If I am taking the liberty of addressing you directly, it is not only in
the name of the history and values that unite us. It is because time is of
the essence. In a few weeks’ time, the European elections will be decisive
for the future of our continent.
Never, since the Second World War, has Europe been as essential. Yet never
has Europe been in so much danger.
Brexit stands as the symbol of that. It symbolises the crisis of Europe,
which has failed to respond to its peoples’ needs for protection from the
major shocks of the modern world. It also symbolises the European trap.
The trap is not being part of the European Union. The trap is in the lie
and the irresponsibility that can destroy it. Who told the British people
the truth about their post-Brexit future? Who spoke to them about losing
access to the European market? Who mentioned the risks to peace in Ireland
of restoring the former border? Nationalist retrenchment offers nothing;
it is rejection without an alternative. And this trap threatens the whole
of Europe: the anger mongers, backed by fake news, promise anything and
everything.
We have to stand firm, proud and lucid, in the face of this manipulation
and say first of all what Europe is.
It is a historic success: the reconciliation of a devastated
continent in an unprecedented project of peace, prosperity and
freedom. We should never forget that. And this
project continues to protect us today. What country can act on its own in
the face of aggressive strategies by the major powers? Who can claim to be
sovereign, on their own, in the face of the digital giants? How would we
resist the crises of financial capitalism without the euro, which is a
force for the entire European Union? Europe is also those thousands of
projects daily that have changed the face of our regions: the school
refurbished, the road built, and the long-awaited arrival of high-speed
Internet access. This struggle is a daily commitment, because Europe, like
peace, can never be taken for granted. I tirelessly pursue it in the name
of France to take Europe forward and defend its model. We have shown that
what we were told was unattainable, the creation of a European defence
capability and the protection of social rights, was in fact possible.
Yet we need to do more and sooner, because there is the other trap: the
trap of the status quo and resignation. Faced with the major crises in the
world, citizens so often ask us, “Where is Europe? What is Europe doing?”
It has become a soulless market in their eyes. Yet Europe is not just a
market. It is a project. A market is useful, but it should not detract
from the need for borders that protect and values that unite. The
nationalists are misguided when they claim to defend our identity by
withdrawing from Europe, because it is the European civilisation that
unites, frees and protects us. But those who would change nothing are also
misguided, because they deny the fears felt by our peoples, the doubts
that undermine our democracies. We are at a pivotal moment for our
continent, a moment when together we need to politically and culturally
reinvent the shape of our civilisation in a changing world. It is the
moment for European renewal. Hence, resisting the temptation of isolation
and divisions, I propose we build this renewal together around three
ambitions: freedom, protection and progress.
Defend our freedom
The European model is based on the freedom of man and the diversity of
opinions and creation. Our first freedom is democratic freedom: the
freedom to choose our leaders as foreign powers seek to influence our vote
at each election. I propose creating a European Agency for the
Protection of Democracies, which will provide each Member State with
European experts to protect their election process against cyber attacks
and manipulation. In this same spirit of independence, we should also
ban the funding of European political parties by foreign powers. We
should have European rules banish all incitements to hate and violence
from the Internet, since respect for the individual is the bedrock of
our civilisation of dignity.
Protect our continent
Founded on internal reconciliation, the European Union has forgotten to
look at the realities of the world. Yet no community can create a sense of
belonging if it does not have bounds that it protects. The boundary is
freedom in security. We therefore need to rethink the Schengen area:
all those who want to be part of it should comply with obligations of
responsibility (stringent border controls) and solidarity (one asylum
policy with the same acceptance and refusal rules). We will need a
common border force and a European asylum office, strict control
obligations and European solidarity to which each country will contribute
under the authority of a European Council for Internal Security. On
the issue of migration, I believe in a Europe that protects both its
values and its borders.
The same standards should apply to defence. Substantial progress has been
made in the last two years, but we need to set a clear course: a treaty
on defence and security should define our fundamental obligations in
association with NATO and our European allies: increased defence spending,
a truly operational mutual defence clause, and the European Security
Council with the United Kingdom on board to prepare our collective
decisions.
Our borders also need to guarantee fair competition. What power in the
world would accept continued trade with those who respect none of their
rules? We cannot suffer in silence. We need to reform our competition
policy and reshape our trade policy with penalties or a ban in Europe on
businesses that compromise our strategic interests and fundamental
values such as environmental standards, data protection and fair payment
of taxes; and the adoption of European preference in strategic
industries and our public procurement, as our American and Chinese
competitors do.
Recover the spirit of progress
Europe is not a second-rank power. Europe in its entirety is a vanguard:
it has always defined the standards of progress. In this, it needs to
drive forward a project of convergence rather than competition: Europe,
where social security was created, needs to introduce a social shield
for all workers, east to west and north to south, guaranteeing the same
pay in the same workplace, and a minimum European wage appropriate to each
country and discussed collectively every year.
Getting back on track with progress also concerns spearheading the
ecological cause. Will we be able to look our children in the eye if we do
not also clear our climate debt? The European Union needs to set its
target – zero carbon by 2050 and pesticides halved by 2025 – and adapt its
policies accordingly with such measures as a European Climate Bank to
finance the ecological transition, a European food safety force to
improve our food controls and, to counter the lobby threat, independent
scientific assessment of substances hazardous to the environment and
health. This imperative needs to guide all our action: from the Central
Bank to the European Commission, from the European budget to the
Investment Plan for Europe, all our institutions need to have the climate
as their mandate.
Progress and freedom are about being able to live from your work: Europe
needs to look ahead to create jobs. This is why it needs not only to
regulate the digital giants by putting in place European supervision of
the major platforms (prompt penalties for unfair competition,
transparent algorithms, etc.), but also to finance innovation by
giving the new European Innovation Council a budget on a par with the
United States in order to spearhead new technological breakthroughs such
as artificial intelligence.
A world-oriented Europe needs to look towards Africa, with which we
should enter into a covenant for the future, taking the same road and
ambitiously and non-defensively supporting African development with such
measures as investment, academic partnerships and education for girls.
Freedom, protection and progress. We need to build European renewal on
these pillars. We cannot let nationalists without solutions exploit the
people’s anger. We cannot sleepwalk through a diminished Europe. We cannot
become ensconced in business as usual and wishful thinking. European
humanism demands action. And everywhere, the people are standing up to be
part of that change. So by the end of the year, let’s set up, with the
representatives of the European institutions and the Member States, a
Conference for Europe in order to propose all the changes our political
project needs, with an open mind, even to amending the treaties. This
conference will need to engage with citizens’ panels and hear
academics, business and labour representatives, and religious and
spiritual leaders. It will define a roadmap for the European Union that
translates these key priorities into concrete actions. There will be
disagreement, but is it better to have a static Europe or a Europe that
advances, sometimes at different paces, and that is open to all?
In this Europe, the peoples will really take back control of their
future. In this Europe, the United Kingdom, I am sure, will find its
true place.
Citizens of Europe, the Brexit impasse is a lesson for us all. We need to
escape this trap and make the upcoming elections and our project
meaningful. It is for you to decide whether Europe and the values of
progress that it embodies are to be more than just a passing episode in
history. This is the choice I propose: to chart together the road to
European renewal.