The lordly intransigence of France’s president
Emmanuel Macron increasingly seems to see himself as “Europe’s leader”, said Sylvie Kauffmann in Le Monde (Paris). With Angela Merkel soon stepping down, and Britain “disappearing into the Brexit abyss”, France’s president has taken to launching surprise initiatives that risk provoking the “acrimony” of EU members. This year, he has attempted to meddle with other states’ choices of EU commissioners; invited the Iranian foreign minister to the G7 summit in Biarritz; and attempted a rapprochement with Russia’s Vladimir Putin – the latter two without consulting Britain or Germany. And now, he has vetoed long-planned EU accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania.
Macron is convinced that the EU has been “profoundly wrong” to pursue a policy of enlargement at any cost, said Cristian Unteanu in Adevarul (Bucharest). He is fearful of a repeat of 2007, when against the advice of the Brussels commission, EU governments admitted Romania and Bulgaria into the bloc, even though the two states weren’t ready. Macron is especially concerned by Albania’s record on corruption – a view shared by Denmark and the Netherlands, who also rejected the country’s bid. He has taken a “revolutionary” position: insisting not just that EU institutions should be strengthened before other new nations are allowed to join, but that membership should be “reversible” (i.e. conditional on good behaviour). It’s an approach that is placing the whole enlargement process in doubt, with other hopefuls, including Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, anxious that they too might be turned away.
Englargement has been one of the EU’s great success stories, helping to spread peace and prosperity, said Czech foreign minister Tomáš Petrícek on Politico (Brussels). Western Balkan countries devastated by the ethnic wars of the 1990s were motivated to rebuild and democratise by the prospect of EU membership. Tensions will quickly return if their accession hopes are dashed. Macron’s veto may be remembered as a “historic mistake”, said the FT. Both North Macedonia and Albania were led to believe they’d get the green light; in particular, North Macedonia’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, showed great courage in pursuing reforms demanded by Brussels – such as abandoning the name Macedonia, at Greece’s behest. He may now be replaced by a hard-line nationalist who could inflame the region. Thanks to an act of “neo-Gaullist intransigence”, the Balkans “could be heading for dark days again”.