The French president at a conference on food safety at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome. He told Kathi-merini the Common Agricultural Policy ‘has to evolve in order to confront the challenges of food safety and the continual increase in food prices.’

What will be the main priorities of the French presidency of the EU?

We have set out four major priorities for France’s presidency of the European Union. Immigration is one. While it is becoming clear that illegal immigration, particularly along the Greek borders, is becoming a daily problem, national policies are not enough. We have to provide a collective answer to a problem that affects all of us. That is the goal of the European Pact on Asylum and Migration that I have put forward and which I am certain enjoys the full support of your country. The goal is to decide together, all of us European partners, on common principles and rules regarding immigration. The French presidency will also try to move ahead on the problem of climate change and energy, because Europe should be at the forefront of the struggle against global warming. We will do everything possible to promote the European Commission’s ambitious proposal. The question is of vital importance if we want Europe to be ready for the major international meetings after the Kyoto Protocol in 2009.

We will also have to deal with the modernization of the Common Agricultural Policy, which has to evolve in order to confront the challenges of food safety and the continual increase in food prices without needlessly sacrificing our farmers and our production. Finally I would like to make progress on European defense. The Union should be capable of assuming responsibility for its own security and that of the world. There is no question of competing with NATO, because that would make no sense. A European Defense and the North Atlantic Alliance are not contradictory but, on the contrary, they are complementary, and that is what we have to develop. Greece is being called upon to play an important role in this endeavor and there is a major convergence of views between us on this issue.