Deccan Chronicle

Macron takes over EU reins as polls loom

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Paris, Jan. 1: France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Saturday, affording President Emmanuel Macron the chance to pose as the EU’s de facto leader in the run-up to national elections in April.

The 44-year-old has never made any secret of his ambitions to be the motor for further European integratio­n, serving over the last four years as a dynamic sidekick to the more steady German chancellor Angela Merkel in Europe’s power couple.

With Merkel now retired and the timely gift of the rotating presidency of the European Union Council from January 1, Macron has announced an ambitious agenda for the 27member bloc that could also serve his domestic campaign for re-election. “The year 2022 must be a turning point for Europe,” he said in a New Year’s Eve national address that hailed the EU’s role during the Covid-19 crisis.

Referring to the French presidency, he vowed that “you can count on my complete commitment to ensure that this period, which comes around every 13 years, is a time of progress for you”.

The centrist, who made his Europhile views a key part of his political campaign when winning the presidency in 2017, is hoping it will again serve him in elections scheduled for April 10 and 24.

“The EU presidency gives him a welcome platform to put his European record to the forefront and differenti­ate himself from his rivals and bring new proposals, new ideas to the table,” said Claire Demesmay, an expert at the Marc-Bloch thinktank in Berlin.

Strutting on the internatio­nal stage has also long been a popular move for any French president.

To mark the start of the six-month presidency, France illuminate­d historic buildings across the country, including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in the blue of the European Union flag on New Year’s Eve.

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