NARRATIVE – The president says he is “confident” about his ability to build a “constructive majority”.
Correspondent in Brussels
It was the very last European summit under the French presidency of the EU. And it was also the very first attended by Emmanuel Macron since the French legislative elections. On Friday, during the final press conference, the president wanted to be reassuring about the consequences of the new deal on the course of Europe.
While the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Italian Mario Draghi are encountering difficulties, aren’t we heading towards a weakening of the west of the EU? “ We cannot at the same time consider that our Europe must be democratic and deplore the fact that most parliaments (from the EU, editor’s note) reflect the democratic vitality of our countries”, he pointed out. Talking about a situation “terribly commonplace at European level”he recalled that “some coalition governments have up to five, six or seven partners”. As he repeated so often during the Covid crisis, Emmanuel Macron refuses to oppose “leadership and the constraints of democracy”.
“ Do the reverse of what didn’t work »
Returning to the proposal made Wednesday evening to the opposition, he said to himself “very confident” on the capacity of the executive to build “constructive majorities” with “all governing parties”. Exit the National Rally and La France insoumise? France “knows how to compromise and including yours truly.” We spend our lives doing it here”he pointed out, in a reference to the way decisions are made between the Twenty-Seven, a path made of often tortuous iterations.
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Standing at his side, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, recalled the experience he had in this area when he was at the head of the Belgian federal government. “ I am extremely confident and extremely optimistic. And whoever is talking to you has some experience in a country that is not the simplest in terms of institutional and democratic organization. » As for the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, she affirmed that she could “to rely on France, one of our founding countries”.
The two leaders of the European institutions took advantage of this last summit under the rotating French presidency to congratulate the country on the progress made over the past six months.
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Emmanuel Macron left Brussels on Friday with the feeling of having achieved tangible results on the European Political Community (EPC), this forum intended to improve coordination between countries of the Old Continent, between the Member States of the EU, those who aspire to be and other close partners. The exchange between the Twenty-Seven would have made it possible to pass from“a political insight” at “a political belief”affirmed the president, who had put this proposal on the table on 9 May in Strasbourg. “The objective would be to foster political dialogue and cooperation between European countries, in order to strengthen security, stability and prosperity on the European continent”explains a European source.
Emmanuel Macron gave more details on the method. ” We’re goinghe said, do things very simply. We’re going to do the opposite of what generally hasn’t worked, which is to build entities before we know where we’re coming from and before people are all around the table. » A first meeting is already scheduled for next October, during the informal summit in Prague, under the Czech Presidency of the EU. Invitations will be issued and the leaders who have responded favorably will discuss a list of common topics. Eventually, the meetings would become more regular. The Commission should make proposals in the second half of the year, particularly on the scope of the CPE.
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