Agree or not with what French President Emmanuel Macron's vision for reforming the European Union, it is hard not to be impressed with his ambition. Amid trending Euroscepticism, Macron makes being pro-EU feel cool again.
On Tuesday he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“If you don’t like the European Parliament, you should have run in other elections,” he said by way of mocking Euroskeptic MEPs on hand. The speech, at Macron’s insistence, came as part of the parliamentary debate, not as a separate formal address — because he is not afraid to confront people he disagrees with.
Macron also addressed what, though often ignored, has to be the single biggest factor damaging the EU’s reputation: that politicians everywhere, including Europhiles, tend to attribute all their country’s problems to Brussels while taking credit for anything that succeeds.
