Lhe setting, in the large amphitheater of the Sorbonne, is certainly not that of an electoral meeting: Emmanuel Macron claims to have put on his clothes as head of state to deliver his speech on Europe, Thursday April 25, defending himself to enter the campaign, less than two months before the June 9 election. The choice of location was to place this new address in continuity with that given at the start of his first mandate, in the same place, in September 2017.
At the time, the newly elected French president sought to convince of the need for the continent to defend its “sovereignty”even its “strategic autonomy”. A diagnosis differently appreciated outside the borders, but since validated by the Covid pandemic and the return of war to the borders of the Union. Seven years later, Emmanuel Macron was to call for specifying the contours of a “Power Europe” able to defend its interests in an increasingly hostile world, at a time when the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Sino-American rivalry threaten the continent with downgrading.
If the intention to weigh in the electoral debates is obvious, at a time when the list of the presidential camp candidate for the European elections is far behind, in the polls, by that of the National Rally, the view of the Head of State wants to be beyond this single issue. In his mind, it is about inspiring as much as possible what the leaders of the Twenty-Seven call their “strategic agenda” for the coming legislature, or, more prosaically, the work program of the next Brussels Commission, whether or not its president, Ursula von der Leyen, is confirmed in her post following the June election.
Faced with the temptation to withdraw carried by far-right parties, Emmanuel Macron continues to believe in the added value of the European project, provided that it takes a new step, to try to have influence in the world. No one disputes it: the emergency is real as the environment has become hostile.
“Long taboo question”
“The post-Cold War order is dead and buried. Russia is a direct threat, while US investment in Europe, our main ally and protector, may once again decline. At the same time, China intends to establish its own world order”, notes Guillaume Klossa, initiator of a recent collective report sent to European leaders to prepare for upcoming meetings. Increasingly obvious realities, which increasingly expose the continent’s vulnerabilities.
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