French President Emmanuel Macron suggested on Monday 9 May in Strasbourg that a “European political community” be set up to establish a framework for relations between the European Union and non-member countries located on the European continent and sharing the same fundamental values.
“The European Union, given its level of integration and ambition, cannot be the only way to structure the European continent in the short term. (...) In this geopolitical context, we must clearly find a way to think about our Europe, its unity and its stability, without weakening the intimacy built within our European Union”, said Macron.
Taking up a concept put forward by one of his predecessors, François Mitterrand, at the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, the French President detailed his vision of a “European political community”. Such an organisation would allow “democratic European nations adhering to our values to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation in energy, transport, infrastructure investment, movement of people, especially young people”, he said.
He added: “It is a way to anchor these countries in Europe, to increase coordination with the EU, without interfering with other plans”.
Joining this community would not necessarily predetermine that a country would join the EU in the future and a country like the UK that has left the EU could even be part of it. Speaking to the press, Mr Macron cited the Western Balkan countries, which have not yet started a formal EU accession process.
The President did not say how this community would interact with other existing organisations, such as the Council of Europe, from which Russia was excluded in March following the Russian invasion of Ukraine (see EUROPE 12912/4). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)