Oh good, Macron is having one of his goes at reforming Europe…

There are European elections coming up in May and President Macron of France is leading the fightback against the populists. He has written a piece published across Europe in 27 newspapers. The Guardian is the lucky paper chosen for its dissemination in Britain. I say lucky as someone who as a newspaper comment editor used to try to avoiding answering the phone if Gordon Brown’s advisors were trying to offer one of his long essays about the future of the United Kingdom.

To his credit, the Macron piece is short and punchy, a bit like the French President. It is also quite pompous in tone.

President Macron (for it is he) begins:

“Citizens of Europe…” (that’s you, even the naughty Brexiteers at the back… “if I am taking the liberty of addressing you directly, it is not only in the name of the history and values that unite us, but because time is of the essence. A few weeks from now the European elections will be decisive for the future of our continent.”

He goes on to make a robust defence of the European Union. Typically, he conflates Europe (thousands of years old) with the EU (a relatively new invention). Europe and the EU are not the same thing. Such trifling historical details have never held Emmanuel back when he’s being all historic and statesmanlike.

“What country can act on its own in the face of aggressive strategies by the major powers? Who can claim to be sovereign, on their own, in the face of the digital giants?”

Fair point that.

“How would we resist the crises of financial capitalism without the euro, which is a force for the entire EU?”

Hold on! One of the worst crises of financial capitalism in the last decade was the eurozone crisis which was caused by the dodgy construct that is the, er, euro.

There’s more.

“Europe is also those thousands of projects daily that have changed the face of our regions: the school refurbished, the road built, and the long-awaited arrival of high-speed internet access.”

Did Campbell or one of the other 1990s spin doctors translate the UK version of this? It’s got a stale whiff of New Labour Remain spindoctor boilerplate about it. Progressive leader writes piece for newspaper so we need to mention schools vibe. The 2001 vintage is past its best.

Here we go, he’s back again…

“This struggle is a daily commitment, because Europe, like peace, can never be taken for granted. I pursue it tirelessly on behalf of France, in order to take Europe forward and to defend its model. We have shown that things we were told were unattainable, the creation of a European defence capability and the protection of social rights, were in fact possible.”

He proposes tighter border control (good idea, better late than never!) and a new defence compact, involving Britain.

European renewal, he says, must be built on the three pillocks, sorry pillars. Freedom, protection and progress

Naughty Britain will also play a part he says.

“In this Europe, the UK, I am sure, will find its true place.”

Just off the coast of France, sunshine.

“The Brexit impasse is a lesson for us all.”

Isn’t it just…

“We need to escape this trap and make the forthcoming elections and our project meaningful. It is for you to decide whether Europe and the values of progress that it embodies are to be more than just a passing episode in history. This is the choice I put to you: that together we chart the road to European renewal.”

You can read the whole thing here.

Perhaps I’m too down on Macron. At least he is, after Brexit, showing belated signs of realising that it is happening and that Europe, sorry the EU, needs to reform and persuade Europeans. It’ll never catch on.