France takes EU reins with push for more sovereignty

PARIS — French president Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a brace of starring European figures Friday arsenic France formally took the reins of the 27-nation bloc for the adjacent six months with large ambitions.

Macron was accompanied by the caput of the EU’s enforcement arm, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, astatine France’s famed Pantheon to grant the memories of Simone Veil and Jean Monnet.

Veil was a Holocaust subsister who repeatedly broke barriers for women successful politics. She spearheaded the combat to legalize termination successful France and was the archetypal pistillate president of the European Parliament. Monnet was a founding begetter of the European Union.

Both Macron and von der Leyen wore masks during the sojourn wrong the domed building, amid a question of coronavirus cases that somewhat overshadowed the opening of the French tenure and caused occupation for the French person up of the accomplishment successful Paris of EU officials.

Macron, who is expected to question re-election aboriginal this year, made headlines earlier this week by utilizing rude connection successful notation to the country’s number of unvaccinated people.

In an interrogation with a newspaper, Macron described his strategy for pressuring vaccine refusers to get coronavirus jabs by utilizing the connection “emmerder” — rooted successful the French connection for “crap” and meaning to rile. His vulgar connection dominated quality broadcasts and provoked aggravated reactions from his governmental rivals.

To determination things guardant connected the continental signifier connected the immense array of touchy topics helium wants to tackle, Macron volition request to follow a much consensual code with his EU counterparts.

A leitmotiv of the French presidency implicit the adjacent six months volition beryllium the request for greater autonomy for the 27-nation bloc.

Macron has been championing the thought since helium took powerfulness fiver years agone and volition usage the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which sets the governmental docket of region, to effort to enactment it into practice.

Among the main themes France wants to beforehand are the instauration of an EU minimum wage, a c taxation connected imported products, and the betterment of the EU’s fiscal rules. France besides wants to accelerate discussions betwixt subordinate states to find a statement connected the stalled overhaul of the bloc’s asylum system.

Detailing the goals of the French presidency, a elder French authorities authoritative said the EU needs to beryllium much sovereign to beryllium successful a presumption to marque its ain choices portion defending its ideals of democracy.

“There is simply a hazard for Europeans to simply spell retired of history,” the authoritative said. “In the consciousness that we would nary longer lend to penning the past of the world, and others would travel and constitute our ain history. There is an existential danger.”

The authoritative spoke anonymously due to the fact that helium was not authorized to talk publically up of the EU committee sojourn to the French superior city.