French President Emmanuel Macron proposed to Angela Merkel to draw up a “clear and ambitious roadmap” by June for the reform of the European Union. “We need to define this new ambition for Europe”, Macron said before a meeting with the German Chancellor. He stressed that a new and important phase is starting, during which many decisions will have to be taken in the short term, as well as to identify prospects in the medium and long term for “our Europe”.
Macro congratulated Merkel on the formation of the new German government. “Europe has been waiting for the French-German pair to take a new step towards progress. We are ready. This stage is in front of us”, he said.
One of the goals of the talks in the Élysée Palace will be the preparation of the forthcoming EU summit on 22 and 23 March in Brussels.
“It is extremely important that we build this new commitment together. Our deadline for this task is by June“, Macron said and announced that the Action Plan will cover the economic and monetary union, as well as migration, defence and education policies.
“We’re going to put our full energy into this”, he said.
According to Macron’s words, the work on this project is particularly important for both countries, France and Germany, in the face of extreme exacerbation of international contradictions. He recalled that one of the major attacks against a “united Europe” was the UK’s decision to withdraw from the bloc, which led to an “imbalance of powers in Europe”.
The French President and the German Chancellor have expressed their solidarity with their ally, in regards to the affair with the poisoning of a former Russian intelligence officer in Britain, “We condemn this Russian intervention, because everything makes us believe that Russia has committed these attempts”, said Macron and quoted by Frans press.
Merkel agreed that “many clues indicate that Russia is guilty”, Reuters reported.
