listen to Emmanuel Macron’s speech before the European Parliament

He called on Europeans to “boldness” for the European Union to assert itself as “a power of the future” and “sovereign” in order to “not to depend on other powers” world. Emmanuel Macron has put on his clothes president of Council of the European Union, Wednesday 19 January, and gave a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The French President particularly wanted Europe to build “a new security order” with NATO against Russia and pleaded for “a frank and demanding dialogue” with Moscow. He stressed that this ambition would be reaffirmed throughout the six months of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU (PFUE) which began on January 1, although he made no allusion to the impact that will have the presidential election in France in April.

Emmanuel Macron has yet to officially announce his candidacy for a second term, while his opponents accuse him of using the PFUE to campaign without saying so. Since his election in 2017, celebrated to the sound of the anthem of the European Union, Emmanuel Macron has posed as the leader of pro-Europeans in the face of “nationalists” and “populists”.

The priority for him is to defend the rule of law, which “is our treasure” and “everywhere it is a question of reconquering the peoples who are far away”, did he declare. To strengthen this rule of law, Emmanuel Macron wanted the right to abortion and the protection of the environment to be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

It is necessary “update this charter to be more explicit” on these two priorities, he added as MEPs elected on Tuesday a president opposed to abortion, the Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola.