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France assumes the European presidency with the aim of reinforcing borders

Emmanuel Macron, at the press conference on December 9, where he presented the priorities of the French presidency of the EU. / EFE

Macron, who assumes the rotating leadership of the Union this morning, wants to reform the Schengen area and make changes in the economy and defense

BEATRIZ JUDGE Correspondent in Paris

New year, new challenges for Emmanuel Macron. The early morning of this Saturday begins the French leadership of the Council of the European Union under the slogan ‘Recovery, Power, Belonging’. France succeeds Slovenia in the rotating presidency, before passing the baton to the Czech Republic in July.

The French presidency will begin to take flight as of tomorrow, January 1, and will last until June 30, it will coincide with the campaign in France for the presidential elections in April and the legislative elections in June. This is not the first time it has happened. In 1995, they also coincided. Macron, who came to power in May 2017 with a pro-European speech, has not yet officially announced whether he is running for re-election in his country, although no one doubts that he will. His leadership in the European Union can add or subtract points at home for the elections.

The French president already set his vision for Europe in the speech he delivered in September 2017 at the Sorbonne University. Macron is committed, four years later, to “a more sovereign Europe, capable of controlling its borders,” but also to “a Europe endowed with a defense policy” and with “a new European growth model,” he says.

“If we must summarize in one sentence the objective of this presidency, I would say that we must move from a Europe of cooperation within our borders to a Europe that is powerful in the world, fully sovereign, free of its decisions and master of its destiny” Macron said when he presented the priorities of the French presidency at a press conference on December 9.

The reform of the Schengen area – the area comprising 26 European countries that have abolished border controls at internal borders, but maintain them abroad – will be one of the priorities of his mandate. Macron will propose to his European partners “a political pilot” of the Schengen, following the model of the Eurogroup, which regularly brings together the finance ministers of the euro area to discuss issues related to the single currency. If the French proposal is approved, there will be regular meetings of the ministers responsible to better protect the EU’s external borders and ensure the free movement of European citizens in the Schengen area.

The French president also wants to establish “an emergency support mechanism” at the borders in the event of a migration crisis. When a Member State suddenly has to face a migratory avalanche that requires reinforcing control of the EU’s outer perimeter, it could count on the support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and with the solidarity of the other European partners. All of them would be qualified to send police and material.

New budget framework

Another priority for the next six months will be to advance in defense matters. Macron wants to launch a European Defense and Security White Paper, which will aim to set the geostrategic orientation of the EU for the next decade. The “strategic compass” of the European Union should translate, according to the French president, into the organization of common military exercises and strengthen the European defense industry.

Furthermore, during his tenure he wants to “rethink” the EU budgetary framework, now governed by the Maastricht criteria, to adapt it to the new challenges of the Union. Macron believes that “a credible, simplified, transparent budgetary and financial framework must be built, capable of contributing to this ambition of a stronger, fairer and more sustainable Europe,” as he advanced.

During the French presidency, two summits, twenty informal Council meetings and more than four hundred events are scheduled to take place throughout France. But the calendar can be altered by the covid-19 pandemic and the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the continent, which in the case of the neighboring country has multiplied infections to reach 200,000 a day.

France will take advantage of the EU presidency to defend the title of the European Capital of Strasbourg. “More than a symbol of European reconciliation, it is a matter of national interest,” according to French Prime Minister Jean Castex.

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