REPLAY: French President Macron's speech on the EU

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Transcript

00:00:00 Emmanuel Macron is about to make his big speech on Europe. We can cross live to him now. Let's listen to him

00:00:04 Prime Minister

00:00:08 European Commissioner

00:00:11 members of Parliament

00:00:13 European members of Parliament

00:00:16 Army

00:00:22 Prefects of different regions mayor vice-chancellor

00:00:28 Ambassadors ladies and gentlemen

00:00:31 Seven years after the

00:00:35 speech of at the Sorbonne

00:00:38 I wanted to come back to this same place so we could speak about what we have accomplished and to speak about our future our

00:00:44 European future but by its very definition

00:00:47 The future of France these are two things that cannot be separated in

00:00:54 2017 I

00:00:56 said that our Europe often couldn't

00:00:59 Find solutions maybe because for certain lassitude or complacency and that was why it was often attacked

00:01:07 Therefore we want to create a more united sovereign democratic Europe

00:01:14 more united so that we can face up to other

00:01:18 challenges from elsewhere

00:01:21 Make sure that we do not have other lifestyles and values imposed upon us

00:01:27 Indeed liberal democracy is born here in Europe and this is a place where people decide things for themselves

00:01:35 So I said that seven years ago and here we are

00:01:41 But we have not achieved everything we wanted to achieve

00:01:44 And we must be lucid about this

00:01:50 If we wanted our Europe to become more democratic we can say that we haven't made as much

00:01:56 Progress as we might have wanted to maybe have been changes to some of our treaties and rules

00:02:02 Different

00:02:04 innovations in these areas and there have been many reflections on all of this but we haven't

00:02:09 Necessarily made the progress that we should have in this area

00:02:12 However, we have made some progress when it comes to becoming more united and more sovereign

00:02:18 Europe has faced many crises unprecedented crises Brexit, of course

00:02:23 And indeed we can see today

00:02:31 That nobody wanting to leave Europe or the euro now

00:02:37 We've also had the war in Ukraine and tragic scenes on a daily basis

00:02:46 And of course existential existential risks on our continent, however, despite all of this

00:02:53 Context that has always seen

00:02:57 major changes when it comes to environmental and technological issues

00:03:02 And these are things that completely change the way that we live and the way that we produce

00:03:06 We have been able to move forward

00:03:10 And indeed there was a concept that seven years ago may have

00:03:16 Seemed quite French this idea of sovereignty

00:03:19 but this is something that has now become a European concept and

00:03:23 despite all of these crises

00:03:26 It's rare to have seen Europe advance so much in such little time this is the fruit of our work

00:03:34 And this is through certain steps

00:03:37 Some historic steps that I believe that we have taken first of all

00:03:44 financial unity in order to overcome the kovat and

00:03:48 pandemic this was not a given

00:03:51 even before the

00:03:54 before Kovat arrived

00:03:56 when we spoke about this before hand many people said which is a great French idea, but it will never be and

00:04:02 It will never be a reality. We were able to set up a

00:04:06 Franco German solution very soon after the pandemic broke out and we were able to free up billions of euros

00:04:14 to fight against Kovat

00:04:16 Indeed

00:04:19 Schultz who was a financial minister now has become Chancellor

00:04:23 Spoke about how difficult this was going to be. However, this was a European choice

00:04:30 And we've seen this in all of our different regions all of our different towns. We've seen the direct consequences

00:04:36 We have been able to

00:04:40 Put forward solutions for all kinds of companies of all sizes big and small

00:04:45 The second major choice was that of strategic unity

00:04:53 When it comes to certain issues that before that were solely national issues health, for example

00:05:00 Commissioner Breton is here and he may remember

00:05:06 Setting up this policy that wasn't actually foreseen in any of our texts

00:05:11 producing European

00:05:13 Vaccines making sure that we have enough supplies and that we can redistribute them all over Europe. This is something that we did

00:05:20 and if we were able to

00:05:22 vaccine people from the start of

00:05:26 2021 it was because of this European policy and this was something that wasn't even foreseen in the text of

00:05:33 the European Union

00:05:36 We were able to produce

00:05:38 vaccines on French soil and she's also due to European

00:05:43 unity

00:05:46 When it comes to energy as well who would have thought we would have been able to move away from our dependence on hydrocarb

00:05:52 Russian hydrocarbons

00:05:54 And also when it comes to defense

00:05:56 in the first days of the

00:06:01 War in Ukraine, we were able to take actions at the very beginning of that particular

00:06:06 We have been able to have greater technological and industrial sovereignty

00:06:14 There is no other area in the world other than Europe

00:06:19 that would

00:06:22 Believe it needed to depend on anyone else but itself

00:06:24 And in 2018

00:06:29 We were partnership with Germany to support our battery sector

00:06:34 We have also alongside Germany been able to set up the tank of the future

00:06:40 Initiative and combat systems for the future and also when it comes to submarines as well

00:06:48 However as soon as the pandemic broke out and from the very first weeks and the first weeks of the war in Ukraine

00:06:57 During the Versailles summit

00:06:59 We were able to set up a real strategy an autonomous strategy

00:07:05 And this was a choice

00:07:10 to stop

00:07:13 having certain other dependencies in certain sectors such as when it comes to semiconductors a

00:07:18 policy was put in place

00:07:21 investments were made and

00:07:23 We were able to

00:07:25 reshore companies

00:07:28 Something that we hadn't seen before that in certain sectors

00:07:31 We can accuse Europe of a certain naivety beforehand

00:07:36 when it comes to technology

00:07:39 And we were able to change some of our commercial practices and

00:07:44 We are only let's say halfway along this particular with long stick to objective

00:07:54 The fourth issue is that we were able to think about and plan for some of the major challenges of Europe

00:08:01 We've heard many criticisms of the Green Deal

00:08:04 Excuse my Anglicism there

00:08:08 But Europe is the only

00:08:13 Political space in the world that was actually prepared for this transition putting in place directives for the digital

00:08:21 sector so that we can actually regulate content and markets and also put in place a text that allows us to

00:08:28 Have milestones when it comes to our energy transition

00:08:33 So that we can also foresee our international obligations

00:08:37 So we have actually set up a trance made a transparent choice

00:08:42 And now we need to make sure that all of this can actually be done on the ground in different countries of Europe

00:08:48 However, we have been able to set up a European schedule for this transition

00:08:53 elsewhere in the rest of the world

00:08:56 We see that superpowers have making some actions, but they haven't actually been able to explain how they're going to respect their commitments

00:09:03 So

00:09:07 We can now see these as stable objectives and I will speak later

00:09:12 How we can make all of this compatible with growth?

00:09:16 for employment and industrial and progress a fifth achievement

00:09:21 Is it Europe has been able to reaffirm existence of its borders?

00:09:28 Europe is based on free movement of people and of goods and so however

00:09:34 Sometimes we've been able to we may have neglected our external borders

00:09:38 Not as

00:09:42 watertight

00:09:44 borders, let's just say that understanding that

00:09:46 These catch these borders need to be taken into account

00:09:50 And there have been some divisions over ten years. We have seen divisions that have stopped us from moving forward in these areas

00:09:57 Indeed during the French presidency

00:10:01 of the European we saw that the

00:10:05 Has come out of that a policy on

00:10:10 Asylum and immigration my thank all of those who made that possible and this is the first time allowing us to put in place

00:10:16 obligatory procedures

00:10:18 when it comes to people entering and

00:10:22 Europe for our external borders

00:10:24 and

00:10:27 Showing how we can return people who shouldn't be on our soil to their countries

00:10:32 But also being able to better welcome those who should

00:10:34 have access to

00:10:37 Europe

00:10:39 And

00:10:40 We have been able to think about our neighbor

00:10:44 the European neighborhood

00:10:47 After the Russian aggression we see that Moldova and Ukraine have been seen as part of our European family

00:10:55 And we've also be able to send out a strong message to the Western Balkans

00:10:59 We are now able to

00:11:05 Clearly speak to these countries about the kind of reforms that need to be made so they can integrate Europe

00:11:11 Union can only actually enlarge if we take necessary reforms also within

00:11:21 So these are actions have been taken at a European scale

00:11:26 Initiative that was taken in May

00:11:30 2022 it goes beyond the

00:11:34 Looking only at the 27 countries of the European Union

00:11:37 We are spoken with the United Kingdom with Norway and with countries in the Balkans

00:11:44 so that we can

00:11:46 really speak about

00:11:48 having concrete cooperation from a geographical point of view

00:11:53 since

00:11:55 2017 all of this has been possible due to

00:11:58 Many of you in this room being elected as members of Parliament

00:12:02 I would like to thank all the different ministers successive ministers who work has

00:12:08 Helped helped us especially during the French presidency in the first half of 2022

00:12:15 To be able to carry these ambitions

00:12:17 European members of Parliament who carry out the work of the

00:12:22 Parliament and help feed into the work of the Commission

00:12:27 The

00:12:29 Indeed

00:12:32 This concept of sovereignty that before perhaps seems strange for Europe has become a reality

00:12:38 I mean students over the last seven years

00:12:42 We have perhaps done this through different kinds of methods that a place perhaps not a method

00:12:48 That is the Brussels method if I if you allow me we've been able to expand this to all of the European capitals

00:12:56 And we've also been able to build bridges with Germany for example with the extra

00:13:03 Agreement with Italy with Spain as well in Barcelona and there will be new treaties signed even tomorrow

00:13:12 We have been able to build bridges again with

00:13:19 countries in Central and Eastern Europe

00:13:23 As a medium enough

00:13:25 And we are trying to

00:13:28 Work on multiple in multiple geographical areas

00:13:33 Making sure that together we can

00:13:38 Progress of the European sovereignty we might have

00:13:52 been

00:13:54 Behind the progress of history, but we did react and if we hadn't a situation would be really

00:14:01 Dramatic we had a financial situation where we were divided and we were not sovereign

00:14:07 So it took us four or five years to sort this out

00:14:12 but within a year we managed like

00:14:16 the United States and the crisis that we've been going through and we did react quickly and

00:14:22 In a united way means that we are where we are today

00:14:27 But is it enough?

00:14:30 Can I really come to you with?

00:14:33 Very satisfied speech

00:14:38 I am lucid and honest and the battle is not yet won

00:14:47 The horizon of the next decade

00:14:51 We must view

00:14:54 there's an enormous risk of

00:14:56 being

00:14:59 made fragile and

00:15:01 demoted because we're in a world of acceleration of the

00:15:07 Transformation my message is simple as Paul Valéry

00:15:10 said after the first world war that our civilizations were

00:15:16 mortal

00:15:18 That we had to be lucid well Europe is mortal

00:15:24 It can die and

00:15:27 It only depends on our choices

00:15:31 These choices have to be made now

00:15:35 Today that

00:15:39 peace

00:15:42 Our choices because we need a security we need

00:15:47 Big changes we have

00:15:51 artificial intelligence we have decarbonation we have lots of

00:15:56 Crucial themes where we have to decide now and decide whether Europe is going to be an innovative

00:16:04 research

00:16:06 continent or not

00:16:10 The attacks against liberal democracies against our values

00:16:15 And I'm saying this in this particular forum of knowledge

00:16:21 it's the top of the cream of European civilization with the notions of

00:16:27 liberty justice and

00:16:30 It's now that it's at stake

00:16:33 We are at a point of divide

00:16:37 Where we know that Europe is mortal and it depends upon us

00:16:43 And to explain how serious the matter is

00:16:48 First

00:16:51 We don't have the proper weapons against the risks

00:16:55 In spite of everything I did and we did and that I've mentioned we

00:17:00 Have a lot at stake

00:17:04 We've woken up we've doubled our defense budgets France has

00:17:08 with the second programming

00:17:11 Law, but this awakening is still rather slow. There's

00:17:16 an acceleration in the world

00:17:19 there's the Chinese American tension which led to an escalation of

00:17:26 Technological innovation and armament budgets we have

00:17:33 regional powers that are increasing their action and their power Iran Russia and

00:17:40 Europe is in a situation of being

00:17:43 cornered

00:17:46 on all its

00:17:48 borders and

00:17:50 We're reacting too slowly

00:17:52 Facing the reality of all those movements in a context where

00:18:01 Whichever way you look at it the United States have two priorities

00:18:05 themselves

00:18:08 And the Chinese matter secondly and Europe is far behind. It's not a priority for their

00:18:14 geopolitical view

00:18:17 however, strong alliances

00:18:19 And however, they are committed on the Ukrainian front so we

00:18:29 Used to buy from Russia from China and delegate our security to the States. Well, this is over

00:18:36 There are deep changes and we need to

00:18:40 Move to a different scale because the rules have changed the facts have changed

00:18:46 War is on the European territory and it's carried out by someone who has in the nuclear power

00:18:54 Iran is about to have nuclear power and that's also a big game-changer

00:18:58 Second change

00:19:03 Economically our model is no longer viable

00:19:06 We want to have everything but it's not possible

00:19:11 we want to have a good social model and

00:19:16 We have the best regime for solidarity in the world. We want a decarbonated climate

00:19:23 but we're the only

00:19:25 Territory who took some rules in order to reach decarbonation

00:19:30 we want a trade system, which is good for us and

00:19:34 But there are other people who are changing the rules of the game. There's subsidies in China in the States

00:19:40 we can't

00:19:43 Have a

00:19:46 high

00:19:48 Environmental and social standards invest less than our competitors and have naive

00:19:53 Commercial policies and hope that all this will go on

00:19:57 It won't

00:19:59 The risk is that Europe drops behind and

00:20:04 This risk is already starting to be visible

00:20:07 in spite of all our efforts the

00:20:10 GDP

00:20:14 Has increased between 73 and

00:20:18 Now

00:20:20 by

00:20:21 60% whereas only 22%

00:20:23 This is before

00:20:27 they decided to implement the reduction act and

00:20:31 Start subsidizing their industries

00:20:35 Whereas we're working on our green technologies as we have this challenge we have to

00:20:46 revise our model

00:20:48 Because the rules of the game have changed and

00:20:52 They've changed a lot because the first two leading powers have decided that they're not going to

00:20:59 Follow the rules of international trade anymore, and that's a very simple

00:21:05 For 20 years, we believed

00:21:08 Okay, let's take China into

00:21:11 the World Trade Organization and

00:21:15 They follow the same rules. We don't follow them

00:21:18 it's like if the first world economy had suddenly decided to just shed all those rules and

00:21:24 So we can't hold our objectives and the risk is of course that we get poorer and

00:21:33 that would be really

00:21:36 terrible for the

00:21:38 Continent which has the best social model therefore the most expensive and

00:21:44 the result is that

00:21:46 We are in a dramatic moment

00:21:50 We have battles of values which are more and more difficult to understand and to lead for a long time

00:21:56 We thought our model was the best and democracy human rights soft power in Europe that

00:22:03 Rules it all but the model even if it's attractive is losing a lot of its

00:22:12 weight and our liberal democracy is

00:22:15 Undermined by criticism and we are vulnerable

00:22:20 Everywhere in Europe our values our cultures

00:22:26 Threatened because the very basis of these models are

00:22:35 challenged

00:22:37 There's authoritarian

00:22:39 models that are

00:22:41 more attractive

00:22:42 there's other

00:22:44 views and everywhere where we see our children and

00:22:49 adolescents being influenced by the American or the Asian models

00:22:55 I'll get back to some of these models are

00:23:00 Europe is therefore more and more

00:23:04 Challenged its attractiveness is

00:23:10 No longer obvious and

00:23:13 its power is also

00:23:17 Lesser it can't write history anymore

00:23:22 and it's

00:23:24 Following history has written elsewhere

00:23:27 So we have a geopolitical

00:23:32 View there's the cultural views

00:23:39 which

00:23:41 Lead us to reconsider the question of sovereignty and put it

00:23:48 More on the forefront, but what is sovereignty when I told you before Europe could die

00:23:55 We have to

00:23:58 Respond to those challenges of history and the solution is in our ability

00:24:04 to react and to

00:24:08 Realize that the rules of the game are totally different now and that we need to take massive strategic decisions and

00:24:15 accept the change of paradigms and

00:24:19 Underneath to

00:24:24 Think in terms of power humanity

00:24:28 Prosperity and I think those are three

00:24:38 Leading ideas which would give content to the European idea to the principles to make Europe something

00:24:45 That's not going to disappear. We need a political

00:24:48 project in the world that is more and more threatened, so let's start with power a

00:24:55 Powerful Europe would is a power Europe that would be respected that can

00:25:04 Guarantee its own security that has borders that it protects that knows about the risks

00:25:10 Which is it's exposed to and is getting ready against this risk. So for that we need to

00:25:18 Forget about being a strategic minority state is state

00:25:23 before

00:25:26 Implicitly we were conceived in that way. There are a lot of European countries

00:25:31 Who had accepted at the end of the Second World War?

00:25:33 It was even sometimes imposed to them to depend on other states for their security

00:25:39 We didn't want some countries to rearm too quickly

00:25:42 So strategically everything in our world had been delegated

00:25:46 we had delegated our energy to Russia our security for several of our European partners depended on the States and

00:25:54 Trade for China was given over to China and now we have to get

00:26:00 All those things back get get a grip on them and for defense to start with defense

00:26:07 the main

00:26:09 thing is they were in Ukraine and it's the basic

00:26:15 The basic condition for our security is for Russia not to win

00:26:21 It's quite indispensable that's why we were right from the beginning to sanction Russia

00:26:29 And help the Ukrainians and we should go on doing so

00:26:33 We're lucky that the Americans are on our side for this

00:26:37 We must try and increase our help

00:26:43 And I totally

00:26:47 take my responsibility as concerning the

00:26:51 26th of February when I introduced a notion of

00:26:57 Strategic

00:26:59 Doubt because we're in a situation where we're not quite sure about the European limits

00:27:05 why should others others

00:27:08 continents tell us where limits are if

00:27:10 Ukraine is the condition of our security and if in Ukraine it's more than a question of the territorial

00:27:19 The sovereignty of that country. It's a question of the security of Europe

00:27:24 So are we prepared for that?

00:27:27 No

00:27:28 we have to become credible and we have to be present and

00:27:33 Act as a force of deterrence and this involves nuclear forces and

00:27:41 the first

00:27:44 face of the

00:27:46 Geopolitical situation with which Europe has to live now is that it's a deep change

00:27:54 as regards our security the most recent events the

00:27:58 air defense missiles the deep

00:28:02 Attacking weapons

00:28:06 signs that

00:28:08 the

00:28:10 Adversaries have no inhibitions and we can see that and then it's a new paradigm

00:28:15 We need a credible sort of defense for the European continent

00:28:23 Of course

00:28:25 The pillar that we are building within NATO that we are trying to build

00:28:30 We've been trying to build over these last few years is absolutely essential

00:28:35 However

00:28:38 We need to make sure that we have credible defense in Europe

00:28:43 That's the condition that needs to exist so that we can have a credible framework

00:28:47 Europe needs to be able to protect what is dear to it alongside its allies anyone who wants to stand by us

00:28:54 or alone if necessary

00:28:56 Do we need to have an anti-missile shield the anti-missile system maybe

00:29:03 What will our defense

00:29:08 Capabilities be

00:29:11 We need to work on how we would defend ourselves

00:29:14 And when we have a neighbor in country that has become aggressive and that seems to have no limits and that has ballistic

00:29:21 ballistic missiles

00:29:23 It's been innovating a lot when it comes to the technology and the range of these missiles

00:29:30 Well, we see that we absolutely

00:29:33 Have to set up this strategic concept of credible defense in Europe. We have to do it on our own

00:29:43 That's why in the coming months I invite all of our

00:29:47 Stakeholders to build this European defense system and then we need to actually look at the pertinence

00:29:55 anti-missiles

00:29:58 The range of our missiles etc

00:30:02 We need to be able to have the most

00:30:09 We have an army that is perhaps the biggest the most efficient

00:30:13 That has nuclear capabilities

00:30:17 We know that nuclear defense is something that is absolutely

00:30:21 vital for France and therefore vital for Europe -

00:30:25 It's thanks to this credible defense system that we will be able to

00:30:31 actually have

00:30:33 security guarantees that all of our partners are

00:30:38 Expecting

00:30:40 This will also help us to set up a common security framework

00:30:46 And this will help us in the future

00:30:51 to build

00:30:53 strong ties later with

00:30:55 countries

00:30:58 neighboring Russia

00:31:00 So this is a real paradigm shift

00:31:02 We have to create between the different European armies real common strategy

00:31:08 And therefore we need to move forward with the European

00:31:13 intervention initiative that I proposed in 2017

00:31:17 Have many members that joined this initiative we'd be able to set up different operations in the Sarkhel for example

00:31:26 with the task force that we had there and this was the

00:31:29 Framework that allowed us to actually take unprecedented actions in the Red Sea area

00:31:38 Therefore in order to build these kinds of coalitions we to have a common culture

00:31:43 That's why we need to have a regional European

00:31:47 defense

00:31:50 Framework in the Mediterranean for example even in the Arctic

00:31:54 We also need to set up a military academy a European military academy so that we can train future

00:32:05 members of our military services

00:32:09 When we are setting our strategic compass

00:32:12 We need to make sure that we can have a rapid response force

00:32:19 So we can mobilize up to five

00:32:23 Thousand soldiers to help in any regions where Europeans may be under threat

00:32:29 We have to invest

00:32:35 In new areas where conflicts may arise

00:32:38 We see that Russia is waging a hybrid

00:32:42 We have to protect our infrastructure

00:32:46 transport systems hospital systems telecommunications systems

00:32:51 electricity systems we also need to make sure that we have a

00:32:55 strong cyber security and cyber defense system in Europe

00:33:02 While trying to modernize in our own

00:33:05 armies

00:33:08 Modernizing our armies. It's a perfect opportunity to

00:33:11 pull our

00:33:14 Efforts so we can have a common strategy

00:33:17 So a paradigm shift

00:33:23 Concrete initiatives set up together

00:33:27 We already have frameworks for this

00:33:31 We have unprecedented partnerships

00:33:33 The British who are natural allies and we have treaties

00:33:39 Through Lancaster house and these give us a solid foundations for partnerships

00:33:44 But we have to strengthen this because Brexit hasn't affected this

00:33:48 partnership and perhaps why not enlarge these partnerships to others and

00:33:53 The political community in Europe is surely the best place for building this new

00:34:01 Defense system and approach

00:34:03 We need to make sure that we can build this common security

00:34:11 However, we can't speak about defense about the defense industry

00:34:17 We have to transform the kind of

00:34:22 Just in time emergency measures set up for Ukraine into something more long-term

00:34:28 Of course, it will be long because we are suffering from decades of under investment in this area

00:34:36 And we need to make sure that the dividends of in fact the dividends of peace

00:34:40 Perhaps meant that we have not invested in this area when we should have and that's why we depend so heavily on

00:34:49 external actors

00:34:52 So we need to make sure that we produce ourselves need to produce more

00:34:55 Here in Europe. It's absolutely fundamental

00:34:59 That's why

00:35:04 That we need to make sure that there are European for example European tanks as a European tank project

00:35:13 Now you see that our defense budget 75% of it is actually used to buy

00:35:23 Material that comes from outside of

00:35:25 We believe it's better to buy American or buy Korean

00:35:29 How are we going to be able to have our common defense system if we don't actually produce

00:35:37 Weapons

00:35:40 The materials that we need for defense here in Europe

00:35:43 So we need to make sure there's a European preference

00:35:47 Need to make sure that we can have European industries in this area

00:35:51 We need the support of the European Investment Bank and we need more

00:35:56 financing and

00:35:58 innovative

00:36:00 Ideas like the European footprint as put forward

00:36:04 As a solution we to be able to produce more quickly need to produce more it needs to be European

00:36:15 If we have a strong defensive system that's gonna be a wonderful

00:36:20 Opportunity for us

00:36:23 What we've been doing in recent years for example some of our fighter jets

00:36:28 Who were the four?

00:36:31 Seven years ago that this this Rafale fighter jet would be at the very heart of use defense

00:36:40 So me too, so let me develop common standards here in Europe because one of the issues is that we are still very divided

00:36:47 when it comes to our

00:36:49 Industries in this area

00:36:53 Fragmentation is a weakness for us

00:36:56 We've seen this during this war

00:36:58 even between Europeans we

00:37:01 understood that our missiles

00:37:03 Vary too much our firepower in general vary

00:37:09 Largely from one country to another

00:37:11 So we need to make sure there's a certain

00:37:13 standardization of our materials

00:37:17 Making sure that there is a real

00:37:19 Industrial policy when it comes to defense. This is something that is absolutely vital

00:37:24 You will have understood

00:37:27 It's not just about moving on to a new step

00:37:30 But really a paradigm shift when it comes to defense

00:37:35 when it comes to

00:37:37 Strategies when it comes to a new common framework

00:37:41 However this strong Europe when it comes to defense

00:37:47 Will also depend on diplomacy

00:37:50 And all member states can add their brick to that particular war

00:37:56 We need to make sure that there is greater European consistency and coherence

00:38:01 cohesion

00:38:05 Complement uses as a complement to our defensive

00:38:08 Ambitions need to make sure that we can build partnerships with third countries. That is to say building a Europe that can show

00:38:18 It's never going to be let's say the lapdog of the United States

00:38:24 And know how to speak with all of the other regions of the world

00:38:27 emerging regions

00:38:30 Excuse me, Africa Latin America not only with trade relations, but also with reciprocal real reciprocal partnerships

00:38:38 this is what we've wanted we wanted to do with the

00:38:41 in the first half of 2022 and with an Africa summit and also

00:38:47 With the Pacific region as well

00:38:50 We want to be a region that speaks to the rest of the world and we do not want to find ourselves in

00:38:56 This bipolar tent these bipolar tensions that we see too much in other areas

00:39:02 Building bridges with Africa and with Latin America

00:39:07 Shows that Europe is not just a little corner of the West

00:39:12 But it's a continent that thinks about its place in the world. We refuse

00:39:17 confrontations between different continents

00:39:21 And we want to build bridges with other continents is absolutely key

00:39:25 When it comes to education health

00:39:27 Climate change fighting against poverty. We have to be able to speak with one voice

00:39:32 Like we did with the pact for the people and the planet and to show that there are never double standards in Europe

00:39:39 And to show that even there we are autonomous

00:39:44 Powerful Europe is also a Europe that can look after its own borders. I spoke about the

00:39:53 Asylum and immigration pact, which is a major step forward

00:39:56 However, we all know that this question of immigration and borders is something that shakes all of our countries

00:40:03 It's even more important for France

00:40:06 Because

00:40:08 France no

00:40:10 Sorry for using this technical term

00:40:12 It is a sick country of secondary movement. Let's say that is to say that

00:40:18 The immigrants do not arrive perhaps directly in France, but they transit through other countries to arrive to France

00:40:25 so France perhaps more than others needs to have good cooperation and a good and good policies because

00:40:33 Immigration starts at the borders of Europe and not just at the borders of France. We are a country where

00:40:41 men women come to our country because they are escaping misery and tragedy sometimes they

00:40:48 are at the hands or the mercy of people traffickers

00:40:52 Sometimes they are freedom fighters, but they enter Europe through Greece through Spain through the Balkans

00:41:01 And so here perhaps here more than anywhere else. We need to have strong cooperation

00:41:07 That is why after this

00:41:10 Pact we have to implement it

00:41:15 For example registering and monitoring immigrants and if need be

00:41:20 Deporting

00:41:24 These are all things that need to be taken into account

00:41:26 into account

00:41:28 for all of the men and women who arrive in our

00:41:32 continent, but

00:41:35 illegitimately

00:41:37 We need a European response and real coordination

00:41:42 We will need to work more with countries of origin and transit countries

00:41:47 And we need to fight relentlessly against people traffickers and their networks

00:41:53 Indeed it's within this Schengen area. We need to build these policies. I'm not speaking about a naive policy

00:42:02 we can't

00:42:04 Ignore the

00:42:08 Effectiveness of some of our policies today, but I also do not believe in this model that some people

00:42:14 want to put in place which means that you go and look for a third country for example in Africa and

00:42:21 Send our immigrants there

00:42:25 This is a betrayal of our values and it will just

00:42:30 Lead us down the path of new dependencies on other third countries

00:42:37 We need to make sure that we can condition our visas and our preferences with

00:42:43 When it comes to fair countries and make sure we work with them

00:42:47 But the problem is that today we still have divisions on this

00:42:53 When it comes to

00:42:56 Deporting illegal immigrants that needs to be something is very clear when it comes to our immigration policies and our visa policies

00:43:03 We also need new operational partnerships that we can fight against migrant trafficking people trafficking

00:43:10 Frontex

00:43:14 You know has 10,000 members, but we need to go even further than that

00:43:18 I continue to believe in frontex and these border services even despite some of the criticisms launched at them sometimes

00:43:28 To protect its citizens Europe must also fight against networks which go beyond any border and

00:43:35 This has to be consistent within Europe. It's not just immigration. There's terrorism. There's organized crime. There's drugs

00:43:43 There's a hate online. There are many topics where we need to act with a more

00:43:50 European manner and I think Schengen has to be much stronger. We need a real security

00:43:58 council within our borders

00:44:00 For euro we have a common good and we managed to build

00:44:05 Political form that was decided

00:44:11 intergovernmentally and became credible

00:44:14 So why can't we do it for our borders?

00:44:17 It's also a common good and if all countries were to decide to go that way on

00:44:23 immigration on

00:44:25 fighting terrorism and organized crime and

00:44:29 Cybercriminality we need to take the decisions together. We need a much more efficient form of governance in the framework of Schengen

00:44:38 We need to go further in the exchange of information

00:44:41 to

00:44:44 Have exchanges about movements of terrorists about radicalization. We need a real

00:44:50 policy about

00:44:53 terrorist content being removed

00:44:55 haters

00:44:58 speeches to be removed from the platforms and

00:45:01 for the time being the platforms don't

00:45:04 Fulfill their promises

00:45:08 We need to do this at European level and that's the way we'll be able to have an efficient

00:45:16 policy against

00:45:18 organized crime and drugs and today the most exposed countries are those that have big harbors are now an entry point and

00:45:26 Some of them thought that being liberal or was the best solution, but it hasn't worked that way

00:45:32 We need a European approach to these topics

00:45:37 You

00:45:41 Have understood me the

00:45:43 Europe of power is

00:45:46 for defense for protection of our borders it needs a

00:45:50 basic change of

00:45:53 approaches if we want to resist the new world of violence of

00:46:00 Inhibition

00:46:03 We need to adapt and we need some better strategic concepts and more means

00:46:09 We need to rebuild Europe a strong Europe

00:46:14 second key element to answer the

00:46:17 questions is that of prosperity and

00:46:21 we

00:46:23 if we want to be sovereign we need to build a new model which will involve growth and

00:46:30 Production

00:46:33 You don't have any

00:46:35 Powerful organization which doesn't have

00:46:39 resources and an economic model

00:46:45 There's no social model just on its own if you haven't got the money to

00:46:50 Fuel the systems

00:46:54 In a world of free

00:47:00 liberal trade

00:47:03 The rules were different. We thought we had an unlimited supply of raw materials

00:47:08 Climate change was not something we thought of

00:47:12 There were rules which were easier to follow

00:47:15 but recently and in a few years everything

00:47:19 changed

00:47:22 raw materials are

00:47:24 scarce

00:47:26 Energy as well fossil fuels, of course, we are dependent country to the United States of others

00:47:33 We need critical

00:47:35 substances and China has already started securing its resources its sources and

00:47:42 So the rules are changing completely

00:47:44 We have clear objectives we want to produce more riches more wealth

00:47:52 to improve

00:47:55 Level of life. We want everybody to have a job. We everybody all

00:47:59 Citizens want to live better

00:48:02 we want to decarbonate our economy and

00:48:08 Maintain biodiversity and the climate protect the climate we want to protect our strategic production chains

00:48:16 We want to keep an open economy because we want to go on being the big economic power that we are

00:48:21 So those are clear objectives, but we're

00:48:24 Not anywhere near them and with the way we are operating now, we'll never make it

00:48:31 We'll never reach those objectives because we are

00:48:35 Of course compared to the way the world is going

00:48:38 We have too much regulation

00:48:42 Not enough investment. We're too open and we don't defend ourselves

00:48:46 That's a reality

00:48:50 So we need to build a new form of

00:48:56 Progress towards growth and prosperity

00:49:02 We have policies for competition for trade for budgets, but they're not going to cut it

00:49:09 We need a simple adjustment

00:49:13 It's very simple we get to lose the race and I can see the

00:49:19 Different courses on which Europe and the United States are

00:49:26 the real

00:49:29 Question is where are the green technologies? Where are the IA?

00:49:33 capacities in the five to ten next years things are going to be crucial and

00:49:42 we're at a

00:49:45 Turning point in history

00:49:47 We need to stop over regulation

00:49:50 Increase our investment change our rules and better protect our interests. Those are our

00:49:58 Objectives and this prosperity pact is what we need to build

00:50:02 There's some basic bricks for this building first we have to produce more and greener and a

00:50:12 Decarbonated production is a great

00:50:15 Opportunity for industries in Europe. It's already started happening with

00:50:21 semiconductors hydrogen

00:50:24 we've

00:50:25 Rebuilt some sectors of the industry so it doesn't mean to say that

00:50:30 growth is the opposite of decarbonation if we

00:50:34 manage to

00:50:36 Get on board on the new areas of investment

00:50:40 It isn't we are almost

00:50:43 capable of supplying all our batteries that we need in Europe and

00:50:49 By 2050 we will have achieved that we are good and semi conduct the conducers and

00:50:56 the results for

00:50:59 Job the job situation between Dunkirk and Foss in the south. We've managed to reduce our dependency and

00:51:08 Reindustrialization

00:51:12 With green objectives is something we can do and that way we will be

00:51:18 the least polluting continent will we reach the point of zero plastic and

00:51:24 Decarbonation if we go that way and but we need another condition, which is

00:51:30 Deregulation less regulations and we

00:51:38 Simplification this is

00:51:42 We had 27 systems of rules before now. We've got one in certain areas and

00:51:48 the Nicoletta has suggested

00:51:50 to keep going and

00:51:53 offer this simplification to our companies in favor of that we can

00:51:58 certainly

00:52:00 follow the path of the single market for other areas and

00:52:06 extended to telecommunications etc. And we've got to

00:52:11 Get out of this fragmented system. We have to be more innovative

00:52:16 Reduce the transaction costs have more

00:52:18 innovative

00:52:21 capability and

00:52:23 That is the transition we are seeking for and we need a better competition

00:52:30 Activity compared to be more competitive we need to make new investments

00:52:38 on the front of the 27 but

00:52:41 Simplification is not just a question of single market. It's also lifting some of the rules which make

00:52:47 Create borders between our 27 countries there are some

00:52:56 Domestic market and our 450 million consumers is a great asset

00:53:07 Compared to the States, but we need to develop it. We need to stop the complication of Europe. We've built

00:53:15 Good regulations it gave us some milestones

00:53:19 But we also sometimes went a bit too far in the level of detail. Sometimes we stop some of the

00:53:27 Economic

00:53:30 actors to

00:53:32 work in

00:53:33 to work long term

00:53:35 we must

00:53:37 be courageous and lighten some of the

00:53:40 Complications for our small and medium-sized businesses. We have to take into account their constraints

00:53:48 When we create new standards take their concerns into account. We must make things more

00:53:55 proportional and we

00:53:58 have big ambitions and also more trust and less text and also

00:54:03 revise our point of view on

00:54:05 Subsidiarity that means give a country's a given flexibility

00:54:11 And in the next few years we

00:54:16 hope to have several waves of simplification and it doesn't mean to say we

00:54:23 drop our large ambitions, but we can simplify the

00:54:28 implementation and

00:54:30 better accompany our

00:54:33 economic

00:54:35 partners. We also need acceleration of the industrial policy.

00:54:41 This was

00:54:43 Industrial policy was not a word one wanted to use seven years ago, but now

00:54:50 we're

00:54:52 coming back to

00:54:54 this concept because it's the possibility of producing anywhere on the European territory and

00:55:01 It means

00:55:03 Not be

00:55:08 internally competitive but work together because

00:55:12 the

00:55:14 cohesion policy didn't even compensate the

00:55:17 imbalances which the

00:55:19 competition had brought around. So an industrial policy is

00:55:25 important for our prosperity and

00:55:29 it's important for the

00:55:32 development of the European territories.

00:55:36 We had the we have

00:55:41 since Prague

00:55:44 2022 when Chancellor Schultz gave a speech we have the Versailles strategy, which is the Franco-German

00:55:51 Relationship and for the industrial

00:55:58 policy we've

00:56:00 worked on clean tech and other aims and we want to have

00:56:06 more production

00:56:09 more

00:56:10 investment on European territory.

00:56:13 We've done it for strategic

00:56:16 areas. We want to do it. We did it for

00:56:19 semiconductors for health where our European policy

00:56:25 brought a quick reaction to a need at the moment because

00:56:29 when we have a

00:56:32 shortage of a given drug it's by

00:56:36 acting together that we overcame it and this is the good way and

00:56:41 we must continue to

00:56:44 consolidate the industrial policy. It's a method that has worked. We have to extend it to strategic areas for tomorrow. We

00:56:53 don't want to depend on anyone and

00:56:56 we want to become world leaders in five emerging sectors.

00:57:02 Artificial intelligence, we want to invest massively on the

00:57:08 processing capability. We have 3% of the

00:57:15 processing capability, but we have a lot to catch up. We want to reach at least 20% in 2030.

00:57:24 Quantic data processing,

00:57:26 space, Arianesis needs to be reinforced. Arianesis is the

00:57:32 condition of the European access to space. It's absolutely necessary and beyond the new space and the new

00:57:40 manned

00:57:43 projects, new technologies, new energies,

00:57:47 the new

00:57:50 reactors such as fusion. The European Union needs

00:57:54 to adopt financial plans for these five strategic areas and for that we need the proper instruments. We need

00:58:01 to invest together. We

00:58:04 need to

00:58:07 design good instruments. We've already got a few such as the

00:58:12 common interest projects

00:58:15 which

00:58:18 industrialists know. They really helped in 2018 with Germany. We decided to move forward,

00:58:24 but we need to synchronize better

00:58:27 post

00:58:29 inflation reduction act.

00:58:31 It doesn't work with the Chinese investments. We're too slow and too

00:58:37 wobbly and we

00:58:40 need to give visibility to our industries. We need to make the

00:58:47 deadlines faster.

00:58:49 We need to have a simplified mechanism such as

00:58:55 tax breaks to give our industry five to ten years and

00:59:01 to make it and

00:59:04 rebuilding the key sectors.

00:59:07 We see in sectors such as the medical sector or the

00:59:11 chemical sector that we are not fast enough.

00:59:17 However, we also need to make sure that we have new rules when it comes to competitiveness.

00:59:22 We need to make sure that there is

00:59:25 European preference in certain areas such as defense and space

00:59:30 because our

00:59:33 competitors already have all of that. They already have it. If there is no more European

00:59:40 preference

00:59:43 for in a nuclear or in a defense sector, then it will never exist.

00:59:47 Have you seen the Americans coming in and funding our

00:59:51 industries in these areas?

00:59:54 They're entrepreneurs that are

00:59:57 heavily subsidized in the United States by the government. Why not do the same here in Europe?

01:00:05 We also need to make sure that we can also deviate from

01:00:11 free trade when it comes to key certain sectors. We need to also focus on green technology, too.

01:00:18 This is the only thing that will help us to respond when it comes to subsidies

01:00:23 in China and in the US.

01:00:25 There are two

01:00:28 sectors in particular that need our support. Energy and agriculture.

01:00:34 Energy because it's perhaps the one where we have reformed the most and that's where we really need to make the most far-reaching

01:00:41 changes in the future.

01:00:43 We need to make sure that we have a

01:00:45 Europe of the atom, let's say. If we go back to

01:00:50 1957, we see that that was when the policy was developed, but there were major shortcomings in this policy. We have

01:00:59 problems when it comes to competitiveness.

01:01:03 We know that when it comes to our social model, there are limits.

01:01:09 But we have real issues when it comes to energy

01:01:12 because we depend on

01:01:15 other regions and we do not have our own hydrocarbons.

01:01:20 If we can change that, we will become more competitive.

01:01:25 So decarbonized energy produced in Europe will be the key.

01:01:31 That will help with the social model and with

01:01:34 employment. We need to

01:01:38 deploy renewable energy and we need to focus on nuclear energy too. This will help us to be a real

01:01:45 superpower when it comes to electricity. We have committed errors in recent years by already starting to fragment

01:01:53 the hydrogen and the electricity

01:01:56 sectors.

01:01:59 We need to make sure that decarbonized electricity can be

01:02:08 can benefit from freedom of movement in Europe.

01:02:11 We know how to produce decarbonized electrons and that is a real opportunity because that avoids using the

01:02:19 carbon-based electrons and it also stops us having to import. So we need to make sure that we can have

01:02:28 more renewable and nuclear capacity.

01:02:33 There are 15 member states that are involved in this and we need to make sure that we can invest in greater

01:02:39 interconnectivity between our new electricity systems, grids.

01:02:44 That will help us to have visibility and it will also help us to

01:02:49 guarantee energy supplies that are low-cost and produced in Europe and not with carbon.

01:02:58 Another strategic sector is

01:03:02 agriculture. We've spoken a lot about this, often in a very defensive manner due to some of the anger amongst our farmers.

01:03:10 We know that

01:03:13 Europe gives 10 billion euros of subsidies to its farmers. So are farmers necessarily angry against Europe?

01:03:23 Maybe it is anger against the complex systems, the over-regulation.

01:03:31 Some of the standards in place,

01:03:33 badly implemented laws at French level and also at European level. So we need to make sure that there is a roadmap.

01:03:42 We know that three quarters of it is already being set up, but we need to be able to better support our farmers.

01:03:49 Europe is absolutely key when it comes to agricultural policies.

01:03:53 Again, it's a question of sovereignty.

01:03:57 During Covid, who would be stupid enough to

01:04:01 delegate their food needs to someone else?

01:04:05 We've started

01:04:08 trying to

01:04:10 fix some of the damage that's been done when it comes to animal proteins, for example.

01:04:16 We delegated this to other continents, but

01:04:19 we absolutely need to make sure that we have our own food sovereignty.

01:04:25 We see that farmers always see themselves as a kind of the variable when it comes to free trade.

01:04:34 It's always done on their own.

01:04:36 With them, the ones that suffer. But we should not be having to depend

01:04:43 on other countries.

01:04:50 Imagine when you no longer can rely on Europe for your needs in terms of

01:04:56 vegetables or in terms of food in general. Well, good luck to you.

01:04:59 We thought that

01:05:03 these kinds of foodstuffs and

01:05:07 commodities would also simply just continue to be flowing freely without

01:05:15 any kind of strategy. So we need a common agricultural policy that is not as complex. It needs to be strong, but not as complex.

01:05:22 We also need to look at supporting our fishermen. We need to make sure that we have sustainable policies.

01:05:28 We also need to make the most of technology when it comes to this sector.

01:05:35 We need to modernize and use technology well in this area when we need to.

01:05:40 But we need to defend this sector. We need to have a strong policy.

01:05:45 Give better and more information to consumers.

01:05:47 Also have to look at the environmental impact of farming practices, but also

01:05:54 signal the

01:05:58 loyal

01:06:00 actions at a European level.

01:06:02 We need to make sure that there are European controls.

01:06:07 We need to make sure that there are

01:06:10 strong customs practices in place.

01:06:14 We need to make sure that if anything is imported from outside of Europe, then

01:06:20 producers in those countries respect the same rules that we have to respect in Europe. All of this is at the heart of a very

01:06:26 ambitious

01:06:29 agricultural policy in Europe. We also need to review our trade policies.

01:06:34 This is another element of prosperity in Europe. This is going to have to be very far-reaching.

01:06:39 Yes, we can open up our trade, but we also have to defend our interests.

01:06:43 We can't be the only ones who respect the WTO

01:06:48 rules

01:06:50 in the world. If the US and China

01:06:53 don't respect these rules, and we're the only ones that do, then what's going to happen to us?

01:06:58 Again, we are too naive in this area.

01:07:07 We have 450 million people in our market. It's a huge asset for us.

01:07:14 We need to protect the health of our citizens and the health standards.

01:07:19 We need to implement and defend our social standards and also our environmental standards as well.

01:07:27 Otherwise, we're going to invent a continent

01:07:32 which will over-oblige

01:07:37 producers in its own territories. However, when products come from elsewhere, it's like we're looking the other way.

01:07:43 So we will have no more

01:07:46 producers conform to our own...

01:07:51 We will have no more farmers that will be able to deal with what we are asking them to conform to in Europe.

01:07:59 And everything will come from outside of Europe.

01:08:06 We know about the trade agreement set up with Canada.

01:08:09 I mention this because we cannot be too demagogic when it comes to this.

01:08:16 I've heard some debates in France in recent weeks.

01:08:19 We can't just reject all free trade. Good luck to you if you do.

01:08:25 Some people say to us that trade is bad.

01:08:28 Well, go and explain to all of the farmers who are actually benefiting from the free trade agreement with Canada.

01:08:35 This is because we put in place certain clauses.

01:08:38 It's a new kind of free trade agreement which allows our

01:08:42 those...

01:08:44 our dairy farmers, those who produce dairy products, to actually export to Canada.

01:08:48 But also to protect us from any producers elsewhere who do not want to respect our standards.

01:08:55 But we're not against closing off our borders. We're not against complete protectionism.

01:09:00 That would be...

01:09:04 that would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

01:09:08 Modern and fair trade agreements that respect the Paris agreements when it comes to the environment

01:09:18 and also focusing on certain sensitive agricultural products

01:09:23 show that all of...

01:09:26 it is what we need to really take into account.

01:09:30 For example, when you look at our dealings with Mercosur in this area.

01:09:33 We need to make sure that we have these mirror clauses,

01:09:37 these reciprocal clauses in our trade agreements.

01:09:43 And we need to review the standards that currently exist.

01:09:47 We also need to make sure that everyone knows the carbon footprint of different products

01:09:52 and that consumers know.

01:09:56 So that way they know that the made in Europe products are almost always systematically better for the environment

01:10:02 than those that come from elsewhere.

01:10:04 And if not, then these products should not be able to enter European soil.

01:10:08 We need to make sure that we have clear controls.

01:10:12 And this is the only way to make our trade credible.

01:10:18 And the only way to defend our borders and our producers.

01:10:24 Otherwise there will be mass disindustrialization.

01:10:35 We also need to strengthen our economic security tools.

01:10:42 I spoke to Mr Routte about this at the Hague.

01:10:46 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:10:50 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:10:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:10:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:22 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:26 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:30 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:34 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:38 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:42 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:46 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:50 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:11:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:22 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:26 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:30 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:34 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:38 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:42 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:46 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:50 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:12:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:22 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:26 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:30 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:34 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:38 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:42 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:46 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:50 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:13:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:22 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:26 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:30 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:34 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:38 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:42 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:46 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:50 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:14:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:22 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:26 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:30 We don't want to cry over spilt milk.

01:15:34 We want to make all those investments now.

01:15:38 We don't want to cry over spilt milk.

01:15:42 We want to make all those investments now.

01:15:46 And it's now in this decade that it needs to happen.

01:15:50 We're already late compared to the United States and to China.

01:15:54 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:15:58 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:02 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:06 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:10 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:14 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:18 We need to make sure that we have a strong economic security.

01:16:22 Because within the actions of the European Central Bank,

01:16:26 we need to combine all these absolutely essential objectives.

01:16:36 We need to increase our investment capability.

01:16:41 As I said, we need hundreds of billions of euros of investment a year.

01:16:47 And compared to what we've been doing,

01:16:49 it was depending on national flexibilities.

01:16:52 But that is not the sort of answer that we can live with.

01:16:56 We need a common capacity.

01:17:01 And we need a common broad investment plan.

01:17:08 We need subventions.

01:17:11 I cannot prejudge what will happen, but how will we do it?

01:17:16 Will we do a common loan plan or --

01:17:23 whichever way, we need to double our financial capability,

01:17:27 at least double it.

01:17:30 Our budget needs to be twice as strong.

01:17:32 We need the shock of public investment.

01:17:37 It means, once again, we have to talk about the own resources of the union.

01:17:42 I am in favor of having more union equity,

01:17:47 without it weighing on the European citizens for all these aims,

01:17:54 decarbonation, taxation of corporate tax,

01:18:01 use new resources that we need to find.

01:18:08 There are many ways of creating own resources that we need to explore.

01:18:15 There's a common budget policy.

01:18:18 There's a financial policy.

01:18:23 To be able to raise all this extra money,

01:18:26 we need to appeal to private investment.

01:18:35 Our Europe has two main or even three main defaults.

01:18:41 And we accumulate our savings,

01:18:49 and we need to be able to use them and invest these savings.

01:18:56 Secondly, we're not risk-takers.

01:18:58 We have an economy which is with a lot of intermediates,

01:19:04 with insurances and banks, and no direct action.

01:19:08 Thirdly, our savings, 300 million a year,

01:19:16 is not channeled the right way.

01:19:19 And as we know, even with the Americans and their financial appeal,

01:19:25 it's all not channeled the right way.

01:19:29 We need to be able to create elements of solidarity

01:19:34 so that our investment funds and all our actors on the stock exchange

01:19:40 and in the world of finance work together in a structured way.

01:19:47 We've already given ourselves 12 months to reach this united system.

01:19:55 We've talked about it so long, with common rules,

01:19:57 common rules for failed companies, for whatever,

01:20:03 so that we do as well in that area as we did for bank supervision.

01:20:08 And we did it also for competition.

01:20:11 We need more flexible systems.

01:20:15 And there are many technical solutions.

01:20:20 We need this financial union so that capitals move around

01:20:26 and the flow is good.

01:20:29 And we need to work on solvency.

01:20:33 We can't be--if the Americans who--

01:20:40 because of the 2008 crisis don't even apply the rule,

01:20:46 really don't want us to go on being financially irresponsible.

01:20:50 But I think we need to be a bit more risk-takers.

01:20:56 Otherwise, we won't have good research and innovation.

01:21:01 We need to encourage our startups.

01:21:03 And I'm also in favor of us finding European solutions for our savings.

01:21:11 A real single market, a real market for investments,

01:21:19 European financial products to avoid our capitals going elsewhere.

01:21:27 We need a new growth and prosperity model

01:21:32 that means simplification, decarbonation,

01:21:38 deep change of our competitive industrial policy

01:21:43 to have a real research and innovation policy

01:21:48 and to change our monetary and budgetary and financial system.

01:21:55 As a conclusion, why do we want to do all that?

01:21:58 Because as I was saying at the beginning, our Europe could die

01:22:03 if it doesn't keep its borders, apply security,

01:22:09 if it depends on the others for production.

01:22:14 It's now at a point where it could even just die of itself.

01:22:19 After--as Peter Zetterdijk said in the conferences

01:22:24 which he's giving at the Collège de France,

01:22:27 he's a bit ironically pessimistic,

01:22:31 and he said that there are times when Europe is full of doubts

01:22:38 and on the decline and doesn't love itself, has no self-esteem.

01:22:45 We owe it so much, so why not? Why?

01:22:49 It would be too long to go into this

01:22:52 and explain why Europe is the continent of doubts and doubting itself.

01:23:00 Maybe because there's a culture of self-deprecation

01:23:08 and maybe because we're in a system of challenged democracies

01:23:21 and of deep concern about the future.

01:23:27 The risk for our Europe is to get used to this depreciation.

01:23:35 And that's why today I want to offer the promise

01:23:39 of defending the European humanism.

01:23:45 If we want to go on being a strong continent,

01:23:48 it's because we're not like the others.

01:23:51 Let's not forget that.

01:23:54 We're not like the others.

01:23:56 Camus had a wonderful quote,

01:23:59 "Europe is a common adventure which we are doing in spite of you."

01:24:05 And that's it.

01:24:06 It's an adventure which we're still carrying out

01:24:12 in spite of you, of the people, and in a spirit of intelligence.

01:24:19 From the Baltic to the Mediterranean and to the Black Sea,

01:24:23 we're trying to defend a vision of mankind and of enlightenment.

01:24:30 And from Paris to Warsaw and Lisbon to Odessa,

01:24:33 we have a unique relationship to freedom and justice.

01:24:43 And man is always at the center.

01:24:47 Since the Renaissance and Enlightenment until now,

01:24:52 it's the choice which is ours.

01:24:57 And in that, we are different from other parts of the world

01:25:01 where we don't want to delegate our lives to big industrial players.

01:25:08 The European humanism means we don't want to delegate our life

01:25:13 to state control and to loss of freedom.

01:25:18 It's made for people who have thought and a desire for freedom.

01:25:28 And it's a constant notion in traditions of permanence and modernity.

01:25:39 That's the European imbalanced.

01:25:43 This is what makes us different from the others.

01:25:47 And I also want to plead in favor of this difference.

01:25:55 And on a day that is so important today,

01:25:58 I have my Portuguese friends in my mind 50 years after the revolution.

01:26:06 And it's because they fought and they built.

01:26:11 And since the beginning of this century,

01:26:15 we mustn't consider that anything is already acquired

01:26:20 and we need to continue to defend what is a part and parcel of states,

01:26:29 of democratic states.

01:26:31 And let's not forget that there's a loss of freedom

01:26:37 even in the academic world, even in Europe.

01:26:41 And this is why I would like to defend budgets in favor of state of law

01:26:48 and Europe is not just a window, a shopping window,

01:26:55 where we choose this or that.

01:26:59 And that's why we need to reinforce our ability to combat interference.

01:27:07 It's been denounced by some of our colleagues.

01:27:12 We have a return on our territory, thanks to television,

01:27:16 thanks to social networks, of a sort of naive approach of our rules

01:27:23 and the problems of democratic civility.

01:27:28 And there's a lot of false information, of fake news.

01:27:34 And we have to combat that too and be truer,

01:27:42 particularly when this happens at the time of elections.

01:27:46 And now there are also reasons to be optimistic.

01:27:51 When you think of Poland a few months ago,

01:27:54 when people were saying, "Oh, everything is lost."

01:27:57 Not only they had the best participation in its history in a democratic vote,

01:28:05 but there was a remarkable demonstration of freedom

01:28:11 and democratic behavior.

01:28:13 We need to defend those sort of things everywhere in Europe

01:28:17 and spread it around on the conference about the future of Europe.

01:28:23 I defended citizen participation and the European Citizenship Initiative.

01:28:29 Those are things which we must develop as Europeans.

01:28:33 They are essential to give more impetus to the principle of Europe.

01:28:38 And they are transnational lists, which are the possibility,

01:28:41 at the time of elections, of holding elections with a proper European debate.

01:28:48 The elections we have today, well, they are like national elections

01:28:54 because we haven't built transnational electoral lists, unfortunately.

01:29:05 The problem is that we have bodies which make decisions more and more

01:29:13 and democratic participation, which hasn't grown since '79.

01:29:19 And we need more--to be more outward-looking, more action,

01:29:28 and maybe move towards the qualified majority.

01:29:33 That would be a useful reform for our foreign policy.

01:29:38 And even if we could take it further--I won't do that today--

01:29:43 and particularly to defend the European humanism is that we believe

01:29:54 in a liberal democracy, but we need to forge Europe on the basis of its citizens' knowledge.

01:30:07 There is nothing more important than being an individual with freedom of thought

01:30:13 and capable of asking the right kinds of questions.

01:30:19 Indeed, we have a responsibility in Europe to defend critical thinking,

01:30:25 to also defend open science, science that is shared with all.

01:30:32 This combat is one that we also have at the international level,

01:30:37 and we need to renew our tools in this fight.

01:30:40 We have around 50 different universities, programs that have been created,

01:30:46 and I thank all of the deans and students who have helped us to help circulate all of this knowledge.

01:30:54 We also need to look at financing these institutions

01:30:57 and go towards European diplomas that are recognized across Europe.

01:31:02 That's why we also need to make sure that 15% of people have actually gone

01:31:13 on some kind of academic exchange via Erasmus by 2030.

01:31:20 We need to also make sure that we have better digitalization,

01:31:25 access to different works of art, for example, across Europe.

01:31:29 We need to be able to have a common imagination and to be able to deploy this across Europe.

01:31:38 We also need to have different platforms of reference,

01:31:44 websites that offer all of the languages that can touch all of Europe.

01:31:49 We need to be able to promote our common heritage.

01:31:52 We need to also be able to defend copyright in Europe and intellectual property.

01:32:01 We need to transmit the European spirit to young generations.

01:32:05 They need to be able to discover our continent, travel, speak with others, beyond Erasmus.

01:32:13 This can also be done in very concrete areas, as outlined in different reports,

01:32:20 to be able to go anywhere in Europe by train.

01:32:23 The Interrail Pass is extremely successful.

01:32:28 It's not just about transport, but it's also a cultural project,

01:32:35 so that students, young people can go to different capitals around the world

01:32:39 and countries around Europe.

01:32:42 This is not a European invention.

01:32:46 You know perhaps how much we like to boast about our own achievements,

01:32:56 but it's actually an Italian invention.

01:33:00 We tried to improve it and others followed suit,

01:33:04 but now we need to generalise these kinds of measures.

01:33:08 And here I'm speaking about the Culture Pass.

01:33:12 So we have lots of ambitions when it comes to an intelligent, cultural Europe,

01:33:22 but we also need to defend this in the times in which we live.

01:33:28 Because here today we are in this university, in a physical space,

01:33:36 where we can speak with civility, we can speak to each other, share our points of view.

01:33:44 However, our everyday lives are perhaps played out in different spaces,

01:33:50 especially those of your children, teenagers, young people.

01:33:55 Here in Europe we cannot control all of these spaces.

01:34:01 I don't believe that we produce enough content.

01:34:05 However, we don't even define the rules of these different spaces

01:34:11 that young people are exposed to.

01:34:14 It's an anthropological issue.

01:34:18 It's a question of civilisation.

01:34:20 We have young people spending hours and hours in front of screens.

01:34:26 Young people are actually being introduced to adult life, to private life, through screens.

01:34:34 And when debates are taking place through these digital spaces,

01:34:41 the majority of the time, indeed today,

01:34:45 are we really going to delegate responsibility for these spaces to others?

01:34:49 Well, no. I've told you it's a cultural fight.

01:34:53 It's a question of civilisation. It's a civilisational fight.

01:34:57 And that's what's going to form our different public opinions, let's say.

01:35:04 If people's minds are distorted due to actions taken elsewhere

01:35:14 and control that comes from elsewhere,

01:35:16 what kind of democracies are we going to have?

01:35:18 So this isn't a technical issue.

01:35:20 It's not about public policy only.

01:35:23 It's about the ability to create a democratic digital public order.

01:35:30 This is really a matter of survival for us.

01:35:35 It's the only way that we can defend our humanism.

01:35:38 Because you have two models, in fact.

01:35:41 You have an Anglo-Saxon model which delegates, by definition, delegates.

01:35:50 Yes, we'll trust these big companies.

01:35:54 They have their algorithms. They're very complicated.

01:35:57 But we, as consumers, we like these models.

01:36:00 It seems efficient, effective to us.

01:36:05 But this is a choice that actually puts a citizen in an inferior situation

01:36:11 to those who are in control.

01:36:13 And then you have another kind of system

01:36:17 which is where the state can take control of the situation.

01:36:22 For example, that's what's done in China, but also in other states

01:36:25 that are more authoritarian.

01:36:29 We need to create another model

01:36:32 which creates a democratic order.

01:36:35 It's transparent.

01:36:37 We debate about the rules and then we make choices.

01:36:40 That's why I want to defend Europe

01:36:43 which has a kind of age of digital consent at 15 years old.

01:36:50 15 years old is when we should be able to access this digital space.

01:36:55 Before that, there's all of these risks.

01:36:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:23 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:26 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:29 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:32 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:35 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:38 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:41 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:44 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:47 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:50 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:53 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:56 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:37:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:23 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:26 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:29 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:32 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:35 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:38 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:41 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:44 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:47 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:50 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:53 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:56 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:38:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:23 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:26 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:29 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:32 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:35 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:38 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:41 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:44 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:47 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:50 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:53 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:56 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:39:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:23 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:26 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:29 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:32 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:35 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:38 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:41 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:44 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:47 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:50 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:53 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:56 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:40:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:23 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:26 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:29 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:32 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:35 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:38 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:41 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:44 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:47 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:50 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:53 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:56 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:41:59 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:02 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:05 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:08 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:11 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:14 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:17 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:20 We have to be able to access the internet.

01:42:23 We also are characterized by being a little corner of the earth that wants to protect its landscapes.

01:42:30 Think about our forests, our seas, our oceans.

01:42:37 It's not just some kind of modernist idea that wants to turn everything into an environmental issue.

01:42:46 No, but let's protect our forests. Let's protect our biodiversity.

01:42:50 Let's protect our seas, our oceans.

01:42:55 It's just about thinking that we know here in Europe to count to three.

01:43:04 One, two, three, for example.

01:43:06 What about future generations?

01:43:09 We have received, inherited a heritage.

01:43:14 Do we want to hand that heritage on to future generations?

01:43:18 We can't do that if we are going to deplete our natural resources that cannot be replaced.

01:43:25 Protection of our forests, our oceans, and everything that we want to develop in our policies,

01:43:33 there needs to be humanism at the heart of it.

01:43:36 Because I'm not one of those people who believe that nature has a kind of superior right to people.

01:43:45 But it's actually something that's integral to our lives.

01:43:50 It makes us humanists.

01:43:53 Ladies and gentlemen, I know I've spoken for too long.

01:43:59 There were many other things that I could say.

01:44:03 However, I don't believe that anyone would be able to say,

01:44:07 well, some people would say that I haven't spoken enough about Africa or some of our treaty reforms

01:44:13 and all the other things that I wasn't able to say.

01:44:16 But Europe is a conversation that never ends.

01:44:20 And it's a project that has no limits, let's say.

01:44:25 From a philosophical point of view, let's never forget that Europe is built by Greece, let's say,

01:44:39 based on even Oriental philosophy.

01:44:44 And indeed, we can even wonder, what is a nation?

01:44:49 What does Europe want to become?

01:44:54 You will have understood that this is a decisive moment.

01:45:01 This is a turning point. Our Europe can die.

01:45:06 So many things have been done in these last decades.

01:45:12 We have won so many different battles.

01:45:17 And there is no other nation that says it wants to leave the European Union or the Euro.

01:45:24 However, we have become accustomed to this kind of yes, but vision.

01:45:32 Yes, I will take everything that Europe has given to me, but I'll simplify it

01:45:37 or I'll do it without respecting the rules or some of the fundamental values.

01:45:46 So it's not like I'm asking you to...

01:45:49 So it's not like, imagine if you live in a flat and you say, well, I'm no longer going to pay my rent, for example.

01:45:57 Nationalists and Europeans, of course, they're strong. It's normal.

01:46:07 People are angry. We are going through many shocks.

01:46:10 And our citizens feel that, yeah, we could die.

01:46:16 But the answer is not to be timid. It's to be active.

01:46:22 It's not to just say, oh, yeah, things are bad.

01:46:25 We have a choice.

01:46:28 The British are going to choose the 9th this year, the 9th of June.

01:46:36 We are going to choose as well.

01:46:38 But choosing is not just to do the same thing as before.

01:46:42 It's to be responsible, facing a new situation and be innovative.

01:46:50 I know that according to Voltaire, it's a bit difficult to do, but we have to be optimistic and show the will.

01:47:00 I think we can take hold of our destiny with power, prosperity and humanism of our Europe.

01:47:11 And during these uncertain times, to quote Anna Arendt, the condition of the modern man,

01:47:25 the best way to know the future when events come back and when the unpredictable has happened,

01:47:33 the best way to know the future is to make promises and to hold them.

01:47:43 So what I suggest is that after we've taken this look at things,

01:47:52 we make promises and we fight to hold the promises for our future.

01:47:59 Maybe then we'll have a bit of a chance and we will have fought for our future.

01:48:08 Long live Europe, the Republic and France.

01:48:12 [Applause]

01:48:24 French President Emmanuel Macron there speaking at Sorbonne University,

01:48:31 giving a roadmap for Europe in the run-up to the European Parliament elections that are due to take place in early June.

01:48:39 Armin Djordjian, our European Affairs Editor, is with me on set to debrief this long speech.

01:48:47 It was over an hour and a half long.

01:48:49 We know that Emmanuel Macron likes to give long speeches and to cover many, many topics.

01:48:57 And of course, the main topic, one of his main topics was Europe and the way that it's run.

01:49:04 Tell us, what does he want for Europe?

01:49:09 What is Macron's vision for Europe going forward?

01:49:13 I mean, in a sentence, I suppose, Shona, it's about a more self-reliant Europe.

01:49:18 One of the slogans that they showed on the wall, actually, we can still see it there, I think,

01:49:23 "Une Europe puissance" is "Europe as a power".

01:49:28 So, slight nuance there because it could have said a powerful Europe, "Une Europe puissante",

01:49:34 but it's actually "Europe as a power".

01:49:36 So, I think that was sort of the key thread, I suppose, running through this hour and a half or more of speech

01:49:42 that Europe should not be shy about its place in the world, about the power that it can project.

01:49:52 But obviously, in order to do that, it has to continue with a lot of reforms internally in the European Union.

01:50:01 So, I mean, his last great speech, I should say long speech and not use the word great, was in 2017.

01:50:11 He gave a similar speech about what he wanted for Europe.

01:50:13 And it actually, since then, a number of those ideas have been implemented at European level policies,

01:50:21 like, for example, joint debt, the idea of having joint debt, which was long a taboo for Germany, notably,

01:50:29 or even having a carbon tax on non-EU countries.

01:50:34 He's also calling on kind of the implementation of very specific plans, policies at the European level.

01:50:43 Yeah, we do have to go back to 2017 because that's when he first really explained this whole agenda for Europe,

01:50:52 which he calls a more autonomous Europe.

01:50:56 I suppose, yeah, we'd have to translate that a bit differently in English as, you know, reliant on itself, more independent.

01:51:02 Self-reliant.

01:51:03 Yeah. So one of the key aspects of that is obviously the whole competition with China and the US.

01:51:09 He alluded to that in the speech when he used the word naivety,

01:51:15 which is something that the French government has used for the last few years,

01:51:20 that basically Europe should stop being naive.

01:51:23 It should stop being taken advantage of by other actors.

01:51:27 And what that really means is, well, to give you one concrete example, Shona, the whole Chinese subsidies for their solar panels,

01:51:34 which has led to unfair competition with the European equivalent industry,

01:51:40 just as Europe is trying to do this whole energy transition away from fossil fuels and so forth.

01:51:46 And part of the reason for that, for that competition, for that problem with competition, is that,

01:51:51 Macron, we saw in his speech, he's accusing China, but also the United States, of not playing by the rules.

01:51:57 Does this mean that he's also calling for Europe to become more protectionist in its policies?

01:52:02 I think he's always been a bit cagey about the whole sort of protectionism thing.

01:52:07 You know, I mean, he's sort of he's quite careful.

01:52:10 He says there should be obviously an investigation if any sort of unfair practices are found.

01:52:17 But all these things are quite slow moving.

01:52:19 I mean, the case of the Chinese solar panel story, that's still the probe, I think, is still ongoing.

01:52:26 But I mean, one of the sort of key phrases, I think, was and Europe is mortal.

01:52:33 It can die, but it doesn't have to die.

01:52:36 It's up to our choices as Europeans.

01:52:39 So this whole idea throughout this whole speech was that you got the sort of sense that he thinks Europe is at a turning point

01:52:47 and that it can either continue to build on all this strategic autonomy, like you mentioned,

01:52:52 the joint debt that was issued after Covid, the joint procurement of vaccines, joint procurement of weapons for Ukraine,

01:53:01 all these joint things that Europe has kind of started on this path since Covid, really.

01:53:08 And Ukraine accelerated some of those tendencies.

01:53:12 It can either continue that way or it can sort of fall back onto something more amorphous where Europe doesn't have a real sense of itself.

01:53:20 More national. Yeah, perhaps more national.

01:53:22 Maybe this was a kind of veiled, very veiled or I don't know how you would say it.

01:53:27 But I wondered if that was this idea of Europe doesn't have to die, but it is mortal.

01:53:32 It's I don't know if he was kind of sending a message there very indirectly because he can't openly make a campaign speech.

01:53:38 Right. And in this context, but whether that was a kind of an indirect way of saying if you vote for parties that don't want joint European project,

01:53:49 that just want national project, national. You're voting against Europe in a sense.

01:53:53 Yeah. Then you're not going to have you're not going to be able to then build on, as he would see it,

01:53:59 the successes of Europe since 2020, since the joint responses to the pandemic.

01:54:04 And now all the joint defense initiatives that are still going on.

01:54:08 Yeah. We have we have we have a lot a lot to say about about everything that he said.

01:54:13 He said a lot of things, of course, about the European defense mechanisms and systems, which are which are really interesting.

01:54:19 But I think I think I would like this is our last question because we do have to move on.

01:54:23 We have been on the story for a very long time now.

01:54:25 I do think it's important to kind of remind viewers about the context of this speech.

01:54:31 Of course, it's coming before the European elections, but it's also coming about three years into his or before the end of his second and last term.

01:54:42 He's also in a place of it on a defensive footing, even at home with politics.

01:54:49 Right. The far right of Marine Le Pen, the national rally ahead of him in the polls.

01:54:54 He no longer has his party, no longer has a majority in Parliament.

01:54:57 I mean, what are what what what is his message also for French people when he talks about.

01:55:03 Yes. So he is in a tight spot with the with the opinion polls.

01:55:07 If you look at the results of the last European elections in 2019, that that was a kind of a shock for his party.

01:55:16 The fact that the far right national rally pushed past him into first place in 2019, but not by much.

01:55:24 Look at the difference in just five years shown.

01:55:27 And now if you look at the polls, we haven't had the election yet. It's on June the 9th.

01:55:31 But the same national rally is on.

01:55:34 If you look at the aggregate of polls, I just checked it today, 30 percent and Renaissance Macron's party on just over 17 percent.

01:55:43 So a massive gap between those two.

01:55:47 More than 10 points. Much bigger than in the 2019 election.

01:55:51 So what does that tell you about disenchantment with his brand of policy, possibly disenchantment with what he wants to do in Europe as well?

01:56:01 There might be an element of a protest vote there.

01:56:03 There usually is with parties that are on the far right or the far left.

01:56:07 But it's still not a good place for him to be just a few weeks before that June the 9th election.

01:56:13 And he's hoping that the speech like this one will help invigorate his base and call people back to him.

01:56:19 I don't know what you thought about it, but I think the kind of language he was using was kind of in a sense preaching to the converted.

01:56:27 I don't know whether young people who are not planning to vote in the European election.

01:56:31 Are they going to change their mind after this speech?

01:56:33 Thank you so much. Armin-Georges in there, our European Affairs Editor with a debrief of Macron's speech.

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