Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that he would give a speech on Europe next Thursday "late morning" at the Sorbonne, as he did in September 2017 to set his major European orientations.
“I will give a bit of an overview of what the country has done and what we are heading towards and especially for the years to come,” replied the Head of State, questioned at a press conference following the European Council. in Brussels. As for the European elections of June 9, "I will have the opportunity, obviously, as I did five years ago, to get involved in this campaign", "at the appropriate times, in the format and the appropriate framework,” also declared Emmanuel Macron.
On September 26, 2017, four months after the start of his first five-year term, the Head of State presented an ambitious series of proposals to relaunch the European project, in particular the creation of a true common defense. Elected on a reform program, he then delivered a vibrant plea for the EU, which he said had lacked a long-term vision for years and was bogged down in bureaucracy and over-regulation. Europe is “too weak, too slow, too ineffective”, he said in a solemn speech lasting more than an hour and a half.
This plea for the EU took a number of partners by surprise, starting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then just re-elected and then engaged in several months of negotiations to form a government coalition.
Towards a new campaign for the president?
Seven years and a five-and-a-half year later, Emmanuel Macron believes he has succeeded in this speech, particularly on questions of European sovereignty. “We have good ideas, those that have been put in place in Europe in recent years,” he said on Wednesday alongside his camp’s candidate for the European elections, Valérie Hayer, who is far behind in the polls against the list of the National Rally of Jordan Bardella.
This Sorbonne 2 will also in a way mark his entry into the campaign, even if his entourage denies it, judging that it aims first of all to set a course for after the European elections in June. The president confirmed that he would take concrete part in the campaign, “at the appropriate times, in the appropriate format and framework”.
“I will have the opportunity, obviously, as I did five years ago, to get involved in this campaign, to express my conviction for Europe which, in my eyes, is an essential subject in the sense specific to the term for our country,” he said.