Macron says EU may need 'multi-speed' approach

THE European Union (EU) may need to adopt a “multi-speed” decision-making approach if it is to make progress on its core policies in the future, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (Aug 28).

Macron told an audience of French ambassadors gathered in Paris that the EU should “accept more integration” for the members who were favourable, while others could progress at a slower speed.

“I am well-placed to say that it is quite difficult to make progress on essential topics among the EU’s 27 members,” he said.

“It will not get any easier with 32 or 35.”

He added: “We therefore need to be somewhat audacious and accept more integration on some policies, and perhaps a multi-speed Europe.”

The EU’s European Council, which brings together the bloc’s political leaders, requires unanimity for major decisions, effectively giving each member a veto.

The Council’s members are the 27 heads of state or government, the Council president and the president of the European Commission.

In his speech, Macron warned that European countries, and the West in general, were in danger of decline as major powers emerged elsewhere.

“I believe that the international context is becoming more difficult, which brings the risk of a weakening of the West, and especially our Europe. We must be clear-sighted in this context, but not overly pessimistic,” Macron said.

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He said demographic developments were not in favour of Europe, and its wealth creation and share of global trade had diminished.

This trend, which he said had been seen since the 2008 global financial crisis, had been reinforced by the energy crisis which put Europe at a disadvantage “because our Europe is not a producer of fossil fuels”.

The international order, which had given the West a preponderant role up to now, was “progressively being put into question”, he said. AFP