Laura Laplaud
modified to
09:48, January 31, 2022
With 69 days to go before the first round of the presidential election, the question of Europe stands out in the debate as a major theme. If Emmanuel Macron will undoubtedly lead his campaign on this European sovereignty, for the philosopher Pierre Manent, this campaign will be based on an “unreality”.
Guest of Europe Matin on Monday, the philosopher Pierre Manent considered that the European Union (EU) could never have the strength of a nation. “We are living under a kind of permanent coup d’etat by European institutions,” he said on Europe 1. “If it had European sovereignty, it would have common government bodies, it would have military forces at its provision, a common diplomacy,” he said.
European sovereignty does not exist
“We can say that there is a European sovereignty except that it has no organ”, insisted Pierre Manent Monday morning. Remarks opposed to those of Emmanuel Macron who holds to this formula of “European sovereignty”. He also defended it during the launch speech of the rotating EU presidency in mid-January.
If the Head of State decides to make this formula one of the red threads of his future and probable presidential campaign, this formula nevertheless forms a perfect oxymoron. “He will campaign on an unreality,” retorted the philosopher.
The European Union is an “association of nations”
“What is the reality of Europe today?” wondered Pierre Manent. “It is a concert of nations, held together by the hegemony of the main European nation, namely Germany,” he said.
The basis of European construction would then come down to an “association of democratic nations” which would attribute “certain powers to common institutions”, deciphered Pierre Manent.
“We say that the French and the Germans are the driving force behind European growth, we are the only ones to say it, everyone knows that we are the only ones to say it”, he said on Europe 1.