French farce

Spectator, The, Jun 28, 2003 by Johnson, Jo

Long challenged by the Hollywood studios, the 'cultural exception' is now also under threat from none other than Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the French president of the European convention. In his plan for a new EU constitution, Giscard has argued that EU culture policy should be decided by a majority vote of member states rather than unanimity. This would remove France's ability to wield a national veto. With other European countries far less exercised about the predominance of English-language culture, France risks losing control of its protectionist culture policy. In all his decades of lobbying, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, has never been so close to seeing free trade in 'audio-visual' products. But that will come about only over the dead bodies of Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin. Prepare for the same ils ne passeront pas passion in the forthcoming IGC that enlivened the Security Council in February. Au revoir, Hollywood; bonjour, Brussels.

Jo Johnson works for the Financial Times in Paris. Penguin publishes The Man who Tried to Buy the World: Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi Universal, by Jo Johnson and Martine Orange on 15 July.