Emmanuel Macron hoped to make the six months of French presidency of the Council of the European Union an opportunity to establish the leadership he claims within the twenty-seven. The exercise promised to be delicate due to the elections in France. Above all, it was marked by the return of war to Europe, with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, on February 24, who came to hit the agenda prepared by Paris and to test European “sovereignty” dear to the head of state.
In this bellicose context, European leaders have multiplied, in recent days, the compliments towards voluntarism deployed by France, which passed the hand to the Czech Republic, Friday 1
Six sanctions trains
We can only salute the success of this presidency. The French government is rightly delighted to have advanced major files on the agenda – from energy transition to digital regulation, including border management and women’s representation in councils administration. He can also boast of having been able to coordinate the response to the shock aroused by the assault of a country located at the gates of the European Union.
France has mobilized to bring out the six sanctions trains taken against Moscow since the start of the conflict. She also worked to organize the humanitarian, financial and military support of Ukraine, with European, unprecedented co -financing, of delivery of weapons to a third country at war. Without forgetting the responsiveness of the twenty-seven to accommodate the millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. Finally, Paris worked to build the “strategic compass” of the twenty-seven and strengthen the efforts of cooperation in defense, in addition to a NATO in full rebirth.
During the meeting of the European Council on June 23 and 24, this mobilization culminated with the allocation of the status of candidate for Ukraine, a week after the visit to kyiv of Emmanuel Macron and German leaders, Italian Italian and Romanian.
But if the assessment is positive in many areas, it should not prevent questions about the limits of Emmanuel Macron’s leadership, in a Europe where power relations are evolving. Thus, the will of the Head of State to “not humiliate” Russia, his concern to keep an open communication line with the Kremlin were able to weaken his authority in the part of the continent – Poland and Pays Baltes – which defends a Continuation of the war to the Russian defeat, where France, Germany and Italy advocate a more moderate line.
Only time will judge the fate of projects sketched under the French presidency. The future of the idea of ”European political community”, launched in early May by Emmanuel Macron in order to secure the candidate countries to the EU without precipitating enlargement, will constitute a first test to gauge the real authority of the chief of of State. The second test, relating to the possibility of promoting a new recovery plan backed by a common debt, will be more formidable even if the conflict in Ukraine was to lead to a recession within the twenty-seven. Both ideas are far from consensus, but they deserve to be defended.