What is the outcome of Emmanuel Macron's tour of Eastern Europe?

William Molinié, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: KAY NIETFELD / DPA / DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE VIA AFP 06h19, 02 June 2023

Emmanuel Macron returned to France after two stages on the eastern flank of Europe. The first in Slovakia for the Globsec, forum on security and the second in Moldova where the second summit of the European political community welcomed 47 European leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky. The French president delivered a clear message of support for Ukraine. But concretely, what should we remember from this tour in Eastern Europe?

Enlarging the EU to include candidates who want to join

The Head of State has clarified his vision: he wants the European Union to be enlarged "as soon as possible" to the candidates who want to join. But this cannot be done, he warns, without a reform of the way Brussels operates. "We are already operating too slowly at 27. No one can credibly say that, at 8 more, we will function better. It's not true. And so, at the same time that we will have to accelerate in the opening, we will have to accelerate in the ambition of the reforms, their simplification and the clarification of our objectives," said the President of the Republic.

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Another issue is Ukraine's integration into NATO. On this point, the executive is delaying and announcing that it will be complicated in the immediate future. Finally, concretely, this summit resulted in the creation of a European cyber reserve and cooperation on securing critical infrastructures. As for the very recent format of European political community, while it is praised for its informal nature, some countries such as Germany want it to be less restrictive with only one meeting per year instead of two. The next one is scheduled to take place in Spain on October 5.