A French flag flutters alongside a euro symbol in front of the European Parilament in Brussels | EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET In search of French influence lost New report claims France needs to act quickly to avoid losing more EU clout.

PARIS — France has lost a great deal of its influence in the European Union and must work hard to get it back or risk being eclipsed further in Brussels, two French MPs warned in a bipartisan parliamentary report.

In their soon-to-be-published 116-page study, based on dozens of interviews with Eurocrats and elected officials, the authors cited several warning signs, including that Paris had fallen behind in terms of staffing top positions and that the use of French was on the wane in EU institutions.

Socialist MP Christophe Caresche, an ally of Prime Minister Manuel Valls who co-wrote the report with center-right MP Pierre Lequiller, said the French government had acknowledged the problem and started to take steps to make up lost influence.

"There is a real distance opening up between France and Europe," Caresche said. "The risk is that a country which is totally central and indispensable to European affairs no longer accepts those responsibilities and turns away from the bloc."

The report cites several worries expressed by French politicians and observers in a POLITICO story from last April, and adds many more of its own.

Among its key findings:

Use of French in European institutions is declining. The language is even threatened in one of its historical bastions, the European Court of Justice;

There are not enough French officials in crucial decision-making posts at the European Commission or the European Parliament, and none in the ultra-influential "G5" supper club of leading EU politicians;

France's voice is not sufficiently heard in the European Parliament, where the National Front is prominently represented and hurts the country's interests on the EU stage;

Paris' bad record on economics, especially jobs and deficits, has lessened its clout and credibility. Too often, relations with the EU are reduced to narrow bartering on budget deficit targets;

The situation is likely to get worse. Hundreds of French Commission workers are near retirement and fewer graduates of France's elite ENA school of public administration want to go to Brussels.

Part of the problem had to do with the European Union's expansion to 28 members, which had shifted the bloc's center of gravity to the east, the authors said.

Originally, France was only moderately enthusiastic about offering EU membership to former Soviet countries that it saw as too pro-American. Now, many representatives from the bloc's eastern members consider France part of "old Europe" with an economy that is "conservative and outdated," the report quoted several EU interviewees as having said.

However, Caresche said that was all was not lost and France could still reverse the trend.

Most of the major actors of French policy in Europe had contributed to the report, which would give rise to the creation of a new National Assembly post in charge of monitoring French influence in Brussels.

Fixes needed

The report said France's General Directorate for European Affairs (SGAE), which is under the authority of the prime minister's office, has been a "very effective" tool for conducting EU policy.

But it noted that the SGAE, headed by Philippe Léglise-Costa, has at times suffered from the fact that its director also served as an adviser to the president on European affairs, creating a split loyalty that was a source of confusion between daily business and strategic direction.

The report also said that France's permanent representation in Brussels was effective and well-respected, but that it needed to be more open to outside players. It should cooperate more closely with business interests and civil society members who are directly concerned about European Union legislation.

While French businesses have good representation in Brussels, the authors wrote, the culture and language of lobbying in Brussels has become predominantly Anglo-Saxon and France needs to increase its presence in that domain.

To encourage more diplomats to seek careers in Brussels, the report recommended that France follow Britain's example in setting up a "fast-stream" that would ensure a steady supply of young candidates for European positions. It also said France should send more national experts on temporary secondments to European institutions to stay abreast of what was happening in Brussels.

The authors recommended the creation of a Strategic Council on Europe that would bring together the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, the finance and economy ministers, as well as the European affairs minister to craft medium-term policy.

It also said that France's minister of European affairs, which is currently under the authority of the foreign ministry and has little influence, should be given more autonomy and power by putting it under the prime minister's authority. The report also calls on the president and prime minister to intervene personally in the nomination of people to key posts.

It also says the government and media should do more to raise the profile of the European Union in French public life.

"We're doing fine in terms of overall numbers, but there are few French people left in the top positions." — Christophe Caresche, Socialist MP.

Although the report does not focus specifically on Franco-German relations, Caresche said one of the most alarming aspects of the current trend was that Paris and Berlin were losing the ability to communicate effectively and guide the European Union forward together.

"The quality of debate between France and Germany is severely degraded," he said. "[German officials] are rigid on economics, and dialogue is difficult on that front ... If France doesn't make an effort to enter the German logic a bit more, I'm concerned that this dialogue will not improve."

He pointed to the fact that no French officials were part of the G5 group, while Germany had two, as a worrying sign. The group, which meets regularly in Brussels to coordinate on politics and policy, includes the president and first vice president of the European Commission, the president of the European Parliament, and the leaders of the parliament's two main political groups.

"That really struck me," said Caresche of the G5's influence. "We're doing fine in terms of overall numbers, but there are few French people left in the top positions."