French president Emmanuel Macron made a wide-ranging speech on his vision for the future of the European Union Tuesday, in a landmark event which signifies the acceptance of the Union’s main players of an accelerated move towards a European State, with Britain being dragged along.
In comments that come just months after the de facto leader of the EU Angela Merkel said she would be willing to accept a common European budget and a Europe-wide finance minister, Macron — who was ridiculed at the start of his presidency for saying he wished to rule as Roman God Jupiter — said he wanted to complete the monetary union project, started with the launch of the Euro single currency in 1999.
Moves towards full monetary union and a single military have been held up for years by British opposition, but now the United Kingdom has started to withdraw from such discussions France and Germany appear to be finding a common voice on the matters.
Talking up the idea of a common European budget and finance ministry, Macron also said this system would need a common European Public Prosecutor to “punish without delay any unfair practice” within the Single Market.
Making clear his frustration with the delays that have prevented the moves towards a federal Europe in the past, the French president said he would create a group to “re-found” the European Union among those who shared his vision, leaving behind those who did not in a two-speed Europe.
Macron also said he saw a future for Britain within the bloc, remarking: “In this union rebuilt on intransigent values and an efficient market, in a few years, if it so wishes, Britain could regain its place in a simplified Europe.”
Despite the suggestion that Britain may one way wish to rejoin the European Union, it may be the case that the British government could be dragged into cooperating with these arch-federalist projects against the will of the British people. The British government’s own position paper on defence matters surrounding leaving the European Union makes clear the possibility of cooperating with the European Defence Agency, which President Macron is now calling to be transformed into a common European force.
In comments that are likely to further worry the governments of Visegrad nations like Hungary and Poland who are presently locked in a tug of war with Brussels over Europe’s plan to resettle refugees, Macron said he saw taking in migrants from outside the bloc as a duty.
Calling for a common European office for asylum to force the policy, he said: “It is our common duty for Europeans to make room for refugees, but we must do so without leaving the burden to a few, whether they are the country of arrival or the host country.”
Reacting to the speech in Britain, a spokesman for UKIP remarked the plan could almost have been tailor-made to repulse British voters, remarking: “If Eurosceptics had wished to create a European perspective that would guarantee Britain voting to leave the European Union, they could not have done as well as Mr. Macron did today.”
Markets have reacted negatively to the speech, with the Euro tumbling against the sterling as Macron spoke.