President Emmanuel Macron may have run into trouble trying to reform France according to his vision, but he wants to try it again on a continental scale, warning the European Union could “die” if his warnings are not heeded.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the Berlin Global Dialogue this week, an event focussing on ‘shaping a new economic era’, making stern warnings that China and the U.S. were leaving the European Union behind in key areas of development, and calling for reform to catch up. The remarks are just the latest instance of the French leader warning the EU faces death if it doesn’t follow his lead, having previously used the word to describe the threats he perceives from Russia, and his own political rivals on the right-wing.
Addressing the forum, Macron said: “The EU could die, we are on a verge of a very important moment… Our former model is over – we are over-regulating and under-investing. In the two to three years to come, if we follow our classical agenda we will be out of the market.”
Remarkably, the French leader advocated considering breaking with international organisations to further European interests. Citing the World Trade Organisation, Macron pointed out China and the United States already ignored the globalist body when it suited them, leaving the European Union the only major world power playing by the rules and disadvantaging itself by doing so.
He said, reports Politico of his address: “If we want clearly to be more competitive and have our place in this multipolar order first we need a simplification shock… Twenty-five years ago, we thought that [with] China joining WTO it would comply with the laws. It is not the case… I have a suggestion… when both U.S. and China do not respect the rules, we should not be the only one in the room to just abide the rules.”
This approach should fall short of Europe becoming protectionist, he said — although many would state protectionism is woven into the bloc’s DNA — but “this is an awful world” and the Union should be fair to “our industry, our farmers, our people”.
Macron said areas Europe was falling behind in included economic growth, investment, artificial intelligence, defence, and security.
The answer, inevitably, is more ‘Europe’, meaning more rule from Brussels. Macron prescribed a further deepening of single market rules and said, per Euronews, that if his warnings were ignored the bloc only had five to ten years until it would have to launch a rescue plan to save itself.
France’s Le Figaro focusses on Macron’s declaration that reform of Europe is something he wishes to devote “much more energy” to, no doubt a concern domestically given the state the French government is in. Macron’s politicking, including calling snap elections earlier this year in a failed bid to defeat his rivals, has left Parliament in disarray and government formation fractious. Even as a new French government is being sworn in this week, it is far from certain it will even see the year out.
The paper relates he stated in Berlin of his ambitions: “For me, the first priority is the European scale… This is where we can unlock a lot of growth and potential”.
As stated, Macron’s alarmist language of a death of the European Union is becoming a matter of habit. Breitbart News reported in early May this year:
[Macron] declared that Europe is “mortal” and could “die” partly due to the threat posed by Russian aggression after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine… “If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe,” Macron went on to warn.
Just weeks later the rhetoric returned again, but on the subject of greater political successes by right-wing populist parties across the continent. As reported then:
[Macron told] German young people to sublimate feelings of national pride into the European Union. “Europe can die”, the French President warned again, if the right wing isn’t defeated… “We have never had as many enemies inside as outside”, Macron said, expressing his hyper-globalist assessment that nationalism damages democracy, and that there was a “fight” on to prevent this process. He continued, warning: “A form of fascination with authoritarianism is emerging in our democracy.”
