which will be the main task for the Czech presidency.

As for the regulation of digital platforms, France is now in talks with the EP and we hope to finalise it by the end of the French presidency. But the digital agenda won’t be over with the DMA and DSA regulations – we will fully support Czechia carrying on with cybersecurity measures for example. Then there is the Fit for 55 climate package, where France will try to reach an agreement within the Council on some of these issues, for example the carbon border adjustment mechanism. If we succeed, it will be the Czech presidency’s task to negotiate it further within the EP. France and Czechia are promoting together a balanced vision within the EU of what should be the proper energy mix, ensuring security of supply, low-carbon footprint and also some level of independence on external suppliers. For those reasons also, we both advocate for nuclear energy to be part of the EU energy mix as we feel it is part of the solution. As I’ve mentioned before, we have to be pragmatic here.

What about the Asylum and Migration Pact, which is obviously a touchy subject?

We don’t want to force any solutions such as mandatory quotas for migrants. We are together trying to promote a very gradual approach to strengthen the responsibility of first-entry countries and external EU border countries as well as a flexible but effective solidarity : either from countries willing to participate in a relocation mechanism, or with some countries willing to contribute financially or by sending human personnel, and that’s fine as long as we all recognise the need for this balance. We need to have a progressive approach to this, as we feel there has to be a very delicate balance between responsibility and solidarity.

Again, if France succeeds in the Council, it will be up to Czechia to carry on in these efforts with the EP. As you can see, this whole process is bringing strong working habits between our two countries and also making the case for the Czech Republic to have a more prominent European profile, which is what we very much appreciate.

You have already mentioned that both France and the Czech Republic are strong advocates of nuclear energy on the EU level. Has this also been an important topic in our bilateral relations?

Definitely, although there are many areas we are trying to advance together. Perhaps the most important thing to point out here is obviously EDF taking part in the tender for the Dukovany power. At the same time, it is also the only European bidder. In my view, it’s always better to have European alliances and allies within the EU and vis-à-vis EU institutions when an EU Member state wants to build new nuclear reactors. The debate over the inclusion of nuclear energy within the Commission’s delegated act on taxonomy made it quite clear.

France is a big supporter of the Czech effort to strengthen its energy independence with new nuclear reactors. In fact, our country follows the same path, and President Macron has announced that we will build six new nuclear reactors to replace the ageing ones, with an option for possibly 8 more. Interestingly, we have the exact same timetable for these first six new reactors as Czechia. This could also help involve local supply chains from Czechia and France together. Just an example: in the Hinkley Point C power plant project in the UK, EDF achieved a local supply chain involvement of more than 60%.

Which highlights would you point out in our bilateral economic relations?

Although we are not neighbour countries, we are still very important trading partners and have a very strong trade volume of 12bn euros annually. There are over 470 French companies or their subsidiaries operating in the Czech Republic, which represents nearly 70,000 jobs. This economic presence is of course mainly within industry and manufacturing, but also invests a lot in the Czech Republic to upgrade the technological side of the value chains.

I have visited a lot of French companies in your country, and I’m really impressed by the range of sectors in which they operate. It’s not only automotive or engineering but also waste water treatment or clean energy. There is a lot of effort in low-carbon economy, as I see more and more French companies interested in development of smart grids or smart buildings in the Czech Republic, future technologies such as hydrogen or small modular nuclear reactors, where we have joint research going on. Plus, covid has also boosted interest in ecommerce solutions and IT services.

What makes our country attractive for French companies and investors?

There are many things which are attractive for French companies in the Czech Republic. The geographical location in the heart of Europe, the EU internal market rules, highly skilled people and a strong tradition in industry and engineering in the first place. But also, there is a strong tradition of French-Czech relations we can build upon. I should also say that the Czech Republic is also very attractive for French Erasmus students: we have up to 1,800 of them here every year.

What has surprised you in a positive way during your time in office so far?

I wouldn’t say it has surprised me, but in political affairs, EU affairs or business or cultural sphere, relations with my Czech counterparts have been very smooth and very professional. All our Czech partners and stakeholders we have dealt with were absolute professionals, who are pragmatic and skilled and mean business. It’s overall a very workable and professional environment here, and I’m very glad to be here.

Mr. Dutertre was interviewed by Daniel Libertin