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Setting out his 10-year vision for Europe on Saturday, Macron said he still wanted to see the UK involved in defence, but urged European countries to recognise that in terms of social welfare, Europe had different values to the US.
The continent, he said, was reaching the hour of truth, the moment when it must decide about greater integration and commonality. He warned: “If the Franco-German tandem do not come up with a perspective for the middle classes, that will be a historic failure.”
Referring to the weakness of the west, Macron admitted he was impatient, if not frustrated, to hear a German response to his call for a strategic dialogue on a more integrated Europe. Asking for a clear answer, he said the countries “have a history of waiting for answers” from each other.
“What’s key in the coming years is to move much faster on issues of sovereignty on the European level,” he said.
He expanded on his controversial call for Europe to open a strategic dialogue with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, saying the only way to end frozen conflicts, including the one in Ukraine, was for Europe to work with Russia. He insisted: “My position is not pro-Russian or anti-Russian, it is pro-European.”
In a reference to the US and the UK, he said: “I hear the defiance of all our partners; I’m not mad, but I know that being defiant and weak … is not a policy, it’s a completely inefficient system.
“There is a second choice, which is to be demanding and restart a strategic dialogue, because today we talk less and less, conflicts multiply and we aren’t able to resolve them.”
Macron said that although the current policy of sanctions and counter-sanctions was not working, he did not advocate they be lifted in the context of Ukraine.
He also said he doubted Russia had ended its direct and indirect interference in democratic elections, saying the best response was to defend Europe’s networks and adding: “I do not believe in miracles, but in policies.” [...]