Seven years after “Sorbonne 1” Emmanuel Macron returns this Thursday, April 25, to the prestigious Parisian university. The President of the Republic must give, from 11 a.m., a speech of around 90 minutes on a “more sovereign and more powerful” Europe, while his camp is slipping six weeks before the European elections.
Information to remember
⇒ Macron has been giving a speech at the Sorbonne since 11:15 a.m.
⇒ Macron: “Our Europe can die”
⇒ Macron calls for a new “European Defense initiative”
12:00 p.m.
Macron: “our borders are a common good”.
The president pleaded for Europe to regain “control of our borders”.
11:55 a.m.
Macron: “We need a new European Defense initiative”
Emmanuel Macron intends to invite “all our partners” in the coming months to build “a European defense initiative” which is “credible” in the face of “Russian missiles”, including “perhaps” a European anti-missile shield.
In his speech at the Sorbonne on Thursday, the French president pleaded in particular for “a European cybersecurity and cyberdefense capacity”. He defends “a European preference in the purchase of military equipment” and supports the idea of a European loan to finance this defense effort.
11:43 a.m.
Macron: “We must get out of our strategic minority”
Emmanuel Macron advocated, on Thursday, a “powerful Europe” which “enforces its respect” and “ensures its security” in order to put an end to our “strategic minority”.
11:41 a.m.
Macron: “Our values, our culture are threatened”
Europe’s “liberal democracy” and its values are “increasingly criticized” and “contested”, warns Emmanuel Macron.
11:38 a.m.
Macron: “We must review our trade rules”
The President of the Republic considered that Europe must review its “growth model” and therefore “our trade rules” vis-à-vis the United States and China in particular.
11:33 a.m.
Macron: “Our Europe can die”
“My message today is simple (…): we must be lucid today about the fact that our Europe is mortal, it can die,” declared the French president. “It depends solely on our choices but these choices must be made now” because “over the next decade, (…) the risk is immense of being weakened or even relegated,” he added.
11:25 a.m.
Macron: “Europe has reaffirmed the existence of its borders”
On the question of immigration, the Head of State considered that Europe had, in recent years, “reaffirmed the existence of its borders”. “An essential achievement” because “there is no sovereignty without borders,” he declared.
11:21 a.m.
Macron: “our Europe has moved forward”
The President of the Republic estimated that Europe “had moved forward” in recent years despite international crises, such as the war in Ukraine or the Covid-19 pandemic. The idea of sovereignty has “established itself” within the EU, he said.
11:09 a.m.
Glucksmann criticizes Macron’s “strategic bankruptcy”
Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the list of the Socialist Party and Public Place in the European elections, outlined the broad outlines of his Europe 2030 project on Wednesday in Strasbourg, largely hitting against the “strategic bankruptcy” of Emmanuel Macron.
In front of more than 600 people, the MEP promised to “give Europe the means to defend itself” against Vladimir Putin, tackling the President of the Republic in the process. He notably recalled that in August 2019, Emmanuel Macron had pleaded for a rapprochement between the European Union and Russia, calling for regaining “confidence” in an international order in “recomposition”. For the essayist, a convinced pro-European, “this strategic failure killed the Sorbonne speech” that the Head of State gave in 2017, and which he admitted having appreciated at the time.
11:00
Marine Le Pen around 35% of voting intentions in 2027
If the presidential election took place on Sunday, Marine Le Pen would come out on top in the first round with around 35% of the votes whatever the configuration on the left and in the Macronist camp, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll for Le Figaro magazine and Sud Radio.
The already three-time presidential candidate would obtain 34% of the votes in the first round in the hypothesis that Édouard Philippe (24%) would be the candidate of the current presidential majority and with four separate candidacies on the left, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon for LFI, credited with 13% in this configuration.
10:40 a.m.
A bad poll for Macron
A majority of French people (57%) doubt the real influence of Emmanuel Macron on the functioning and decisions taken by the European Union since 2017, according to an Elabe survey published Thursday for BFMTV.
Only 42% of French people believe that the head of state has had “real influence on the functioning and decisions taken by the European Union” since 2017. Emmanuel Macron’s electorate has a very positive view of his role (70%), while the majority of voters on the left (56%) and the far right (68%) are rather negative.
10:30 a.m.
Who is invited to the Sorbonne?
Emmanuel Macron will speak in front of the ambassadors of the 26 other EU member states, the delegation of the European Commission in France, business leaders, students and researchers.
He also invited French MEPs but his speech will fall in the middle of a plenary session of the European Parliament, the last before the European elections (June 6 to 9), where a series of important texts must be adopted.
10:27 a.m.
A press conference by Bardella
Echoing the Head of State, Jordan Bardella will hold a press conference in the afternoon to present his program and thus try to impose a duel at the summit.
10:21 a.m.
A speech already criticized by its adversaries
For his opponents, Emmanuel Macron is especially going on the offensive at a time when his camp, led by MEP Valérie Hayer, is struggling to make its way through the campaign. The RN list led by Jordan Bardella remains well ahead in voting intentions, with twelve to fifteen points ahead of Valérie Hayer, according to the surveys.
“It’s an electoral speech,” insists outgoing MEP RN Thierry Mariani. “He still uses his role as president to campaign,” adds the head of the LFI list, Manon Aubry.
The communist Léon Deffontaines asked Thursday morning on franceinfo that the president’s speech be “counted in Valérie Hayer’s speaking time”.
10:19 a.m.
The president’s message
“We are in a moment where many crises combine (..) The intuition, the desire of the president, is to say to himself that, in these moments, it is possible to move forward with proposals and to make important steps”, summarizes a presidential advisor.
With what objective? “Influence the agenda” of the next European Commission following the June elections, assures the presidency, which refutes any electoral tactics. “It is an institutional moment for a head of state, who does not simply commit the words of his political sensibility, but the words of a country,” we insisted.