Emmanuel Macron “has the same European conviction” as him, says MEP Sandro Gozi

A national tribute ceremony to Jacques Delors and chaired by Emmanuel Macron takes place on Friday at the Invalides. The former president of the European Commission died at the end of December at the age of 98.

Is Emmanuel Macron the heir of Jacques Delors? “I think so”, responds on franceinfo Sandro Gozi, Renaissance MEP, before the national tribute paid to the former President of the European Commission, Friday January 5. The President of the Republic will deliver his funeral eulogy. “Emmanuel Macron has the same European conviction”says the Secretary General of the European Democratic Party.

For him, the head of state is “the only European leader today”. However, “we are in another era” than that experienced by the former socialist Minister of the Economy. He benefited “from a fairly unique context”marked by “a long-term agreement between Helmut Kohl [le chancelier allemand d’alors] and François Mitterrand [le président français, à l’époque] to build a market and a single currency”.

“Security”, “borders”, “immigration”…At present, “Europe must answer eminently political and geopolitical questions. Today’s debate is rather different from that of the 1980s, when Delors began to lay the first stones of major achievements, such as the single market and the single currency “points out the MEP.

“Jacques Delors was a model for our generation.”

Sandro Gozi, MEP Renaissance

at franceinfo

“I met him often when I worked with two presidents of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and José Manuel Barroso. He was someone who inspired all those who believe in European construction”he points out.

He refuses, on the other hand, to see in this national tribute an informal start to the European campaign, in June. “It seems to me that the campaign for Europeans has begun”with the “answers” data to voters “on central questions”. He cites the agreement reached at the end of December between MEPs and representatives of the 27 Member States on the reform of the European migration system.