The French President said he and his fellow European leaders “are to blame” for the bloc’s decay and more needed to be done to actually change the Europe for the better.
He said Brexit symbolises the crisis facing the European Union – before accusing the UK of “blackmail”.
And he said the solution was to introduce more Europe rather than less in a scathing opinion piece that looks set to ruffle feathers across the continent.
Writing for the Spectator magazine, Emmanuel Macron said: “The European Union has languished and become enfeebled — and we are all to blame. There is a noticeable paucity of ideas and methods.
“The whole system has capitulated and is at a standstill. The system is cut off from the world and from real life.”
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He said Brexit summed up the EU “fatigue” across Europe.
Mr Macron said: “Brexit is the name of this crisis and the symptom of the fatigue that is pervading Europe.
“Brexit is not a selfish act. Let us never denounce any citizen for having voted ‘badly’: it would be nonsensical.”
But despite absolving Brexit voters of any perceived failure, he hit out at those in Westminster who campaigned in favour of leaving the EU.
He said: “Brexit expresses the weaknesses of a political class that found its scapegoat — Europe — and failed to explain that leaving Europe would lead to disaster.”
Mr Macron said the concessions offered to the UK before the Brexit referendum last year were not an attempt at flexibility but an admission of failure.
He said: “The European Union contributes to its own downfall when it fails to stand up for itself through an excess of conformism and a lack of vision.
“What can we say about the February 2016 agreement that offered the United Kingdom an ‘à la carte Europe’, yielding to its blackmail?
“For all these reasons, I believe that we have squandered the past decade.”
He said a series of consultations should be held in the remaining 27 member states in order to regain trust – an exercise which could take years.
And the French President warned inaction will not be tolerated.
Mr Macron said: “I propose the launch of democratic consultations throughout the European Union. In each member state, for a period of between six and ten months, this would involve a debate on the details of the union’s action, on the policies that it implements, and the priorities that it should have.
“This transformation will not happen overnight. It will take years. We need to think in the long term again, and have a vision for the future.
“But when things take a long time to do, it is even more urgent to start doing them.”
His plot for reform comes as Angela Merkel, long considered ‘the mother of Europe’, is attempting to form a new German government following a disastrous election.