Sharing European Affairs: the Origins of French Coordination System
Journal: Revue française d’administration publique
Year: 2016

The French system of European affairs coordination is characterized by a strong centralization and a strict division of labor between “Paris” with the “SGCI”, which became in 2005 the “SGAE”, and “Brussels” with the French Permanent Representation to the EU. It was originally the result of intense competition between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs analyzed as an administrative Yalta. This article discusses the genesis of SGCI in 1948 and of the Permanent Representati