French President Emmanuel Macron outlined his priorities for the future of the European Union on Thursday in an almost two-hour stump speech with about six weeks to go until the European election in June.

The marathon address at Sorbonne University in Paris covered everything from the recent farmer protests to financial regulation.

Here's what you need to know:

More cash

Macron wants Europe to become the global leader by 2030 in five sectors: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, the space industry, biotechnology, and new forms of clean energy such as hydrogen and nuclear fusion.

A vaste programme, some might say.

Accordingly, the French president has called for a "public investment shock" and to "double Europe's financial capacity," also by making greater use of the EU's own revenue sources such as levies from the carbon adjustment mechanism.

Since public money won't be enough, Macron also urged progress on the capital markets union (CMU), a decade-old plan to build a single market for capital, taking advantage of the bloc’s combined economic strength. He said the EU should give itself no more than one year to unlock that file.

"We have been promising this for too many years," Macron said.

The CMU is struggling to see the light of day as a dozen countries are pushing against tougher and more centralized supervision of capital markets in the hands of ESMA, the EU markets watchdog.

France, however, is determined to move forward with a smaller group of like-minded countries to bypass opposition from smaller nations.

“Every year our savings … go to finance the Americans, or in any case the non-Europeans … it is an aberration,” Macron said, stressing that EU capital markets should become more attractive.

Europe first

The EU should favor local companies over foreign rivals when it comes to public financial support in strategic sectors like defense and space, Macron said.

The French president has historically been reluctant to use EU cash to buy foreign weaponry, including within the framework of the European Peace Facility, an off-budget fund that reimburses capitals for the military kit sent to Kyiv in its war against Russia.

Macron said that the EU should follow the United States and China's examples and prioritize European companies.

"Who saw the American defense or energy department financing a European emergent actor?" he said.

The French president proposed to enshrine a "European preference" principle in EU treaties, but didn't elaborate on whether that would also mean favoring European companies in public tenders, something France has advocated.

He said the EU's competition rulebook should be relaxed to pave the way for so-called European champions, a long-standing goal for France and Germany....

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