Emmanuel Macron will hold a press conference on Thursday to present the priorities of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will start on January 1, 2022 for six months, announced the Elysee on Sunday. The Head of State, who will explain himself at 4:00 p.m. at the Élysée Palace, “will present the main European priorities that France will carry during the presidency”, explained the presidency, in a context of matters of tension concerning in particular migrants or Ukraine again.
Emmanuel Macron, who presents himself as a convinced European, has already expressed on several occasions the importance he attached to this six-monthly presidency, which will coincide with the campaigns for the presidential election of April 10 and 24 and then for the legislative elections scheduled for June in France. Its objectives are in particular to “strengthen European sovereignty”, in particular through military autonomy, to reform the Schengen agreements, to advance the “climate package” with carbon taxation and to rebuild “a treaty of peace and friendship. with Africa ”under the aegis of the EU.
A quickly organized defense summit
This rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which brings together the 27 member countries but does not govern the Commission, will allow France to moderate the debates by setting the agenda of the meetings, and thus put forward its priorities. A defense summit is notably planned during the first three months of the presidency, during which the most important meetings will be organized, before the presidential election. Emmanuel Macron should unveil on Thursday the list of cities in which several events of the French presidency will be organized and unveil the emblem, according to the Elysee.
At the same time, Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to bring together the presidents of the parliamentary groups of the European Parliament and its president David Sassoli on the same day. Formal press conferences at the Elysee Palace are very rare, the last time being that of April 25, 2019, at the end of the great debate, at the end of the yellow vests crisis.
