Nathalie Brack is Professor of Political Science and Researcher at the Institute for European Studies (IEE-ULB) and the Centre d’Etudes de la vie politique (CEVIPOL). She is also visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges).
Ramona Coman is Professor of Political Science, President of the Institute for European Studies (IEE-ULB) and member of the Centre d’Etudes de la vie politique (CEVIPOL). She is the coordinator of the Jean Monnet Rule of law and mutual trust in global and European governance module (599377-EPP-1-2018-1-BE-EPPJMO-MODULE).
Amandine Crespy is Professor of Political Science and Researcher at the Institute for European Studies (IEE-ULB) and the Centre d’Etudes de la vie politique (CEVIPOL). She is also visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges).
In September 2017, in his speech at the Sorbonne, President Emmanuel Macron launched an initiative for a Europe “sovereign, united and democratic” in the face of the many challenges facing Europe. A sovereign Europe, he stressed, is a Europe that guarantees security in defence, in the fight against terrorism; a Europe that responds to the migration challenge; facing an “effective and equitable ecological transition”; a Europe with digital sovereignty that involves strong EU action, requiring the regulation of major platforms and the taxation of digital enterprises. All this is crowned with economic sovereignty, which is essential to assert the EU’s place in the world. President Macron announced an ambitious political project, set against “nationalism, identity, protectionism, retreating sovereignism”, a project to reshape the EU, the only one to give the world the capacity to act, but “too weak, too slow, too inefficient,” in his words.
Major initiatives were announced. It was not just a question of reshaping the European Union by strengthening its capacity to act in a wide range of areas. The ambition was also to create a sense of belonging through, for example, the participation of citizens in broad democratic conventions or the creation of transnational lists for the election of representatives to the European Parliament.
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Photo : European Union, 2018 | Source : European Parliament – Audiovisual service
