The News
Thursday 28 of March 2024

Macron's plea for Europe gets backing outside French borders


AP Photo,FILE - In this Sunday, June 24, 2018 file photo French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with the media at the conclusion of an informal EU summit on migration at EU headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
AP Photo,FILE - In this Sunday, June 24, 2018 file photo French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with the media at the conclusion of an informal EU summit on migration at EU headquarters in Brussels. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s plea in the publications of 28 nations for a stronger European Union has gained support from neighboring Belgium and Finland.

In a tweet Tuesday, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila offered support for Macron’s call for “security, sustainable growth and ambitious climate policy.”

Sipila added that people needed to see “the EU that is capable of making decisions and implementing them.”

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said he particularly hoped for “a Europe that protects liberty and democracy,” according to the agency Belga.

But in France, where Macron’s popularity has dipped since his election, there was skepticism.

Nadine Morano of the opposition Republicans said that “in this column, the word France appears just once. This is Macronism — France has to disappear into this European federalism.”