France’s Macron paints sweeping vision for EU

French President Emmanuel Macron offered a sweeping vision for a renewal of Europe on Tuesday, calling for the EU to cooperate more closely on defense, immigration, tax and social policy, and for the single currency bloc to have its own budget.

In a speech delivered two days after the German election, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s alliance did less well than expected and limiting her freedom to maneuver on Europe, the 39-year-old Macron held little back in terms of ambition.

Speaking at the Sorbonne, he portrayed Europe as needing to relaunch itself, saying that on issues as diverse as asylum, border protection, corporate tax, intelligence sharing, defence and financial stability it needed to forge deeper cooperation.

“The only path that assures our future is the rebuilding of a Europe that is sovereign, united and democratic,” the former investment banker and philosophy student said in his opening remarks, flanked by a French and an EU flag.

“At the beginning of the next decade, Europe must have a joint intervention force, a common defense budget and a joint doctrine for action.”

In his campaign for the presidency, Macron made European reform a central plank and he and Merkel have in recent months spoken often about their desire for France and Germany, the EU’s two largest economies, to take the lead in integration.