The French election and Europe’s future

“business as usual” is no longer an option.

Above all, the next French president will have to restore economic growth. And the same can be said for all other euro zone member states. After Germany’s general election in September, the government will finally have to take the plunge and pursue a more robust economic policy, unless it wants to cede the stage to nationalists who would destroy the EU.

Although Germany has made valid arguments in defense of its fiscal and external surpluses, its current economic model has failed to stimulate enough growth in the euro zone to stabilize the single currency. Achieving that goal will require a new consensus between Northern and Southern Europe, led by Germany and France.

It will also require Germany finally to take some decisive steps toward accommodating France’s economic needs, and to dispel the illusion that the EU can survive under a regime of exclusive German leadership. The EU is a complicated entity that can be led only by a strong French-German axis working in concert with other member states. That, too, is a lasting lesson that European leaders should take from the French election.

Macron, for his part, will have to avoid a trap that ensnared his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. Both cozied up too closely to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and thus could not confront the German government when necessary. For example, I would wager that if France had done more to challenge Germany’s opposition to euro bonds, anti-European populists on both the left and the right would not have gained the political momentum that they have in recent years. Constructive conflict in Europe is sometimes necessary. Without it, what the EU stands for remains obscure.

As the French presidential election reaches its conclusion, the description of Europe as a “community of destiny” still holds true, even after 60 years. On May 7, France will decide not just its own fate, but that of the EU, too. Europeans should rejoice — but then they must get down to work. Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader of the German Green Party for almost 20 years. Project Syndicate