Emmanuel Macron: „Es ist an der Zeit, dass die EU eine gemeinsame Schuldenkapazität durch Eurobonds einführt“ – Macron plädiert für gemeinsame Kredite, die strategische Investitionen finanzieren und es der EU ermöglichen würden, „die Dollar-Hegemonie anzugehen“

So he wants other EU countries to pay off french debt?

Good idea.

The issue is, that France is in debt spiral.

I would be for this for specific „extra spending“. Not to use it for regular spending.

and finally when it’s good for France there are no PIGS any more. Interesting change of policy. Maybe no, maybe austerity also for France

Instead of fixing their finances they are continuing to hold debt-hostage the future generations

As a French please no. It’s been 50 years since our last balanced budget. If you don’t let us crumble they will never learn, they will crush your economy the same way they killed french economy.

**You campaign for a „powerful Europe“. Do you feel like you are being heard?**

For nine years, I have been advocating for a more sovereign Europe. I think that the conceptual change has taken place, and that we have taken many measures that were unthinkable a few years ago. Thus, we have set up a defense Europe, with common funding and common projects. We won this ideological fight. But, we are not at the right pace and we are not at the right scale.

**That’s to say?**

Today, our Europe faces an immense challenge, in a world in disorder. Climate change is happening faster. The United States, which we thought assured us security forever, casts doubt. Russia, which was supposed to provide low-cost energy forever, has been over for three years. And China, which was an export market for many, has become an increasingly fierce competitor.
In September 2024, the former president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi warned, in its report on competitiveness, on the risk of agony of the EU if it did nothing.

**Where are we?**

Since then, the situation has worsened profoundly. Today, China has $1 trillion [840 billion euros] trade surpluses with the rest of the world, a third with the United States, a third with Europe. At the same time, Washington imposed customs duties on us. In fact, we have a double crisis: the Chinese tsunami on the commercial level and the microsecond instability on the American side.

Are we ready to become a power? This question is asked of us on the economic, financial level, on the defense and security level, on the democratic level. It must be time to wake up. In other times, to cite the great authors, we would have said the moment of leaving the state of minority.

Today, we Europeans are all alone. For me, this is the ultimate accomplishment of the European adventure of the last seventy years. We had come together to no longer wage war, we had come together to make a deal, but we had always forbidden ourselves from thinking about power together.

**What do you recommend?**

Simplification –we started, on texts such as the duty of vigilance – and the deepening of the internal market. We must continue, with the 28the diet [which aims to create a European code of business law], the Capital Markets Union, the integration of our electricity networks… The native market of our companies cannot be twenty-seven different markets, but it must be natively 450 million inhabitants.

The second pillar is diversification, the conclusion of new commercial partnerships, as we have just done with India. This strategy offers us a growth driver and also allows us to reduce our dependencies, it is good.

**However, France opposed the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur. Isn’t that paradoxical?**

The [deal with the] Mercosur is a bad deal. It’s an old agreement, poorly negotiated. Regardless, Mercosur will have neither the dramatic impact on our agriculture that some fear, nor the positive impact on our growth that others imagine.

**Should we have more protectionism?**
We must protect our industry. The Chinese do it, the Americans do it too. Europe is today the most open market in the world. Faced with this, it is not a question of being protectionist, but of being coherent, that is to say of not imposing rules on our producers that we do not impose on non-European importers.

We have started to protect certain sectors, by imposing taxes on over-subsidized Chinese electric vehicles or by introducing safeguard clauses on steel. The car plan, presented a few weeks ago by the Commission, also displays a European preference.

We will not give European preference to cell phones, we no longer produce them in Europe. We must concentrate on certain strategic sectors, such as cleantech, chemicals, steel, automobiles or defense, otherwise the Europeans will be swept away. It’s defensive, but it’s essential, because we are faced with unfair competitors, who no longer respect the rules of the World Trade Organization.

**In 2024, Mario Draghi already spoke of the need for a European preference…**

Yes, just as he insisted on the need to innovate and invest in this objective. But it was a little forgotten along the way. We mainly focused on simplification and diversification, which are more consensual.

**What exactly is investment for?**

Today, we have three battles to fight, in security and defense, in ecological transition technologies, and in artificial intelligence and quantum. In all these areas, we invest much less than China and the United States. If the EU does nothing within three to five years, it will be swept away from these sectors. And this investment, if we want it to preserve the internal market, not to fragment it a little more, we must not send it back to the nations. It must be a joint investment.

**How much are we talking about?**

Mario Draghi estimated the need for public and private investment in green and digital technologies at 800 billion euros per year. If we add defense and security, we arrive at some 1,200 billion euros per year.

**How to finance these investments?**

We must first remobilize our savings. In Europe, we have the largest stock of savings in the world, 30,000 billion euros. But it finances our debt and, for the rest, goes abroad. Every year, 300 billion euros finance American companies.

At the same time, once the European budget is constrained, it is time to launch a common debt capacity for these future expenditures, Eurobonds for the future. We need major European programs to finance the best projects.

Neoliberal media be like: France wants other countries to pay their debts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reality: Europe needs to fund large-scale infrastructure, defense and research projects, which no single country, much less a single company, is capable to finance on their own; something that is putting us into a severe disadvantage compared to the USA and China.

It’s very sad many people think that joint debt for joint projects is just some way how one EU country tries to steal from another, which is why it is difficult to push joint initiatives.

To an extent the seal has been broken on that with SAFE, and for specific projects it’s probably something that can reasonably be repeated and would be politically acceptable. As a way for national governments to raise money generally though that seems very unlikely.

I remember when the left parties in Portugal were considered “radical” because of this idea in 2011 when our debt was spiraling.

We’re all waiting for you guys to do something about it

Are France willing to raise their retirement age yet?

I’d veto this unless we’re getting centrally controlled spending as well.

Why the fuck would I pay taxes to cover French pensions

HOW IS THIS ALREADY NOT THE CASE ?!

i’d buy eurobonds.

Fo shur!