With France set to start its six-month stint in the rotating EU presidency, Emmanuel Macron spoke on Thursday of a budget rethink within t...
With France set to start its six-month stint in the rotating
EU presidency, Emmanuel Macron spoke on Thursday of a budget rethink within the
bloc, took a swipe at the post-Brexit British government and said he planned remote
talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.
Macron also said that France would not be following in the
footsteps of the United States, UK, Canada and Australia, by conducting a
diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, set to take place in
February 2022.
The French leader said his priorities for the European
Council presidency were encapsulated within the motto: "Recovery, power,
belonging" as he seeks a "strong, fully sovereign, and united
Europe."
France's aim was "to move towards a Europe that is
powerful in the world, free in its choices and in charge of its own
destiny," Macron said at a news conference in Paris.
France takes on the rotating presidency as Belarus stands
accused of engineering a refugee crisis on EU borders, amid global calls for a
tougher stance on China over human rights issues, during renewed tensions with
Russia over Ukraine, and as post-Brexit relations with the UK — not least
Franco-British ties — become more and more strained.
Macron on EU budget
The French president said it was possible the bloc would
need to go beyond the initial €750-billion coronavirus recovery package.
Macron, speaking a day before hosting Germany's new
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said he would use France's six-month presidency to
convene an extraordinary summit of the bloc's 27 member state leaders in Paris,
on March 10 and 11..
To be held just a month before France's presidential
election, Macron said the EU gathering would help define a new European growth
model in the wake of the pandemic.
Germany's Scholz supported the original COVID stimulus
package but he is wary of any joint borrowing mechanism becoming permanent.
Macron also said the new budget rules must help boost
investments in the digital sector. "For that we must start building a
budgetary and financial framework that is credible, simplified and transparent,"
he said.
One aspect, he stressed, will be discussing whether budget
stimulus is enough, while also defining whether some national investments can
be allowed to go beyond the bloc's allowance.
Macron also believes the EU should try to work towards a
common, decent EU minimum wage.
Macron on the UK
government
Meanwhile, relations with the UK remain strained over
fishing rights, migration and security because the British government cannot be
trusted, Macron said.
"The problem with the British government is that it
does not do what it says," Macron said, albeit swiftly adding how much he
"loved Britain" and "its people."
But "I have an overwhelming desire to have a [British]
government that wants to works with us in good faith," Macron said.
Regarding recent tensions over migrant crossings and a row
over the granting of British fishing licences to French fishermen, Macron said
he wanted the issues resolved before a Paris-imposed deadline on Friday, even
though London says it is not working to such a timetable.
Referring to the UK's part in arranging the sale of
US-designed submarines to Australia at the expense of French ones, Macron said
this was "not the most obvious sign of friendship," before adding
that this formulation was an "understatement."
Last month 27 people drowned as they crossed the Channel,
heading to Britain from France, and Macron said the UK's policies were to
blame, suggesting Britain's economic model was based on illegal labor.
Macron on Russia
Macron said he planned to hold a meeting next week with
Russian President Vladimir Putin "online" as he seeks reassurances
over the Kremlin's intentions in and around Ukraine.
The French president also said he would be speaking next
week with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tensions between the EU and Russia have escalated in recent
months amid reports of Russia amassing troops near its border to Ukraine. This
is further compounded by Moscow's close relationship with Minsk, with Brussels
accusing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of engineering a migration
crisis aimed at destabilizing the bloc.
Macron on Beijing
Winter Olympics diplomacy
Macron also highlighted the need to avoid
"politicizing" sport ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which
are set to begin on February 4 — indicating that the EU might not be following
the diplomatic boycott of the Games.
Several countries have said they will not be sending
officials to the event in the Chinese capital, but Macron said he was "in
favor of action that has a useful outcome."
"To be clear: You either have a complete boycott, and
not send athletes, or you try to change things with useful actions."
Canada is the latest country to announce a diplomatic
boycott of the event, joining Australia, Britain and the United States in doing
so. China has described the boycotts as "political posturing" and
said the countries who opt for this policy will "pay the price."
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