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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