Extract from the speech of the President of the Republic, François MITTERRAND, broadcast the day before during the election evening of the referendum, following France’s narrow ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. François MITTERRAND: "I said at the beginning of the electoral campaign...that there would be neither winners nor losers. Today’s vote commits all of France but I respect the sentiments of free citizens who, by voting "no" wanted to safeguard values in which they believe. Now imagine the joy of the countries of the Community, our closest friends, who were looking to us for the sign they needed. Imagine the joy of the other European countries, almost all of them, who aspire to join us, especially those who have been deprived of their freedom for so long. I am pleased, my dear compatriots, that you have chosen youth, renewal, the safeguarding of the present, which requires from you so much effort and opportunity, every chance of the future."
At the Mutualité, Jean-Pierre CHEVENEMENT, head of the Socialist Party and mayor of Belfort, criticises the attitude of the PS towards the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty.
Alain JUPPE discusses the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty concerning European Political Union. - Interview "This is not paradise described by the President of the Republic (Europe)... We will ratify MAASTRICHT if our questions are answered".
An account of the day in Maastricht of the negotiations towards a European Union with the constitution of a European defence and a social Europe in which Great Britain will not participate. During the closing speech, François Mitterrand emphasised Britain’s failure to participate in the Social Charter. But for John Major there is no change in the Treaty of Rome in social matters or in the extension of the Community’s powers.
Two visions of the Maastricht Europe clash. Jacques DELORS, President of the European Commission, defends the future treaty by pleading for common institutions and rules of law. Whereas Marco PANELLA, Italian radical MP, denounces on the contrary a Europe of Maastricht, old and cruel that "will be able to produce the new Europe of Jean Marie LE PEN" and the National Front. Jacques Delors’s speech in the European Parliament’s Chamber alternates with a commentary on images illustrating the interior of Parliament and an interview with Marco Panella.
Presentation of the Maastricht Treaty, the founding act that structures the European Union around three pillars: the Economic Community with the single currency, the common foreign and defence policy and political cooperation. It also establishes European citizenship. The interview with Jean VIDAL, French Ambassador to the EEC, alternates with a commentary on images illustrating the Treaty.
In a programme devoted to Europe, Christine OCKRENT discusses the question of political unity and a supra-national Europe. She asks Jean-François PONCET, Senator, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, his opinion on the functioning of democratic institutions. He speaks of the European summit in Maastricht " as a passage towards economic Europe to political Europe with a gateway that is the currency.... it is clear that in today’s Europe, with an explosive situation, there is only one pole of stability in Europe, it is the community, and to forge this role it must forge its political union..."
On the occasion of the organization in Montpellier (Hérault) of a debate on the outcome of the referendum for or against the Maastricht Treaty, interview of Jean-Luc MELENCHON (senator PS) who is considering the double solution, While declaring that the Treaty represents a solid basis for the beginning of a European constitution.
Tomorrow 1 November 1993, the Maastricht Treaty enters into force and the Community of Twelve is transformed into a European Union. Symbolic date for the French, whose life will not be transformed, because since January 1, 93, the goods already move freely. On 1 January 1994 the European Monetary Institute, the embryo of the future European central bank, will be set up in Frankfurt. Comments on archival and illustration images.