Macron and the European resistance

France's rotating presidency in the Council of the European Union overlaps with the campaign for the presidential elections in April in which Emmanuel Macron will be a candidate.

It is not surprising that in his first fiery speech in Strasbourg he reinforced a pro-European discourse in the key of active resistance against his adversaries and against more lukewarm partners.

His defense of European democratic values ​​and singularity is seamlessly linked to the commitment against climate change, the digital revolution and security as challenges for the Union.

This "unique in the world" model was able to find proactive and supportive policies to face the effects of the pandemic.

Macron's solid Europeanism had already been a central argument for his victory in the 2017 French elections, and perhaps for this reason he has been accused by several deputies —with the green Yannick Jadot and the lepenista Jordan Bardella at the helm— of taking the presidential campaign to the European Parliament. Part of the fight for what Europe is against far-right populism is effectively being played out in the presidential elections in France. The inclusion that Macron proposed of the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights responds indirectly to the disconcerting appointment for the presidency of the European Parliament of a conservative and anti-abortionist like Roberta Metsola, in full offensive of the ultra-conservative government in Poland to impose anti-abortion measures in that country. .Macron would have been more convincing if his own liberal political family had voted against the appointment.

His definition of Europe as a battlefield for the rule of law undoubtedly had Poland and Hungary in his sights, but also populist leaders who want to undermine this community pillar in the midst of a dispute over the French presidency: Eric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen or Jean -Luc Mélenchon. In addition to the flag of liberal democracy as the axis of his speech, Macron promulgated the idea of ​​a Europe of defence, which has already become the great ambition of his presidency. He argued for transatlantic cooperation within the framework of the Union's strategic autonomy, but at the same time asked the Member States for the ability to "carry out their own dialogue" with Russia, alluding to the current tension in Ukraine. In the negotiation of this conflict between Washington and Moscow, Brussels and Kiev are missing, in effect,but the urgency of the crisis in Ukraine catches the European defense debate in its infancy. There is no time now. The seriousness of the situation does not allow us to wait to build a security architecture in Europe, although defensive autonomy in accordance with the rhetoric of European resistance that Macron likes remains an outstanding debt.