Paris (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron insisted on Monday on the need for the European Union to strengthen its "strategic autonomy", in the light of the Afghan crisis, by meeting a hundred MEPs from the Renew Europe political group, linked to LREM.
"The post-Afghanistan will accelerate this agenda of strategic autonomy with all that must come from it," said the president, according to remarks reported by a participant.
"This agenda of a more sovereign Europe is key. We will be more and more solicited on this subject," he added, during this meeting at the Elysee Palace which was not open to the press.
This meeting was the first between the head of state and liberal MEPs since the 2019 European elections, where the Renaissance list, the French branch of Renew, had obtained 23 seats (22.4%), coming second after the RN .
It was held at the end of Renew's back-to-school seminar - whose 98 members come from 22 of the 27 EU countries - which was held in Paris on Monday, "a first for a European back-to-school", according to Stéphane Séjourné, head of the group's French elected officials.
In his speech, Emmanuel Macron praised the "solidity" of Renew, "the third political force without which it is impossible to have a European Parliament that advances", while, in 2019, many predicted that it "would not last ".
"He called on us to defend and enhance the European balance sheet" since his speech at La Sorbonne in 2017, and in light of the EU's response to the Covid-19 crisis, in particular the 750 billion dollar recovery plan 'euros, Stéphane Séjourné told AFP after the meeting.
Regarding the French presidency of the EU which begins in January, Emmanuel Macron underlined the importance of promoting a "more democratic Europe", which "assumes" its values and "makes them respected".
"The hour of truth is approaching with some Member States", he warned, while Poland and Hungary are threatened with sanctions by Brussels on respect for the rule of law.
"The populists, the illiberals, the extremist movements have a nice game to want to exploit the crises and the weaknesses of the European Union. This does not destabilize us in any way, on the contrary", warned before the meeting the president of Renew, Dacian Ciolos, in the daily L'Opinion.
© 2021 AFP