Final Declaration

Concluding remarks

by

the Cercle des économistes

(short version)

The last few months have undoubtedly been marked by a growing global uncertainty brought about by a rise of national populism, various forms of violence, isolationist tendencies and the growing perception of a substantial and unbearable increase in inequalities. Needless to say these factors considerably affected economic growth. Above all, policy makers have been struggling to understand demographic and geostrategic dynamics they are today faced with. Brexit is a manifestation of these disorderly evolutions. It serves to highlight the difficulty in controlling such events, for those who encouraged it as well as those who will have to negotiate the new relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Today, five words anchor this new reality despite the lack of clarity of their definition: sovereignty, country or nation (depending on the language used), cooperation, reform and closeness. Those words are very powerful but also contain numerous ambiguities. The latter are all the more dangerous that they create but also skew the majority of political differences of opinion.

In this regard, we are convinced that we must find stronger global and European cooperation structures, in line with current technological changes and the existence of countries that wish to maintain their sovereignty to a large extent.

The twelve measures put forward by the Cercle des économistes during the 16^th edition of the Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence have a common defining character: to revive the explicit support of sovereignty for global, European, French and local policies, that is to say of perfectly defined decisional territories and within which it is really possible to act.

12 measures to redefine their sovereignties

On an international level

1. To encourage the emergence of new forms of international cooperation that involve negotiations between both states and civil society agents

2. To create an international authority of protection and security of personal data

On an European level

3. To fiercely insist on the opening of negotiations with the United-Kingdom and aiming at the preservation of social cohesion of the Union and bringing the British closer to the continent

4. To endorse the principle of a multi-speed Europe and to make policies for greater integration exclusive to a hard core represented by the Euro zone, especially regarding the policy mix

5. To revive the European Union around 4 axes : fiscal regimes, border control, innovation and defence

6. To create a European cultural area through mobility

On a French level

7. To give absolute priority to education and training

8. To use housing policy as a catalyst for integration and fight against inequalities

9. To set up a fiscal regime fostering long-term savings and entrepreneurial initiative

10. To lay the bases for a « second chance society »

11. To create a single, balanced and evolving employment contract

12. To introduce an obligation to evaluate all public policies and a public debate on the outcome