Macron's speech, live: a plan for Europe and a torrent of criticism from the opposition

“Europe can die” declared Emmanuel at the beginning and end of his speech this Thursday, April 25. From the Sorbonne, he called in a serious tone to review the economic model of the European Union to restore its sovereignty. A speech that looks like a program before the European elections castigated by the opposition.

Emmanuel Macron speaks in front of the ambassadors of the 26 other EU member states and the delegation of the European Commission in France but also in front of business leaders, students and researchers. If he had invited French MEPs, his speech falls in the middle of the plenary session of the European Parliament, the last before the votes on June 9. Many will therefore be absent subscribers. The next day, the president will go to Strasbourg to meet with students for a new three-year contract which will strengthen the European stature of the Alsatian city.

Much criticized for making such a speech a month and a half before the European elections, the Elysée defended itself explaining that it is not a campaign speech: "we are in an institutional moment of a leader of State which does not simply engage the word of its political sensibility, but the word of a country".