French Presidency of the EU: Emmanuel Macron wants a "powerful and sovereign Europe"
French President Emmanuel Macron during a press conference on France assuming the presidency of the EU, in Paris, December 9, 2021. REUTERS - POOL
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The French president organized this Thursday afternoon, December 9, the second press conference of the quinquennium to present the priorities of the French presidency of the European Union (PFUE).
It starts on January 1 for six months.
It will coincide with the presidential campaign in April and the legislative elections in June.
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Standing behind a table in front of a hundred journalists in the village hall, the French president wanted to show a strong ambition for this French presidency of the EU.
He has long defended the crucial importance of strengthening European sovereignty in support of national sovereignty.
"
If we had to sum up the objective of this presidency in one sentence, I would say that we must move from a Europe of cooperation within our borders to a Europe that is powerful in the world, fully sovereign, free of its choices. and master of his own destiny,
”declared Emmanuel Macron.
The French president thus pleaded for a "
European strategic sovereignty
":"
This concept, which seemed unthinkable four years ago, makes it possible to establish that we Europeans, whether we are members of NATO or not [...], have common threats and common objectives.
"
"
For the first time in nearly half a century, existential questions are being asked to us,
" continued the French president
: on the climatic level, on the technological level, on the geopolitical level.
Which requires, and this is what we have already been preparing, you know, for several years, to profoundly transform our organization, to endow us with a new ambition.
Faced with all these crises hitting Europe, many people would like to rely only on the nations.
These nations are our strength and our pride, but European unity is their indispensable complement
.
We must act like Europeans, we must think like Europeans.
"
Reforming the Schengen area and the Maastricht budgetary framework
During these six months, a particular effort will be devoted to a reform of the Schengen area so that the EU “
protects its borders
” in the face of successive migratory crises. He therefore called for the "
establishment of a Schengen political steering
", through regular meetings of European ministers in charge of these issues, as well as solidarity support mechanisms in the event of a crisis at the border of a State. member.
Emmanuel Macron also proposed to “
rethink the budgetary framework
” of Europe so far defined by the Maastricht criteria. With the health crisis, "
we put the application of our budgetary rules on hold,
" admitted the Head of State.
We will have to return to rules which alone allow the convergence of our economies
.
The question is no longer for or against the 3%. It is outdated
e
.
An allusion to the rule which prevents member countries of the euro area from exceeding a threshold of 3% budget deficit, relaxed during the health crisis.
“
We want a Europe that creates jobs
”.
If it is "
the Europe of unemployment
", it will be "
the Europe of war
", warned the president, citing as an example the "
disunited
"
Europe
of the 1930s which had chosen "
deflation
".
A "European civic service" for those under 25
Emmanuel Macron announced his wish for a six-month European civic service for those under 25, after having already extended the Erasmus program to apprentices and doubled the number of beneficiaries.
"
Let's go further and think about a six-month European civic service open to all young people under 25 for a university or apprenticeship exchange, an internship or an associative action
", wished the Head of State.
The President of the Republic once again pleaded for the "
generalization of the Erasmus exchange program to all Europeans, because it gives an open-mindedness which is a unique baggage in adult life
".
The Erasmus + educational program aims to support actions in the fields of education, training, youth and sport at European level.
However, France's room for maneuver will be limited because if the rotating presidency gives momentum to certain priorities, it then remains to build a consensus of 27, which is never easy.
"
Forging a story
"
vs
"
Revisionisms
"
It front of "
revisionisms
", the French president wants to initiate in June 2022"
a great work on the history
"of the Old Continent which allows"
forge a history and a historiography of our Europe
”.
"
We are living a political moment in Europe where revisionism is settling in several countries, is used by the powers which want to question our values, our history
”, affirmed the Head of State.
Since his election in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has been the leader of pro-Europeans against “
nationalists
” and “
populists
”.
The Head of State continues to praise the advances obtained at 27, such as the post-Covid-19 recovery plan of 750 billion euros adopted in 2020.
Talk about Europe and campaign
Europe was the DNA of candidate Macron in 2017 and he intends to make it once again his added value in the presidential election of 2022.
With
Valérie Gas
,
from the Political Department of RFI
Officially, it is only a matter of talking about Europe, of preparing for this presidency of the Union for which each of the 27 member countries must wait for their turn for many years.
The last time for France was in 2008 with Nicolas Sarkozy.
From this point of view, the agenda is a boon for Emmanuel Macron who has made the relaunch of the European project his major ambition and who has therefore chosen to stage the start of this sequence with a press conference.
An exercise that he did not practice much during his mandate and which is timely to remind that the champion of Europe, it is him, but also to capture the attention when the presidential campaign gets carried away with in particular the entry in the running of Valérie Pécresse, a serious competitor.
His opponents were not mistaken and regretted that France did not try to exchange its turn so that the European presidency does not fall in the middle of the presidential and legislative campaign.
Emmanuel Macron, he will take the opportunity to refine his stature as head of state at the helm in the hope of scoring points in the campaign.
Until the last quarter of an hour
The PFUE will therefore hit hard the campaign for the April presidential election and the June legislative elections in France.
The opposition in France criticizes his potential double hat as President of the Council of Europe and candidate.
Emmanuel Macron, without answering his possible candidacy, defended his ability to carry out this presidency until the last moment: "
I told you and I will tell you again: the mandate that the French women and men have given me, I will exercise until the last quarter of an hour.
And so the challenges that are ours, whether they are health, whether they are migratory, whether they are energy, involve choices.
Tell me when we must stop working democratically.
This is the end of the mandate.
And so I will work until the end of the mandate.
There are sometimes important choices that must be made, a few weeks or a few months before the end of a mandate.
If I am faced with this situation, I will.
And therefore being democratically elected president with a term, I will act in this condition until that term.
"
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France
Emmanuel Macron
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