French Presidency of the Council of the EU. Macron deals with “European sovereignty”, climate and migration

Emmanuel Macron wants to take care of many things during this time. Due to the presidential elections in France in April 2022, many important meetings are already scheduled for the first quarter.

The president considers the EU’s recovery plan based on shared debt to be a good model for financing future investments. “The fiscal framework needs to be reconsidered,” Macron says, referring to the current rules, which, for example, include debt levels below 60 percent of GDP. He described the rule that the deficit should not exceed three percent of gross domestic product as “obsolete”.

Migration issues

France calls for “a Europe that knows how to protect its external borders”. During the French presidency, a reform of the Schengen area is planned, with regular meetings between interested ministers. In crisis situations – such as on the Belarusian-Polish border – a new mechanism is to be created that will enable the rapid dispatch of security forces and equipment from other EU countries. France also wants to continue its long-term project to harmonize asylum rules.

Defense

For Macron, the leitmotif is “European sovereignty”. During the French presidency of the EU Council, the “EU Strategic Compass” (a security strategy setting out common goals of the member states in the areas of crisis response, military capabilities, cooperation with partners and strengthening the EU’s resilience for the coming years), proposed by Germany during its last year’s presidency, is to be adopted. The compass also deals with threats in the oceans, outer space and cyberspace.

Climatic assumptions

The president of France also intends to force the imposition of fees on imported products, i.e. a carbon border tax, officially called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism-CBAM. In this way, Macron wants to prevent unfavorable conditions of competition for European companies that produce according to stricter environmental regulations. – We cannot waste a minute, this is a real crisis situation – indicates the president referring to climate change. He also wants to ban the import of products for which tropical forests are massively cleared.

Plans for Africa

A joint EU-African Union summit will take place in Brussels on 17 and 18 February. Emmanuel Macron calls for “a new economic and financial deal”. In his opinion, a new solidarity is needed with a continent that is struggling with the consequences of the pandemic and the enormous population growth. In addition, Africa must be helped in the fight against climate change.

European civil service

The issue of the European civil service was at the center of the French Presidency. In future, all young people under the age of 25 in Europe should be able to complete this six-month service. It can be a stay at the university, but also an apprenticeship or an internship.

(AFP / jar)

The text comes from the site