On an official visit to Greece on Thursday 7 September, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, defended his vision of the future of the Eurozone in a speech at the Parthenon.
Stressing the need to return to a true European democracy and European sovereignty, Macron's address reiterated his desire to reform Eurozone governance. The French President called for the Eurozone to have its own proper executive head and for a Parliament of a “more integrated” Eurozone. To achieve this, Macron is not calling for a treaty to be negotiated between the European Union and the heads of the member states, but would like to see a new approach, in which the European people are consulted on the matter. This speech in Greece echoes the one he made at the annual conference of French ambassadors on Tuesday 29 August, when he called for a reform of Eurozone governance (see EUROPE 11851).
This speech at the Parthenon also provided the French President with the opportunity to refer to the Greek crisis, a few weeks after the finalisation of the second monitoring mission of the third bailout plan (see EUROPE 11810) and the disbursement by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) of €7.7 billion to the Hellenic Republic (see EUROPE 11826). Addressing the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, in particular, Macron said that the Greek crisis had revealed a “European failure”. He also deplored the lies that have been told to the Greek people, who “have been made to suffer”.
Earlier that day, the French President went even further in a joint press conference with Tsipras, not hiding his scepticism at the presence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the negotiations on this third bailout plan. This is the symptom of a lack of confidence between European countries, he said. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)