Emmanuel Macron details this Wednesday in Strasbourg the priorities of the French presidency of the Council of the EU. The French presidential election will undoubtedly give a national flavor to the debate that will follow, but the European neighbors also have questions to ask.
This is a highly anticipated speech that will set the tone for relations between elected officials and the new presidency of the European Council. Before the Strasbourg Parliament, Emmanuel Macron intends to recall the first objective of the French presidency: to strengthen European sovereignty on all fronts and quickly obtain results on the major issues that the President wishes to advance, such as the reform of the Schengen area. , the minimum wage, or the carbon border tax.
This 20-minute speech will be followed by a question-and-answer session with MEPs. Several subjects could raise the temperature in the hemicycle. Starting with the collusion with the national agenda and the presidential election next April. And the opponents of candidate not yet declared Emmanuel Macron fully intend to take advantage of the platform offered to them.
Among them, it is obviously the French that we will hear the most. Emmanuel Macron will be challenged in particular by Yannick Jadot, the Greens presidential candidate. Like him, all opponents of Emmanuel Macron intend to attack his European record and defend their own project.
Minimum wage and nuclear
But the European neighbors also have questions to ask, reports our special correspondent in Strasbourg, Juliette Gheerbrant. In the group of the left, the Spaniard Sira Rego insists on the reduction of poverty: ” What we are asking for is a way out of the crisis that takes into account the limits of the planet, but which is adapted to the needs of the workers. We need a deeply ecological policy, but also a profoundly social one. »
And if the inclusion of a minimum wage in European texts is a priority for the French presidency, Sira Rego is calling for guarantees. ” It is very important to reach an agreement on a minimum wage, but in each of the Member States this wage should allow people to live “, she warns. In Bulgaria, for example, the minimum wage is only 330 euros.
Another sticking point is nuclear power. The Belgian Philippe Lamberts, who co-leads the Greens group, does not take off. ” The first major act of the French presidency is to have blackmailed the President of the European Commission to have nuclear power recognized as a green energy. Honestly, don’t be embarrassed “, he gets annoyed.
Differences are also very strong on the question of migration, including with the Socialist and Democratic Group. Here again, the president will have to clarify his positions.