THE election of France's Socialists might be a hiccup in the EU single currency preparations, but diplomats in Luxembourg for a foreign ministers' meeting say it is unlikely to affect the schedule of the treaty changing InterGovernmental Conference (IGC).
Substantial continuity of policy on the IGC should allow the treaty talks to be concluded at the Amsterdam summit in two weeks, although foreign ministers may yet want to add another meeting to their schedule to get to know the new French foreign minister - possibly their old Euro colleague, Mr Jacques Delors before the summit.
There has been noticeably more nervousness, however, on the single currency. The Socialists had made it clear that they want a softening of the criteria for entry to allow the participation from the start of Spain, Portugal and Italy. They have also called for a new European economic forum to balance the monetary power of the new central bank and have said that they will not back further cutbacks to meet the criteria for entry.
A spokesman for the European Commission President, Mr Jacques Santer, insisted, however, that the criteria were determined "by the treaty and nothing but the treaty".
There was no problem about increased economic "co ordination", he said not exactly what the French have in mind, one suspects - and added, optimistically, that the French were on target to meet the criteria, so further cuts should not arise.
"I don't have the slightest doubt that France will be ready to take part" in Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)," the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, said here. "France is every bit as aware of its responsibilities as we are.
Perhaps most significant were the comments of the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, who cautioned against presuming what Paris's policy would be. He returned to a favourite theme, arguing that perhaps Europe had set itself too formidable a timetable on the single currency. But, be said, the die was cast, and Italy would not be asking for any delay in the startup of the euro.
The Dutch Foreign Minister, Mr Hans van Mierlo, said that they had long experience in dealing successfully with France's Socialists, although there was a question mark over the role of the Communist Party.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, refused to speculate on the implications for the single currency and would only say he was looking forward to working closely with the new government.
The election, following on that of Labour in Britain, marks a continuing shift to the "new" left in the EU. Europe's political landscape before Mr Jospin's win consisted of three left wing administrations (Britain, Greece and Portugal), three on the right (Spain, Germany and France), with the remainder ruled by various coalitions comprising social democrats.
