The French president had already done so in 2017 to set his major European guidelines. This Thursday, he announced that he was starting again. Emmanuel Macron will give a speech on Europe next Thursday at the Sorbonne.
“I will give a bit of an overview of what the country has done and what we are heading towards and especially for the years to come,” replied the Head of State, interviewed at a press conference following the European Council. in Brussels. This speech will be delivered “at the end of the morning”, he said.
On September 26, 2017, four months after the start of his first five-year term, Emmanuel Macron presented an ambitious series of proposals to relaunch the European project, in particular the creation of a true common defense.
A Europe “too slow, too inefficient”
Elected on a reform program, he then delivered a vibrant plea for the EU, which he said had lacked a long-term vision for years and was bogged down in bureaucracy and over-regulation. Europe is “too weak, too slow, too ineffective,” he said in a solemn speech lasting more than an hour and a half.
This plea for the EU took a number of partners by surprise, starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then just re-elected and then engaged in several months of negotiations to form a government coalition. Seven years and a five-and-a-half year later, Emmanuel Macron believes he has succeeded in this speech, particularly on questions of European sovereignty.
This “Sorbonne 2” will also in a certain way mark his entry into the campaign, even if those around him deny it, judging that it aims first of all to set a course for after the European elections in June.