Macron calls for EU renaissance
FRENCH president Emmanuel Macron has called for far-reaching EU reforms and warned against the dangers of nationalism, three months before European Parliament elections.
He argued that Brexit, scheduled to take place on March 29, symbolised “the crisis of a Europe that has failed to respond to its peoples’ need for protection from the major shocks of the modern world”.
“We can’t let nationalists with no solutions exploit people’s anger,” he wrote in a column published in 28 newspapers across the EU yesterday. “We can’t sleepwalk to a diminished Europe. We can’t remain in the routine of business as usual and wishful thinking.”
The Brexit “impasse” was “a lesson for us all”, he wrote, adding that “we need to escape this trap and make the forthcoming elections and our (European) project meaningful.”
Calling for a “European renaissance”, Macron said nationalists were “misguided when they claim to defend our identity by withdrawing from the EU, because it is European civilisation that unites, frees and protects us. “But those who would change nothing are also misguided, because they deny the fear felt by our people,” he said.
The president proposed the creation of a European Agency for the protection of democracies, which would help EU nations protect their election processes from cyber-attacks and manipulation. He said the funding of European political parties by foreign powers should be banned.
France last year passed a package of measures aimed at preventing the spread of false information during election campaigns. There has also been criticism in Britain of false information used ahead of the 2016 Brexit referendum, and allegations of Russian involvement. Macron urged reform of the bloc’s borderless Schengen area.
“All those who want to be part of it should comply with obligations of responsibility (stringent border controls) and solidarity (a single asylum policy).”
A new treaty should set out the EU’s defence obligations in association with Nato and other European allies, he said, including increased defence spending, a “truly operational mutual defence clause, and a European security council, with the UK on board”.
On trade, he called for reform of competition policy, including “penalising or banning businesses that compromise our strategic interests and fundamental values such as environmental standards, data protection and fair payment of taxes”.
Macron also suggested the setting up of a European Climate Bank and a European food safety force.
The coming European elections, scheduled for May 23-26, are likely to be a battle between nationalists and reformers like Macron. One of his strongest opponents is likely to be Hungary’s increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who recently launched a campaign against European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker accusing him of promoting illegal immigration to Europe.
Although his La Republique en Marche party leads in opinion polls for the European elections, Macron has suffered poor opinion polls at home. The Yellow Vest protesters who have been taking to the streets since November are challenging his policies.
He has also clashed with his European neighbours. In February the French ambassador to Rome was recalled after Italian deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio met Yellow Vest protest leaders. France has also had disagreements with Germany over arms exports and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline intended to bring Russian gas to Europe.