French President Emmanuel Macron urged German authorities to commit themselves to adapting a European Union whose foundations dating back to the 1970s are no longer adapted to today's challenges, in a highly applauded speech at the Bundestag on Sunday 18 November in Berlin, "day of national mourning" for the victims of the conflicts in Germany.
"The security threat, the climate emergency, the digital upheaval, the revolution in artificial intelligence, the agricultural transformation, the migration challenge, all these things, the European Union was not designed to apprehend or confront"... Emmanuel Macron therefore calls for "overcoming our taboos and habits" so that Germany and France assume a "new responsibility" in the "construction of this modern, efficient, democratic sovereignty".
The French President has defended four projects: - build a common defence; - make the euro an international currency with its own budget (see other news); - create a European Asylum Office to harmonise our rules; - consolidate a health agency.
On the external side, this "sovereignty" means that Europe must assume "more responsibility for its defence and security and must not accept a subordinate role on the world stage".
However, Mr. Macron did not specify the outlines of the European army project approved in principle by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday 13 November (see EUROPE 12136).
On the internal side, European sovereignty is "not synonymous with unanimity or uniformity", he argued, advocating "different rhythms or circles", but "by remaining open to everyone while keeping - in mind and at heart - the interest of a united Europe".
In a barely veiled reference to Germany's hesitations since his Sorbonne speech on 26 September 2017 (see EUROPE 11870), two days after the last German federal elections, Emmanuel Macron pleaded not to "remain locked in our inertia". Especially since Briand and Stresemann, Adenauer and de Gaulle, Mitterrand and Kohl had to "overcome greater taboos, more painful stories".
Ms. Merkel praised an "extraordinary" speech that translates "exactly what I feel".
The German press was also full of praise after the French President's speech and his "declaration of love" for Germany, in the words of Der Spiegel , even if, for the German weekly newspaper, it is "quite possible that this historical speech remains misunderstood".
For now, the draft budget for the euro zone presented to the Eurogroup on Monday in Brussels remains below the amount expected by France. The draft tax on digital giants will have to wait until 2021 in the eyes of the German Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz (see EUROPE 12139).
In terms of defence, Germany remains committed to its culture of "restraint" when France advocates "rapid intervention", said the editorialist of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
And for the European elections, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel are far from playing as a team. The first attempts at outlining a future centrist movement to stand up to the Christian Democratic family of the EPP and its German candidate, Manfred Weber (see EUROPE 12134). (Original version in French by Nathalie Steiwer)