Macron’s ‘GLUED’ to Germany: French leader blasted for deal damaging sovereignty

The europhile leaders of France and Germany hope that the treaty will give new impetus to the European project, and help counter growing far-right nationalism among some EU states. But Mr Macron’s move marks the “decline of our sovereignty and our independence” and will lead to “social decline,” Mr Mélenchon, the leader of the leftist La France Insoumise party, wrote on his blog. The treaty will “increase competition” between France and Germany and erode “social progress,” he continued. The far-left rebel also said that Mr Macron was “glued” to Germany. 

The French centrist and his German ally, Chancellor Angela Merkel, signed a new treaty on Tuesday to update a 1963 post-war peace accord in an effort to reinvigorate the European Union’s main axis amid fears rising eurosceptic populism could tear the bloc apart. 

In a ceremony in the German border city of Aachen, a symbol of European unity, Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron pledged to inject new momentum into the troubled EU project and deepen EU integration. 

Both leaders want the 16-page Aachen Treaty, negotiated over the past year to update the 1963 Elysée Treaty, to give an impulse to European unity that has been undermined by Brexit, uncontrolled immigration and the eurozone crisis. 

“We are doing this because we live in special times and because in these times we need resolute, distinct, clear, forward-looking answers,” said Mrs Merkel.  

Mr Macron added: “At a time when Europe is threatened by nationalism, which is growing from within, when Europe is shaken by the pains of Brexit and worried by global changes that go far beyond the national level … Germany and France must assume their responsibility and show the way forward.” 

Facing new challenges from US President Donald Trump in the United States as well as EU governments in Italy, Poland and Hungary, Mr Merkel and Mr Macron are especially keen to prevent far-right, eurosceptic parties from expanding their strength in the European Parliament following crunch elections in May.

“Today Europe needs a revival of faith in the meaning of solidarity and unity, and I want to believe that enhanced Franco-German cooperation will serve this objective,” said European Council chief Donald Tusk, who attended the ceremony. 

The document also stipulates that it will be a priority of German-French diplomacy for Germany to be accepted as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Germany has for years tried and failed to exert greater influence within the international body, to which its closest allies the United States, Britain and France belong.

While the treaty extension also commits to closer foreign and defence policy ties, critics say it is far less ambitious than hoped, as it does little to push forward eurozone economic reform. 

It has also been bitterly slammed by leading far-right eurosceptic figures. 

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is fiercely anti-EU and anti-Macron, said last week that Mr Macron was “selling” France to Germany and destroying national sovereignty by signing the treaty extension. 

She continued her rant on Tuesday, saying on Twitter that the treaty “violates state sovereignty” and should be reviewed by the Constitutional Council because it is “at odds with the French constitution”. 

Alexander Gauland, a senior member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, said: “The EU is now deeply divided. A German-French special relationship will alienate us even further from the other Europeans.” 

“French President Macron cannot maintain order in his own country. The nationwide protests in France are never ending. So it is inappropriate, if this failing president imposes visions on us for the future of Germany,” he added, in reference to France’s rolling, anti-government yellow vest protests. 

The original Elysée Treaty was signed by German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French President Charles de Gaulle, who in the same year vetoed the British application to join the European Community, the precursor of today’s European Union.

source: express.co.uk