Macron seizing the moment
French President tactic in a leaderless Europe
For the first time since his election, President Emmanuel Macron visited the city of Calais to address, in front of the Gendarmerie, a key issue of his government: the immigration policy.
His stop in the port city on the Channel is a mandatory one on his way to Sundhurst, a small village in the south of London. He will be joined by Prime Minister Theresa May for the Franco-British summit where they, together with other issues, discussed the thorny issue of managing the migration flow.
May agreed on investing additional 50 million Euros to aid the effort of the French state in patrolling and managing the UK border in Calais. Pressed by both sides, they agreed on this solution in light of the future relationship after the UK divorce from the EU. In Paris, Oliver Chan writes on the pages of Le Monde that “Great Britain has moved its border in France just like the EU has symbolically moved its own in Libya. France has become the Libya of the UK”. In London they are not too happy either with Andrew Bridgen, a Tory MP, who declared that the UK should send this bill to Angela Merkel, for having invited the whole world in a borderless Europe.
Nevertheless, this new Sundhurst agreement had both countries pledge themselves to move forward on the management of migration issues. Theresa May, in addition to the financial contribution, has promised to take in unaccompanied minors as well as migrants who had their family members living in the UK. Furthermore, for the minors the waiting list time will drop from 6 months to 25 days. In one strike, President Macron has successfully re-balanced a situation that was, up until now, skewed in favor of London. By having their border moved to Calais, the UK government had left the French governments with a humanitarian crisis in what was called the “jungle” and rendered the small port town a bottleneck for thousands of people who wished to reach British shores.
In acting as a double emissary from both France and the EU, Emmanuel Macron has managed to get concessions that will benefit both France and the EU. He needs to fulfill electoral promises and knows the UK Prime Minister is in a tight spot at the moment and could use an ambassador of her needs within the EU. Macron is capitalizing on the weaknesses of fellow European leaders to get concessions that would have made the life of his predecessors a lot easier. In a few weeks, the wonder boy of French politics has strengthened the ties with Italy, cashed in the possibility of a budget for the Euro from Angela Merkel and now convinced Britain to accept more migrants, a slap in the face of Brexit voters who hoped to regain control of state borders.
His diplomatic strategy of an open but firm dialogue is bringing its first results, but they come at a cost. While it’s true that many European governments are more preoccupied with internal affairs than with reforming the EU, it does not bode well for future negotiations if all he does is take. For this reason, it seems Macron is prepared to concede on a huge issue for French politics, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Whether or not he will succeed at home or through reforms in the EU we cannot know. What is sure is that not having to deal with hung parliaments, coalitions and separatism is proving to be more effective than ever.