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Ever since his election, the new French President
has become the EU’s main political leader. At a
time when the European integration process re-
mains challenged, his initiatives aim firstly to
change the mindset towards the EU by pushing
forward a “Europe that protects” agenda and
by developing a positive tone on Europe at large
in order to oppose the rise of nationalism
Emmanuel Macron’s European policy did not
start once he was elected President of France
last May. It started during his campaign itself
which, by its unusually outspoken pro-EU
stance, paved the way for a willing European
policy spelled out in his Sorbonne speech on
September 26. Aware that the European inte-
gration process has been seriously damaged
since the French referendumon theConstitutional
Treaty in 2005 and by a severe crisis series (bank,
sovereign debt, refugees, Brexit), Emmanuel
Macron measures what his victory against
Marine Le Pen has meant for the very existence
of the EU. Without his election, European inte-
gration was in a dead end. But relief is not
enough and business cannot be back as usual in
Brussels. By pushing forward a “Europe that
protects” (
L’Europe qui protège
) agenda, the
new French President hopes to reconcile public
opinions with European construction and bring
up some concrete results before the next
European elections in May 2019.
An ambitious “Europe that protects”
agenda
In that perspective, his first political battle on
the European front has been on the revision of
the posted workers directive. His capacity to re-
duce the length of authorized posted work,
hallmarked in an agreement set last October, is
more politically symbolic than practically useful
but it addresses a strong concern, widely spread
in France, against social dumping. The agree-
ment, which captured successful and exagerat-
ed media attention, meant to show French pub-
lic opinion the new President’s direct influence
on European matters. His speech at the
European summit in Göteburg (Sweden) the fol-
lowing month offered him another opportunity
to throw out ideas on how to relaunch social
convergence in the EU. The Elysée is now con-
sidering linking future European structural funds
to social convergence criterias and to anti-social
dumping measures.
Macron’s goal for the EU:
make Europeans proud again
Sébastien Maillard