Updated 13.41 | Published 11.49
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It is now or never, warns French President Emmanuel Macron in yet another major European speech.
– Our Europe can die, claims Macron in the Sorbonne.
Almost seven years after the president’s highly publicized speech at the Sorbonne University in September 2017, he returns to once again give his vision of Europe’s future.
And it is not completely bright.
– We must be clear-sighted that our Europe can die. It depends entirely on the choices we make and we must make those choices now, says Macron.
The president urges the EU to react to the crises going on around the world and the competition that exists from other global powers. He wants to see simpler rules in the internal market, a research-leading EU and a Europe that “produces more and produces green”.
Macron warns of letting Russia win the war in Ukraine and promises to invite talks on a “credible European defense” – perhaps under a French nuclear umbrella.
– The nuclear deterrent is central to France’s defense strategy. It is thereby also a decisive part of the defense of the European continent, Macron believes.
In the almost two-hour long speech, the president also discusses everything from migration and farmers’ protests to abortion rights and a tougher grip on the internet, which he partly wants to have an age limit on.
– We must take back control over the lives of our children and teenagers and, as Europeans, introduce an age limit of 15 years, not lower, says Macron in the Sorbonne.
