Macron: EU could be ‘killed’ by new ‘multipolar’ World Order

Photo: Reuters

The European Union could be “killed” by the rise of the new “multipolar” world order, French President Emmanuel Macron (photo) has claimed, ‘Brussels Signal’ informs.

Speaking at a Bloomberg event in Berlin on October 2, the French leader blasted what he called the rampant “overregulation” of the bloc’s single market, warning that if the union continued down its current path it risked destruction at the hands of the US and China.

“The EU could die,” Macron said, warning that the world’s larger trade blocs were ignoring international rules in favour of protecting and promoting their own economies.

“Our former model is over… We are overregulating and underinvesting.”

“In the two to three years to come, if we follow our classical agenda, we will be out of the market. I have no doubt,” he said.

Macron in particular highlighted the problems the EU was having with energy, adding that such struggles have allowed the US to use its Inflation Reduction Act to steal away Europe’s industry.

“Look at the chemical industry in Europe, it is being completely relocated due to the [US Inflation Reduction Act],” he said.

“It will be the same for steel. It will be the same for all existing businesses we have due to energy costs and overregulation.

“If we do not have a level playing field agenda we will be killed in this market,” he added.

He added that the vast majority of the public would not mind further EU market integration, adding that much of the anger against Brussels came from Eurocrats trying to micromanage various aspects of their lives.

“What makes people crazy with Europe and integration is when you bother households in their normal life,” he said, adding that market integration — which would largely consist of harmonising various national-level regulations — would not have much of an impact on the day-to-day activities of normal citizens.

Macron also warned against what he called the EU’s continued over-reliance on the US, saying that whatever the results of the presidential elections there in November, the country’s interests were moving elsewhere.

“Whatever the administration is, I think we have to be lucid on our situation,” he said.

“Europe is no more the top priority of the US. The US top priority is the US, which is normal and fair.”

“The second top priority is China and for the rest it depends on the moment,” he added.

The French President went on to insist that the bloc must reform in order to survive in this new world, suggesting that the EU should consider ignoring international trade rules where appropriate.

He also insisted that the EU further integrated the markets of its 27 member states to remain competitive internationally.

To do so, he added that Brussels must look to impose its various regulations on climate and labour to foreign markets that do business in the bloc, warning that a failure to fairly apply such rules to all business trading in the EU would damage the economy and push people to the Right.

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