21 June 2017

The Guardian: Macron pledges pragmatism and cooperation with post-Brexit Britain

In his first interview since he was elected as French president last month, Macron told the Guardian and seven other European papers: “Pragmatism will determine our new relationship” with Britain.

Asked if the door really remained open for Britain to go back on Brexit – after his recent remarks, taken as an encouraging sign by opponents of a hard Brexit, that there may be room for compromise – Macron said: “The door is open until the moment you walk through it. It’s not up to me to say it’s closed. But from the moment things are engaged with a timescale and an objective, it’s very hard to go back, we can’t lie to ourselves.”

Macron was firm on the Brexit negotiation process that began this week. He said: “I want the discussions that have just started to be perfectly coordinated at a European level. I do not want bilateral discussions, because the interests of the EU must be preserved in the short, medium and long term.”He also said migration cooperation at the border in Calais would change as part of a rethinking of refugee and asylum policy.

In a wide-ranging interview as he prepared for his first European council meeting with European leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Macron said:

• France and Germany would lead on closer European integration with more social protection to win back the confidence of doubting lower middle classes across the bloc.

• Central and eastern European and smaller states had to respect democratic values and couldn’t just view Europe “as a supermarket”.

• Chemical weapons use and disrespect of humanitarian corridors in Syria were “red lines” and France was prepared to act alone in response.

• He would engage with Donald Trump and sought the US’s return to the Paris climate accords.

Macron insisted that France would “strengthen” defence cooperation with the British and work more closely than before on joint counter-terrorism, “because our destinies are linked: terrorists groups don’t know European borders”.

But on bilateral migration agreements with Britain, he said: “I want our cooperation to evolve.” Referring to the sprawling migrant shanty camps at Calais that the French government shut down last year, he said: “We absolutely must avoid creating new flashpoint migrant camps.” [...]

Sitting on the terrace in the Élysée palace garden, flanked by European and French flags, Macron said he wanted to lead a “European renaissance”, by creating a European Union that inspired and took better care of its people. He said he was completely confident in a new era of restored Paris-Berlin cooperation aimed at kickstarting the European project in people’s minds not just in dull meeting rooms. “The key to get going again is a Europe that protects,” he said.

Macron said the biggest challenge and the starting point for his foreign policy was tackling the “crisis that is hitting western democracies”. [...]

Macron said Europe had no choice but to become the standard-bearer in the fight against illiberalism in the world. “Because democracy was born in Europe. The US likes freedom as much as we do, but it doesn’t have our love for justice. Europe is the only place in the world where individual freedoms, the spirit of democracy and social justice are so closely joined. So the question now is: will Europe succeed in defending the deep values it brought to the world for decades, or will it be wiped out by the rise in illiberal democracies and authoritarian regimes?”

Macron said the key to reconciling European people with the European project was to tighten rules on workers and make it harder for companies to employ cheaper labour from other EU countries or shift production to lower-wage countries, undercutting others.

He said: “We have to promote a Europe that goes towards greater economic and social wellbeing.” For him, allowing undercutting of wages and an influx of low-paid workers on temporary assignments was sapping support for Europe and “turning the European project on its head”. He said: “Let’s not get this wrong. The great defenders of this ultra economically-liberal and unbalanced Europe – the UK – came crashing down on this. What did Brexit play on? On workers from eastern Europe who came to take British jobs. The defenders of the European Union lost because the British lower middle classes said: ‘Stop!’” He said “extremes feed off imbalances like this” and the European Union couldn’t remain shut up in summits and offices and “let things crumble”.

Macron said the solution lay in a renewed “common force” between France and Germany to transform and inject enthusiasm into the European project. “Everywhere in our societies, the lower middle classes have started to doubt,” he said. During his election campaign Macron made overtures to Germany, to end the mistrust and deadlock that had plagued the Franco-German motor, marked by France’s poor economic performance and ongoing struggles with its deficit. Macron had pushed for closer integration of the eurozone with a eurozone budget, joint defence, and an overhaul of refugee and asylum policy. He said: “We have to create a Europe that protects with a real defence policy and common security.” He said asylum, refugee and migration policy must be “profoundly reformed”. [...]

He insisted that Germany was totally in agreement and understood the need to stand together. “National egotisms are slow poisons that bring about the weakening of democracies and a collective inability to rise up to our historic challenge,” he said, adding: “I know the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is conscious of that.” [...]

Full interview on The Guardian

© The Guardian