French President Emmanuel Macron will deliver a speech on Europe at Sorbonne University on Thursday, a month and a half before the European elections and seven years after his first speech on Europe at the same venue.
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Emmanuel Macron returns to the Sorbonne University, on Thursday, April 25, with a new speech in favor of a “more sovereign and more powerful” Europe, which is understood as the head of state's entry into the campaign at a time when his camp falters, six weeks before the European elections.
Seven years after “The Sorbonne 1”, on September 26, 2017, the president once again presents, at 11:00 a.m., a series of measures to move towards a “powerful Europe.”
“We are in a moment in which many crises come together (…) The President's intuition and desire is to say that, in times like these, it is possible to present proposals and take important steps,” summarizes a presidential advisor.
The objective is to “influence the agenda” of the next European Commission after the June elections, says the Presidency, which denies any electoral tactics. “This is an institutional moment for a Head of State, which does not simply compromise the word of his political formation, but the word of a country,” he insists.
For his adversaries, Emmanuel Macron is especially going on the offensive at a time when his camp, led by MEP Valérie Hayer, is having difficulty making its way through the campaign.
A “campaign” speech?
The Rassemblement National (RN) list, headed by Jordan Bardella, remains far ahead in voting intention (31%), some fifteen points ahead of Valérie Hayer (16%), closely followed by Raphaël Glucksmann for the PS and the Place publishes (13%), according to a poll by Toluna Harris Interactive for Challenges, M6 and RTL published this Wednesday.
“There is nothing innocent about this speech,” “it is an electoral speech,” insisted the outgoing RN MEP Thierry Mariani. “He continues to use his role as President to campaign, which constitutes a serious attack on democracy,” added Manon Aubry, head of the list of La France insoumise.
Echoing the Head of State, Jordan Bardella will hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to present his program and try to impose a duel at the summit. Raphaël Glucksmann beat him to it on Wednesday evening with his own “great speech” on Europe.
Presented by some as an “anti-Bardella weapon” when he was appointed in January, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal appears to be taking a back seat in the European campaign for the moment.
Thus, Many of the supporters of the Head of State are counting on his speech to mobilize voters. Although they recognize that he can also galvanize his opponents, given his high level of unpopularity.
Legitimacy” to talk about Europe
Emmanuel Macron will address the ambassadors of the other 26 EU Member States, the European Commission delegation in France, businessmen, students and researchers.
He has also invited French MEPs, but his speech will take place in the middle of a plenary session of the European Parliament, the last before the European elections (June 6 to 9), in which a series of important texts are scheduled to be approved. “Sorry, I voted,” joked, among others, socialist MEP Nora Mebarak.
Fifteen and a half days later, Emmanuel Macron believes he has left his mark on key European Union issues such as sovereignty, defense and the joint European loan, a taboo for Germany, which was broken during the Covid-19 pandemic, although France finds it difficult to duplicate the experience.
On Thursday, he will take stock of the progress made since “The Sorbonne 1” and outline proposals to address the new challenges facing Europe, from the war in Ukraine to the Sino-American rivalry.
The Head of State considers that he retains all his “legitimacy”, that of the “reforms”, to talk about Europe, although France is one of the continent's bad students in matters of public finances.
“We have just announced a reform of unemployment insurance, which is one of the most ambitious in Europe,” defends a presidential advisor. This legitimacy will be measured on Thursday with European reactions.
On Friday, the President will also take a temperature during an exchange with students in Strasbourg, where he will sign a new three-year contract to consolidate the Alsatian capital's European stature.
This article was adapted from its original in French
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