Edition: International | Greek
MENU

Home » Europe

Why Macron’s ’Master Plan’ for EU reform risks being stillborn

General de Gaulle famously believed his “certaine idee de la France” in the aftermath of World War 2 was key to re-building his country’s economic and political muscle

By: EBR - Posted: Tuesday, November 26, 2019

President Macron’s thinking ranged from controversial EU-level taxes on carbon-heavy imports and on largely American giants of the Internet, and included a new ‘disruptive innovations’ agency and the ‘mutualisation’ of debt within the eurozone that would target taxpayers in richer countries like Germany.
President Macron’s thinking ranged from controversial EU-level taxes on carbon-heavy imports and on largely American giants of the Internet, and included a new ‘disruptive innovations’ agency and the ‘mutualisation’ of debt within the eurozone that would target taxpayers in richer countries like Germany.

by Giles Merritt* 

General de Gaulle famously believed his “certaine idee de la France” in the aftermath of World War 2 was key to re-building his country’s economic and political muscle. He and his successors in the presidential Elysee Palace can claim they also did much to shape the European Union of today.

But now the EU is rudderless and in the grip of a paralysing identity crisis. ‘Une certaine idee de l’Europe’ is clearly needed to confront a host of daunting challenges. France’s president Emmanuel Macron thinks he knows what that idea should be, but few if any of the EU’s other national leaders seem disposed to go along with him.

He is far from being the sole political leader to recognise the EU badly needs a 21st-century update, but he is very much in the forefront. A few months after taking office in May 2017, Macron unveiled ambitious proposals for reforming and streamlining the EU. He chose Paris’ venerable Sorbonne university to outline to a student audience a plan he intended should echo around the world.

Macron has now underpinned his case for EU reform with a call for a radical new geopolitical stance

President Macron’s thinking ranged from controversial EU-level taxes on carbon-heavy imports and on largely American giants of the Internet, and included a new ‘disruptive innovations’ agency and the ‘mutualisation’ of debt within the eurozone that would target taxpayers in richer countries like Germany. In short, good ideas but ones chiefly involving political costs for all.

Undeterred by those nations’ lack of enthusiasm, Macron has now underpinned his case for EU reform with a call for a radical new geopolitical stance. Europe, he has said, “is on the edge of a precipice” in an increasingly unstable world, and must re-think its security and economic relations with the United States while improving them with Russia and China.

US President Donald Trump’s disdain for Europe has provoked widespread alarm and hostility in EU capitals. But Macron’s urging of closer ties with Moscow, and his comment to The Economist that NATO is “brain dead”, is deepening divisions within the EU.

Macron has been championing a much stronger European ‘defence union’

Poland and the three other ‘Visegrad’ countries of central Europe, along with the three Baltic republics, have ineradicable memories of their treatment at the hands of the Kremlin during the Cold War, and still see Russia as a threat to their security. Public opinion in those countries looks to be viscerally opposed to any rapprochement with Moscow.

As well as his reform proposals, Macron has been championing a much stronger European ‘defence union’. Many EU member governments are, however, wary of anything that might weaken NATO. Add to that Berlin’s concerns that eurozone reform might increase the financial burden on German taxpayers that will be created by Brexit’s impact on the EU budget. President Macron has tough opposition to contend with.

Yet he appears determined to press ahead, buoyed no doubt by the fact that the EU evidently cannot opt for business-as-usual. Its dwindling popularity and the electoral inroads of eurosceptic populists are ringing ever-louder alarm bells.

Reactions to Macron’s reform agenda have been lukewarm at best

Macron can claim authorship for the idea of the two-year ‘Future of Europe’ conference currently being launched by the EU and its member governments. This device for consulting European civil society and asking people what EU they want may greatly strengthen the case for reform; it’s expected to contribute inputs on climate change and social inequalities as well as on Europe’s industrial shortcomings and stagnant productivity.

Reactions to Macron’s reform agenda have been lukewarm at best, and this has often been ascribed to the French president’s ‘arrogant’ manner as much as to the desirability of his suggestions. The truth, however, is that political inertia and fears of provoking public hostility are the real reasons.

As 2020 dawns, the ball will be firmly in the EU’s court, and especially that of the incoming European Commission. It will be up to its new president, Ursula von der Leyen, to decide whether to take the political risk of giving unequivocal support to Macron’s reform drive.

*Founder and Chairman, Friends of Europe

**first published in: www.friendsofeurope.org

READ ALSO

EU Actually

Extreme weather or not, the climate summit in Belem is in danger

N. Peter KramerBy: N. Peter Kramer

That the weather is becoming more and more extreme does not lead to more political urgency

View 04/2021 2021 Digital edition

Magazine

Current Issue

04/2021 2021

View past issues
Subscribe
Advertise
Digital edition

Europe

The EU Needs Values-Based Engagement in the Southern Mediterranean

The EU Needs Values-Based Engagement in the Southern Mediterranean

As the EU prepares a new pact for its Southern neighborhood, the union should balance economic and security interests with support for civil society, political reforms, and inclusive governance

Business

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

To save the Single Market, bring back Delors’ 1992 playbook

Most people familiar with EU affairs know the single market is a myth. Hailed as the bedrock of the European Union, it was never completed and is now crumbling.

MARKET INDICES

Powered by Investing.com
All contents © Copyright EMG Strategic Consulting Ltd. 1997-2025. All Rights Reserved   |   Home Page  |   Disclaimer  |   Website by Theratron