French European policy suffers from a set of inadequacies: it is not clearly designed from an institutional point of view, and the division of labour between the different governmental services is not clear-cut. France should intervene earlier within the European institutions and improve the way its national institutions prepare European decisions by making their actions more consistent.

Emmanuel Auber is a civil servant and a teacher at Institut d’études politiques (IEP) in Paris. He holds a Ph.D. in community law (Paris II-Panthéon Assas), a degree from Collège d’Europe and Harvard, and regularly publishes his works in several law reviews.

Xavier Desmaison holds a degree from École supérieure de sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC) and IEP Paris, and is a partner in a strategy and public affairs consultancy. He teaches European questions at IEP Paris.

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