Macron and Merkel converge on Europe

Brussels

BACK in January, when his chances of winning the French presidency were considered slim, Emmanuel Macron came to Berlin and spelled out what he felt was needed to fix Europe.

"As Jacques Delors said, for Europe we need a vision and a screwdriver," Mr Macron told an audience at the Humboldt University, citing the former president of the European Commission. "Unfortunately, we currently have a lot of screwdrivers but we are still lacking a vision."

Now, less than two months after surging to victory in the French election, Mr Macron is filling the void, articulating a path forward for the continent, and crucially, bringing Germany along with him.

That was the main take-away from a meeting of European Union (EU) leaders last week in which Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood side by side at an end-of-summit news co…