Emanuel Macron: The agitator of Europe returns to Brussels

An agitator, a driving force or a leader of Europe? Emanuel Macron returns to Brussels on Monday for his first European summit since his re-election as president of France, bringing in shocking proposals for European Union reform and Ukraine’s accession to Europe.

The French president was re-elected with 58% of the vote on April 24 following a European-colored election campaign that the rest of Europe watched closely.

“Emanuel Macron’s prestige is coming out of this electoral contest”, even if he still has the June parliamentary elections ahead of him, “said Pierre Wimon of Carnegie Europe and former secretary general of the European Union’s foreign service.

“The president of France, who holds the rotating presidency of the Union until the end of June, made a sense in Strasbourg on 9 May in favor of reforming the European treaties to strengthen the effectiveness of the EU and proposing the creation of a” one. ” European political community “for the faster accession of Ukraine to Europe after the Russian invasion of February 24.

“Undoubtedly his partners will ask him a lot of questions,” even if the issue is not on the agenda, says Pierre Wimon. The summit will focus on financial assistance to Ukraine and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Suspicion

The most hostile, after all, did not take long to raise their voices. On May 22, Polish President Andrei Duda voted in favor of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. Lithuanian counterpart Gitana Nauseda expressed concern over the lack of political will for Ukraine’s rapid accession to the Union.

“There is suspicion. These proposals are being treated as a means of delaying Ukraine’s accession process,” said Lukas Maslanka, a researcher at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM).

Emanuel Macron assures that the “European political community” is not an alternative to Ukraine’s entry into the EU, but an intermediate solution, knowing that membership will take “decades”.

However, the doubt is well established. “There are a lot of misunderstandings that need to be resolved,” said the Carnegie Europe researcher. “The ball is in our court”, they admit at the Palace of the Elysium.

Also, Emanuel Macron’s urgings not to “humiliate” Russia have been negatively received in Ukraine and in Central and Eastern Europe.

With his proposal, Emanuel Macron may have made a communication mistake, rushing to speak or not adequately explaining his plan, says researcher at the Polish Institute of International Affairs

“… there is no German leadership, there is a German problem”

“He has great confidence in the creative power of his speech, but we know that in Europe everything is done through compromise and the speech of the French president is not necessarily decisive,” says the Polish researcher.

However, he believes that France has a solid foundation to become the leader of Europe, especially at a time when Germany is at a disadvantage with a policy that is considered too timid towards Ukraine.

However, President Macron needs the Franco-German duo to succeed in promoting his ideas. After all, Chancellor Olaf Solz hastened to describe the idea of ​​a “European political community” as “interesting”.

“There is no German leadership at the moment, there is a German problem,” said Jean-Dominique Giuliani of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

At this juncture, Emanuel Macron has been promoted more than ever to the European Union vanguard. “This is the traditional role of France, to mobilize ideas. It is not right in everything, but that is how it makes things go,” recalls Jean-Dominique Giuliani.

“The traditional French ideas expressed by the president, somewhat thunderous, sometimes with audacity, through a megaphone, filter things, make Europeans think.”

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ