FRANCE: GERMAN ELECTION HOPEFUL SCHROEDER GETS SAUZAY'S SUPPORT

Описание: (20 Sep 1998) French/Nat

A top level political translator, who will be an adviser to German leadership challenger Gerhard Schroeder if he is elected next week, says Germans must ask themselves how they see their future as Europeans.

Brigitte Sauzay, who was the official French-German translator for late French President Francois Mitterrand, supports Franco-German relations and says they need to be strengthened.

After sitting in on numerous meetings between Mitterrand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Sauzay decided to support Kohl's challenger, the centre-left Schroeder.

If Social Democrat Gerhard Schroeder wins the tightly-fought German elections next week, Brigitte Sauzay is expected to be a key adviser in his team.

Sauzay used to work as an official translator for late French President, Francois Mitterrand.

She travelled widely with Mitterrand and sat in on many discussions on Franco-German relations between the former French president and the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Together with Mitterrand, Kohl anchored Germany firmly within an ever stronger European structure.

Last year, Sauzay decided not to support the long-standing German leader, who is seen as the engineer and architect of modern European integration.

She turned instead to the charismatic Schroeder's Party of Democratic Socialism - the party of the centre-left.

Although Schroeder is viewed with slight suspicion by the European Union, Sauzay firmly supports Franco-German relations and say they need to be strengthened.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
"No, the Paris-Bonn Axis worked really well and the proof is that we now have the Euro (currency). It's not out of date, since it just brought us the Euro. By contrast, what has faded away is the intellectual energy which carried the project, and that has to be built up again while decreasing the monopoly of Franco-German relations, by having much more cooperation between the two societies, by placing Franco-German dialogue at the centre of the two societies. That's what's important."
SUPER CAPTION: Brigitte Sauzay, French-German translator, Gerhard Schroeder supporter

From 1999, Kohl has agreed to replace the strong German currency, the Deutschmark, with the Euro.

Against the will of many Germans, Kohl gave up the Mark - the national symbol of post-war Germany - to firmly anchor a unified Germany in Europe.

Sauzay is French but spends most of her time in Germany, where she set up a Franco-German institute in Berlin in 1993.

She has been party to some of the most important Franco-German discussions on Europe, and believes the two countries have fundamentally different views on their role in Europe.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
"If you like, I think that for France to remain as France, it must become European. And I think that the French are starting to understand that for nothing to change everything has to change. They way the Germans see things is slightly different. Germans see Europe less as an intellectual force than as an economic force. They think about stability, peace and prosperity. And perhaps because they have more identity problems than us, they think of Europe less as a cultural entity than us."
SUPER CAPTION: Brigitte Sauzay, French/German translator, Gerhard Schroeder supporter

As an academic, Sauzay sees the future of Europe from an ideological point of view.

She believes the way forward is to constantly question the position of Europe and its future role.

SOUNDBITE: (French)
SUPER CAPTION: Brigitte Sauzay, French/German translator, Gerhard Schroeder supporter



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