From January 1, France will chair the Council of the European Union for six months.
This will be the 13th time since the 1950s and the first since 2008.
This Thursday at 4 p.m., during the second press conference since the start of his mandate, the French president explained why he took this role particularly to heart and his European ambitions for the next six months.
The Head of State announced Monday that the priorities of the French presidency, known as PFUE, would revolve around three axes: "revival, power and belonging".
His presidency will fall in full during the French presidential election campaign.
From January 1, Emmanuel Macron (finally France) will chair the Council of the European Union for six months.
This Thursday, the Head of State presented his priorities for French governance.
20 Minutes
takes stock of the differences between Emmanuel Macron's announcements.
A "European strategic sovereignty"
French President Emmanuel Macron has declared that he wants to define “European strategic sovereignty” during the French presidency of the EU in the first half of 2022. “This concept, which seemed unthinkable four years ago, makes it possible to anchor that we Europeans, that we are NATO members or not (…), we have common threats and common objectives ”, he declared during a press conference.
A European history
Faced with "revisionisms", the French president wants to initiate in June 2022 "a great work on the history" of the Old Continent which will make it possible to "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.
Schengen area reform
Emmanuel Macron also wanted a Europe that “knows how to protect its borders” in the face of migratory crises, in particular through a reform of the Schengen area.
He 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 Member State. .
Brexit
Emmanuel Macron also called on the British government to "work in good faith" with France on subjects of disagreement such as fishing, the management of migrants or cooperation in matters of defense, while London on Thursday rejected the deadline set at Friday by the European Commission to settle the dispute over post-Brexit fishing licenses with France.
A Summit between Africa and the European Union
A summit between the African Union and the European Union will be held on February 17 and 18 in Brussels within the framework of the French presidency of the European Union, announced Emmanuel Macron, in order to "deeply reform" the relationship "a little tired ”between the two continents.
The French Head of State referred to "several axes", in particular "to rebuild a New Deal, economic and financial with Africa", arguing that "Europe must in international bodies carry a common strategy with the Africa ”, or the deployment of“ an education, health and climate agenda ”, during a press conference from the Elysee Palace.
Balkans
Europe must also pursue a policy of "re-engagement" and "reinvestment" in the Balkans, a region "crossed by new tensions", to promote economic integration and fight against "interference" from "regional powers" which ultimately seek to destabilize Europe.
Emmanuel Macron thus called for "clarifying (the) European perspective" of these countries (Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo), blocked for years in the antechamber of the Union.
European civic service
Emmanuel Macron then announced that he wanted "the concrete and real implementation" of a "European civic service" of six months for those under 25, after having already extended the Erasmus program "to apprentices" and "doubling 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 during of a press conference from the Elysee Palace.
An instrument in the fight against deforestation
The French president continued, indicating that he wanted to "advance the negotiations on the establishment of a European instrument to combat imported deforestation" during the French presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2022.
This instrument "will aim to prohibit the import into the European Union of soybeans, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee, when they contribute to deforestation" in their countries of production, declared the Head of State. at a press conference at the Elysee Palace.
“Rethinking the budget framework” of Maastricht
Emmanuel Macron also proposed to “rethink the budgetary framework” of Europe so far defined by the Maastricht criteria, in order to “act on the need for new investments” post-Covid.
With the health crisis, "we have put the application of our budgetary rules on hold," he said.
"We will have to return to the rules which alone allow the convergence of our economies", "but we cannot act as if nothing had happened" and "return to the budgetary framework created in the early 1990s".
A new 2 euro coin
A new 2 euro coin will be put into circulation on the occasion of the French presidency of the European Union from January 1, 2022, with an engraved oak and olive tree, said the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune.
"This 2 euro coin is important, first of all because it is the first time since the entry into service in the portfolios of the French and Europeans of euro coins", at the beginning of 2002, "that in France we are changing the design of this room, ”he added.
And "this consists in marking the anniversary of the single currency: 2022 will also be the 20 years of the Euro" and "the French as well as the Europeans are very attached to it, even more than ever", he continued in showing the coin.
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