3 February 2013

This House Believes That The Auvergne Should Become an Independent Nation!



Anne-Sophie is FOR the motion: Hello everyone and welcome to today’s debate! We hope you have had a good meal, a typical tasty meal from the Auvergne?! The issue we will be discussing today is: can the Auvergne become independent from France, in other words, is it possible for us, the Auvergnats, to become a separate nation-state?! Also, how independent can regions like the Auvergne be within the European Union? Antoine and I are separatists; we agree with people who think that the Auvergne should become a proud independent nation. We want self-government, and that, for obvious and very numerous reasons! We want you to vote for the motion. Pierre and Floriane over there are against the motion; they want the Auvergne to continue to be some sad appendix to a thing called “France”! We all come from Clermont-Ferrand, in the Auvergne, so we are all aware that something has to be done about this region…

Antoine is FOR the motion: I think we need to define first of all what a “nation” is... To me, there are three main elements to being a nation: a common history, common interests to defend, and the willingness to actually be a nation. As regards willingness to form a nation, you, the public, already know the answer: we are proud to be Auvergnat!

Anne-Sophie: Plus, the people of the Auvergne have a glorious history: Vercingétorix, good food, and excellence in rugby are just three examples of our rich cultural heritage!

Pierre is AGAINST the motion: Sure, the Auvergne has its own history, but so do all the other regions of France! It’s not because they have their own heritage that they should become independent! This silly idea of independence would bring an end to the Republican unity of the nation, which would be terrible!

Anne-Sophie: There are also economic and social aspects to the issue…

Antoine: Put simply, we want to work, in a sustainable way, and we want our region to develop, to become a great place to live in. And this is a crucial point in our debate: because, obviously, the French government has failed in its task of meeting our needs here in the Auvergne. We are isolated, with few motorways and no high-speed train lines, there is a higher unemployment rate than in most regions, and the greatest number of jobs is in the industrial sector, which is declining. The only solution to this deplorable situation is independence! With real decision-making power, an Auvergne government would be much more efficient, and economic activity would at last take off!

Floriane is AGAINST the motion: I agree we need greater efficiency in local government, but I don’t think the situation is as critical as you say it is...

Antoine: Yes it is! There is only one major company in the Auvergne, Michelin, and it is located in Clermont-Ferrand, the region’s center. Apart from Clermont-Ferrand, which part of the Auvergne is really economically viable?

Floriane: Rubbish! What about Louis Vuitton, Volvic, the Banque de France, Limagrain, Cantal cheese and lentils from Le Puy?!

Anne-Sophie: But what Antoine means is that the entire region could become even more economically dynamic with independence, though Clermont-Ferrand is obviously the most dynamic place because 44% of the region’s inhabitants live there, that’s 430,000 inhabitants. There is great potential for tourism, especially “green tourism”, and winter sports in Super Besse and Lioran. The Auvergne receives help from the European Union to develop its agricultural, gastronomic, cultural, scientific, and tourist assets. In other words, who needs France?!

Pierre: More dependence on the EU rather than on France? What’s the difference?! That’s no solution to our development problems either! No, becoming independent would only make the Auvergne’s isolation even worse. I think a good compromise would be to copy what has already been done in other European countries like Spain or Germany. Both these countries have more self-government in their regions than we do here in France. Across the Rhine, it’s a federal system that seems to work really well... What do you think?

Anne-Sophie: From my point of view, to adopt a federal system like the Germans would already be a big step towards the emancipation of all of the regions of France. However, I still believe independence for the Auvergne should be our ultimate goal.

Antoine: In fact, the real question, if you think about it, is what do we want for Europe: federalism or souverainism?

Floriane: Federalism adapted to Europe would be a sort of “united regions of Europe”, in which regions would have more importance than States.

Pierre: States would still have quite extensive powers, but each region in a more federalist European system would have a real government that would define its own policies on health, education, transport, etc., and receive funds, if needs be, directly from the European Union to develop its infrastructure and economy.

Floriane: The idea of souverainism is more a “Europe of Nations” in which each State has more power to decide what happens within its territory than the EU does. Brussels would have less say in a souverainist Europe than in a federalist one.

Antoine: I think more federalism could be a solution to the EU crisis. The fact is, in Europe, today, most of our decision-making and administrative systems are inefficient. Giving more power to the regions would make politicians and the people more involved in regional concerns, and policies therefore more efficient and appropriate. Indeed, the economic health of an entire nation depends on local initiative. What I mean is that entrepreneurship has to be promoted everywhere in the country, not only in the regions that are already developed. With federalism, every region could propose appropriate solutions and policies to local problems. More regional development and regional decision-making would boost the economy of the EU as a whole. Of course, this would need competent politicians at the regional level of course…

Pierre: The attractiveness of a region like the Auvergne depends on planning, such as the creation of real transport hubs. In order to promote entrepreneurship, as you say, important subsidies are required from the French Government, subsidies that Europe alone couldn't afford. Without these French Government subsidies, the Auvergne will never become attractive to investors...

Anne-Sophie: That's not true. European subsidies are all we need! There’s the ERDF, European Regional Development Fund, to promote regional competitiveness and employment, and the ESF, European Social Fund, to improve employment prospects and reinforce economic and social cohesion. The Auvergne region is already more or less financially independent thanks to these funds from Europe. From 2007 to 2013, the region got more than €206 million of ERDF, to reinforce regional firms’ competitiveness, as well as the region’s attractiveness. These European funds improved our employment figures, and contributed to paying for initiatives like the reorganization of several train stations. From 2007 to 2013, the Region received more than €38 million of ESF money  too, for the creation of jobs. We think that with these European subsidies, we could become independent, or at least France could adopt a more federal system...

Pierre: I think a good compromise between federalism and souverainism would be for us in France to copy the Germany model…

Antoine: I admire the German federal system too because it encourages grass roots (that is “à la base”) initiatives to economic problems. It is not “top down” decision-making like in France, where it is still essentially Paris that decides what happens everywhere! Like I said, more power to the regions would encourage a more competitive regional economy. And we all know that economic competitiveness is what France as a whole lacks! To my mind, federalism would be a real solution to the EU crisis, since it would boost economic activity without increasing the deficits of the European governments.

Floriane: Well, from what we have heard from both sides, it would appear that what most of us think is that if the Auvergne is to become wealthier, not to say happier, we need a more federal system in France and in the EU; we need more self-government by the regions just like in several other European countries. In fact, greater decentralization of power in every EU member country would make communication between Brussels and every European citizen much easier, creating a stronger European Union from the bottom to the top, without the interference of State governments!

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