“I am here to talk to you about Europe. ‘Again?!’ some will say. They will have to get used to it, because I will continue to do so,” French President Emmanuel Macron said during a speech earlier in December.
Macron is firmly on the campaign trail, preparing for mid-April’s presidential elections, where he will seek another five-year term. He is likely to face a conservative or perhaps even far-right candidate in a second-round runoff.
France’s leading role within the EU and the ‘Frenchification’ of how Brussels does business is a foundation stone of Macron’s re-election effort, given that much of his first mandate always had one eye on European policies.
Slovenia will hand over the reins of the rotating EU presidency at the end of this month to France, giving Macron a shop window to display many of his big ideas.
For smaller countries, the EU presidency is normally just a six-month-long period in which to boost the tourism sector - by advertising the...