“Emmanuel Macron wants a useful French presidency with sovereignty as a watchword”, explained Thursday, December 9 on franceinfo Stéphane Séjourné, MEP, president of the Renew group in the European Parliament, after Emmanuel Macron’s speech for the French presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2022.
>> Regulation of Gafam, reform of the Schengen area … What to remember from Emmanuel Macron’s press conference on the French presidency of the EU
“Emmanuel Macron said it, he wants a useful French presidency, so it’s a dense presidency with the slogan of sovereignty, digital, industrial and defense sovereignty”, said the MEP. “The President of the Republic is focused” on the subjects he wants to cover, “There was the speech of the Sorbonne a few years ago where forty proposals were raised and among them twenty have been implemented or are in progress. There are other proposals that the president is making. France is expected in this presidency. “
The Schengen area must be reformed, Europe must better control its borders, explained Emmanuel Macron. “The president has already spoken on this subject, we knew this proposal, there he materializes it to ask for an agreement between 27 to create a political mechanism. It is the corollary of freedom of movement in Europe. Frontex has already done so. been strengthened and there it will take political control “, explained Stéphane Séjourné.
A summit of the 27 will be held on March 10 and 11 to provide the necessary impetus for the transformation of the European Union. One month before the presidential election. So it will not be declared before? “No, I don’t think so, it’s up to him to know when he will declare himself. France’s responsibility in this presidency will be exercised until the end. It is not Emmanuel Macron who will be president but the president. of the French Republic. “
We need a framework for common memory, said Emmanuel Macron. “A certain number of common rules are today flouted or called into question, as in Poland or Hungary, we have a temptation towards illiberalism in Europe and therefore we need historic work and remind people why we are together”, said Stéphane Séjourné. “We must be very firm on the criteria of democracy. We must protect them. There is a temptation to rewrite history. We will need a debate that allows us to establish a common history.”