At democracy’s birthplace, Macron dreams of EU 2.0

Standing at a Greek site where democracy was conceived, French President Emmanuel Macron called on members of the European Union (EU) to reboot the 60-year-old bloc with sweeping political reforms or risk a “slow disintegration.”

Macron, on a visit Thursday to Athens, urged EU nations to carry out six-month national reviews on EU reforms before imposing them — signaling his distance with the German-backed approach based on fiscal discipline within the eurozone.

“It would be a mistake to abandon the European ideal,” Macron said. “We must rediscover the enthusiasm that the union was founded upon and change, not with technocrats and not with bureaucracy.”

Elected by a landslide in May, the 39-year-old Macron has vowed to back efforts for closer integration in the EU, which has been rattled by a financial crisis, migration issues, a populist backlash and Britain’s decision to leave.

His proposal found enthusiastic support in bailout-stricken Greece, which considers France a vital ally and counterweight to fiscally hawkish Germany in its efforts to ease the stringent terms of its international rescue loans.

Reinforcing his message, Macron urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to step back from its role in European bailouts — breaking with a widely accepted policy adopted when Greece sought international help seven years ago.

“I don’t think it was the right method for the IMF to supervise European programs and intervene in the way it did,” he said. “Let’s work within Europe and not turn to outside agencies.”

The eurozone rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, should play the lead role in financial rescue within the euro currency zone, he said.

France, Europe’s No. 2 economy, had previously backed Germany’s insistence in involving the IMF to enforce austerity measures that came with bailout programs in Greece and other rescued economies including Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

Athens has relied on international rescue loans since 2010, and in return has seen its economy put under strict supervision by its creditors.